A 35-year-old Moreno Valley man suspected of stealing more than $20,000 in landscaping and construction equipment in Palm Springs was arrested, authorities said Wednesday.
Luis Antonio Sanchez Valladres was booked into Benoit Detention Center in Indio on suspicion of grand theft and an enhanced penalty, according to the Palm Springs Police Department.
Bail information was not immediately available.
On Dec. 5, around 4:30 p.m., the department’s Detective Bureau received information stemming from a social media post regarding equipment stolen from a work truck. Authorities identified a suspect through law-enforcement databases, the Flock camera system and private surveillance footage that captured the alleged theft.
Although Valladres repeatedly changed license plates on his vehicle and traveled through multiple cities throughout the Coachella Valley, a suspect vehicle was found around 9 p.m. the same day at a residence in Moreno Valley, police said.
Valladres left the residence in a vehicle before police could execute a search warrant. Authorities conducted a traffic stop and confirmed that the driver was the same person seen in the surveillance footage, the department said.
Police said Valladres consented to searches of his vehicle and residence and guided authorities to the stolen property he hid in a desert area in Desert Hot Springs. In addition, detectives found “a large quantity of suspected stolen landscaping and construction equipment, consisting of 50 high-value tools worth more than $20,000, in the garage of his residence,” the agency said.
Authorities were continuing to identify additional alleged victims based on the recovered property.