Home Indianapolis Press Releases 2009 Four Men Sentenced for Possession of Stolen Property
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Four Men Sentenced for Possession of Stolen Property

U.S. Attorney’s Office April 07, 2009
  • Southern District of Indiana (317) 226-6333

Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that ROBERTO SANTOS-GONZALEZ, 28, Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment, OMAR LEYVA-RUIZ, 37, Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, VICTOR RODRIGUEZ, 26, Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day imprisonment, and ODELMIS HIDALGO, 35, Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment with 6 months home detention yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker following their guilty pleas for Possession of Property Stolen From Interstate Shipment. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Indiana State Police, Kentucky State Police and the Louisville Metro Police Department.

This investigation arose from the continuing monitoring by the FBI of an organized group of individuals believed to be regularly involved in the theft of cargo from interstate shipments in this district and elsewhere, and the disposition of the stolen cargo in distant parts of the country.

In the evening of February 25, 2008, a tractor and the attached trailer containing a load of cellular telephones with a wholesale value of over $180,000 were stolen from a truck stop in Highland, Indiana. The load had originated in Louisville, Kentucky, and was scheduled to be delivered to Bolingbrook, Illinois. The same day, an International semi-tractor was stolen in Newton County, Indiana.

Early the next day, February 26, 2008, the owner of the International tractor notified the Indiana State Police that the GPS device on the tractor indicated that it was stationary in Floyd County, Indiana, near the intersection of I-64 and U.S. 150. Responding law enforcement officers discovered that the tractor was attached to the trailer that had been stolen the previous day in Highland, which contained the cellular telephone load. However, the trailer was empty.

Tracking information obtained from the owner of the International tractor disclosed that, after being stolen, it had traveled south through Indianapolis and Clark County on I-65 into Louisville, Kentucky, where it sat for about one and a half hours before moving to Floyd County where it was recovered.

Based upon this information, law enforcement officers went to the lot in Louisville where the tractor had been before crossing back into Floyd County, Indiana. The location was a truck lot surrounded by fence. Officers observed a Freightliner tractor registered to Defendant LEYVA-RUIZ attached to a white trailer. Later they observed Defendant SANTOSGONZALEZ drive onto the lot and proceed directly to LEYVA-RUIZ’s tractor. LEYVA-RUIZ exited the front passenger door of SANTOS-GONZALEZ’s car and opened the trailer attached to the tractor. Officers observed LEYVA-RUIZ and Defendant RODRIGUEZ enter LEYVARUIZ’s tractor. Soon thereafter law enforcement confronted the men. LEYVA-RUIZ was found behind the trailer and RODRIGUEZ was found hiding inside LEYVA-RUIZ’s tractor. When SANTOS-GONZALEZ’s vehicle was stopped, it was occupied by Defendants HIDALGO and SANTOS-GONZALEZ.

The stolen load of telephones was recovered from the trailer attached to LEYVA-RUIZ’s tractor. Also, located in the tractor were tools typically used by cargo thieves.

The packing list for the stolen telephone load was found in SANTOS-GONZALEZ’s car and other shipping documents regarding the load were found in the trailer abandoned in Floyd County.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker also imposed upon SANTOS-GONZALEZ, LEYVA-RUIZ, and RODRIGUEZ, three years supervised release following their release from imprisonment and they were each fined in the amount of $3,000. HIDALGO received three years supervised release following his release from imprisonment and was fined in the amount of $1,000.

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