BUNNELL, Fla. – A semitruck, trailer and contents stolen out of Georgia, all allegedly headed to Daytona Beach, did not make it past Flagler County, according to a news release.
According to the Bunnell Police Department, officers on Monday were alerted by police in Midway, Georgia, that the stolen big rig was traveling south on U.S. 1 toward the department’s jurisdiction. The semitruck was located outside of a gas station on North State Street, with police soon getting help from Flagler County deputies in detaining three men who were occupying the vehicle, the release states.
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The men offered differing stories to law enforcement, with the driver — identified as Uber Hernandez-Torres, 48 — telling police they were told to take the semitruck Daytona Beach after picking it up in Jacksonville, the instructions allegedly coming from someone who Hernandez-Torres didn’t know.
Hernandez was booked and given a bond amount of $3,000, bonding out of jail early Tuesday, police said.
Through collaboration with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the sheriff’s office of Liberty County, Georgia, Bunnell police learned the stolen assortment carried an estimated value of $800,000, $600,000 of which was representative of 40 hermetic compressors found in the trailer.
Further inspection of the semitruck revealed a damaged driver’s door lock, juxtaposed with Hernandez-Torres’ key ring; though Hernandez possessed an ignition key, police said he did not have a key for the door. Additionally, the semitruck’s Vehicle Identification Number had been pried off, with those tracks covered by fresh paint, according to the release.
A Georgia warrant for Hernandez-Torres’ arrest was signed by a judge on Wednesday, yet Hernandez-Torres arrived in person to the towing company that retrieved the truck from the gas station, claiming that the vehicle was his and asking to have it back, police said. Bunnell officers responded to the business and took Hernandez-Torres into custody.
Hernandez-Torres now awaits extradition to Liberty County and the stolen semitruck, trailer and cargo will be returned to their true owners, police said. The department extended its thanks to all agencies involved.
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