SAN ANGELO, Texas — A stolen trailer has been recovered by San Angelo Police and multiple pieces of equipment stolen with the trailer has been seized.
The SAPD said in a release, officers were dispatched Dec. 28 to the 1800 block of Overhill Drive in reference to a theft of a trailer with multiple pieces of equipment on the trailer prior to it being stolen. Officers documented the incident and asked for the public's help to find the trailer in a social media post.
On Jan. 3, the department’s communications division received information on the whereabouts of the stolen trailer. Officers were dispatched to the unit block of East 19th Street, where they found the stolen trailer in the backyard of a home. SAPD’s Criminal Investigations Division was contacted to further investigate the incident.
The trailer was removed from the yard, and the trailer's owner told officers that multiple pieces of equipment were still missing.
SAPD’s Anti-Crime and Gang Unit helped with conducting surveillance on the house in an attempt to find the remaining stolen property. Officers received information that items were being removed from the rear of the home and being placed into the back of a pickup truck. The truck was then seen leaving the home, at which point SAPD’s Patrol Division tried to conduct a traffic stop on it.
The truck didn't stop and the driver led officers on a short pursuit before returning back to the house.
The suspect, identified as Armando Villarreal, 46, ran from the officers before being arrested.
Multiple pieces of the stolen equipment (as well as other suspected stolen property) were in the bed of the pickup truck that Villareal had been driving. Multiple pieces of property were then seized from the scene with the assistance of SAPD’s Crime Scene Division.
SAPD’s CID responded to the scene and ultimately charged Villareal with theft of property >= $30k<$100k, evading arrest/detention in a motor vehicle, evading arrest/detention on foot with previous convictions and multiple City warrants.
The SAPD thanked the public for providing the information that helped the department find the stolen trailer/equipment, as well as other possible stolen property.
