T-Mobile Burglary Crew Arrested And Held to Answer At Preliminary Hearing On Burglary and Conspiracy Charges
On October 19, 2013, Patrol Officers from the Torrance Police Department responded to T-Mobile located at 4135 Pacific Coast Hwy in the City of Torrance in reference to a commercial burglary investigation wherein approximately 100 cellular phones were stolen after close of business the previous night.
During the initial investigation, responding officers noted the sophistication of the burglary, which detailed the suspects accessing the store via the roof, tunneling through drywall and a false ceiling, effectively dismantling and stealing the surveillance equipment, and ultimately locating their prize in the inventory vault…approximately $50,000.00 worth of cellular phones (retail value).
Torrance investigators quickly responded to the scene and discovered this commercial burglary mirrored a plethora of other T-Mobile burglaries in Arizona and California reported over the past two years, specifically by the suspects’ method of operation and level of sophistication.
Upon Torrance investigators jointly working with T-Mobile investigators, information was shared to include details of a burglary crew apprehended back in February 2013. In this case, three suspects were identified in an attempt burglary in the City of La Quinta, where again, the method of operation mirrored numerous other T-Mobile burglaries.
Torrance investigators utilized the information provided by T-Mobile investigators, as well as intelligence obtained from covert surveillance to locate the recently stolen phones, which had been stashed in a residence in the central area of Los Angeles. Coincidentally, the address was connected to one of the previous arrestees from the La Quinta investigation…Felix Noe Gonzales.
Felix Noe Gonzales, a 28 year old from Los Angeles, and Jorge Cuadra, a 35 year old from Downey were taken into custody without incident after Torrance investigators were able to link them to a commercial burglary in Torrance; additional evidence has linked them to other burglaries in various counties within California. On February 19, 2014, both defendants had a Preliminary Hearing and were subsequently held to answer for Conspiracy and Burglary charges.
This case is a small step in uncovering numerous other related conspirators and retail victims. At first look, the thefts appeared as singular crimes that occur every day to the retail industry, but when thoroughly analyzed, investigators were able to uncover the magnitude of the crimes being committed by this group. Investigators are optimistic that this arrest will lead to additional evidence in this ongoing investigation.
This case could not have been culminated without the assistance from other law enforcement agencies and the District Attorney’s Office
For full Bulletin click the following link:
http://www.torranceca.gov/TPD/Documents/TPD_Press_Release_-_130064230_T-Mobile_(2).pdf
If you have any information please contact the Torrance Police Department at 310-328-3456.
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Torrance, CA 90503
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