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ST. GEORGE — A man suspected of multiple thefts involving thousands of gallons of diesel fuel has been put behind bars, thanks to a bystander who recognized the suspect’s truck from an earlier news release.
Alexander Padilla Rodriguez, 39, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was questioned by police at a convenience store gas station in Cedar City on Thursday morning, after which he was transported to Kanab by Kane County Sheriff’s deputies and booked into jail there.
According to the probable cause statement filed in 6th District Court on Friday in support of the arrest, Rodriguez and an accomplice are suspected of stealing more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel from two different Shell stations within Kane County, one in Kanab and one in Mount Carmel.
The affidavit states the first theft occurred on Nov. 4, while the other two incidents both happened on Dec. 3, one in the early morning hours and the other later that evening.
“The two vehicles parked on both sides of a fuel pump and the suspects did their best to avoid being seen by the security cameras,” a Kane County Sheriff’s deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The suspects got out of the vehicles and broke into the fuel pump. Inside the fuel pump, they were able to manipulate the machine to draw out as much diesel fuel as their vehicles and holding tanks would hold.”
Earlier this week, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office released a surveillance photo showing a white semi-truck parked on one side of a fuel pump and a dark gray or black Dodge pickup on the other. The image and a short description of the crime were shared to the KSL-TV news outlet, which posted a story.
Thursday morning in Cedar City, an individual who had seen KSL’s story spotted the distinctive looking semi-truck at a Maverik gas station and called police. The truck and its driver were detained by other law enforcement officers until Kane County deputies arrived.
During questioning, Rodriguez initially claimed he was simply getting fuel, according to the affidavit. Deputies then confronted him about the approximately two hours he spent at the locations during each of the Kane County incidents and showed him the related surveillance images.
“(He) then told us he no longer wanted to talk and requested an attorney,” the affidavit states. “We stopped the interview and then transported (him) to the Kane County Jail.”
According to the charging documents filed Friday, Rodriguez faces three second-degree felony counts of theft over $5,000, plus two counts of criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor, and possession of burglary tools, a class B misdemeanor.
“Through our information release to other agencies as well as to the press, we’ve learned these vehicles and suspects have been committing these same thefts in different counties across the state of Utah,” Kane County Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Alldredge said in a news release Friday evening.
“It is believed that this is an organized crime (that) involves more vehicles and suspects,” the statement said. In Kane County alone, the value of the stolen fuel is more than $15,000.
Alldredge told St. George News on Friday afternoon that the Dodge pickup truck and whoever was driving it are both still at large.
The case remains active and is being investigated by the Kane County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state. Anyone with information about the case or who thinks they might have been a victim of a similar crime is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency to report it. The office number for Kane County Sheriff’s Office is 435-644-4916.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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