KINGMAN, Ariz. – A modern-day train bandit has entered a plea agreement, but a local judge has made it clear he may reject the proposed deal for its leniency. Angel Ochoa, 21, Mesa, pleaded guilty to burglary during a July 28 appearance at the Mohave County Law and Justice Center in Kingman.
Deputy County Attorney James Schoppmann said Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) personnel responded the morning of June 25 after Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway police reported a theft event in the rural community of Yucca in the vicinity of Interstate 40, exit 37.
Schoppmann told the court that a box truck owned by Ochoa was located in disabled condition, along the railroad right of way. He said boxes of expensive shoes taken from a railroad cargo container had been loaded into the truck and that more boxes of shoes were also scattered over ground nearby.
Schoppmann said Ochoa and co-defendant Gabriel Eusebio Coronel-Guerrero, 22, Mexico, were taken into custody when a similar box truck was the subject of a subsequent traffic stop hours later on Highway 95 in La Paz County. The MCSO reported more boxes of shoes matching those located at the crime scene valued at more than $295,000 were found in the second truck.
Ochoa would be spared a prison sentence in the proposed plea which guarantees probation and up to a year in the county jail.
Sipe told attorneys he thinks the punishment is too light for a defendant who obviously works for a criminal syndicate.
“I am concerned about the propriety of the plea agreement. It appears that the defendant is part of what is referred to as a ‘transnational criminal organization’ that on a regular basis is burglarizing shipping containers from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad,” the judge said. “Probation does not appear to be appropriate for being involved in this type of organization.”
Sipe told attorneys to be ready to justify the plea deal that he might reject at an Aug. 27 sentencing hearing.
