Latest news with #FordF-550
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thieves siphon off $30K worth of gas from Lodi station
Apr. 3—One of Lodi's oldest businesses was the victim of a sophisticated theft last month. On the weekend of March 21, a group of men in work trucks stole more than 6,500 gallons of fuel from Kludt Oil & Propane, located at 1126 E. Pine St. The company said the fuel was worth more than $30,000. Co-owner Aaron Kludt said staff checks its books every day to make sure fuel sales are consistent, and if there's a difference in the amount of gallons to sales, it's investigated. "At first we thought... sometimes we're missing transactions, maybe with our card processor," he said. "Something was off the first couple times, then when we had a day with 1,000 gallons missing. We said something's not right. There's something going on. We don't know how we've got gallons disappearing." However, it wasn't until the thieves stole some 4,500 gallons of fuel the following week that staff was able to put two and two together, he said. Staff pored through surveillance video footage and observed at least five masked men in a flatbed truck, a Ford F-550 and a pickup truck pull up to the pumps on the days the fuel went missing. Kludt said it appeared the men in the video were tampering with the pumps. The company he contracts with to supply the pumps conducted its own investigation, and determined the thieves were able to gain access to the lower section of the dispenser. The trucks would drive away, and another pair of vehicles would pull up for a few minutes and remove some of the fuel before leaving. Then, the original vehicles would return to pick up equipment left by the second pair. "They were disconnecting the pulser, which counts the gallons as it flows through the pump," Kludt said. "And they were either doing something or attaching theirs, that reads way less. They would swipe (their card in the reader) and it would show they got fuel, but maybe they got 17 gallons when it was really 600. So they were tricking the dispenser into thinking it was flowing a lot less fuel than it actually was." The company has filed an insurance claim in an effort to recoup some of the loss, and new security features have been installed on the pumps so that if someone tries to remove an exterior panel, the system will lock up. Kludt believes the weekend of March 21 was a trial run for the thieves. He said they might be somewhere else pulling off the same heist at another station. He said a similar heist was pulled off in Stockton, and a station in Sacramento's Power Inn area was also victimized. "I think as a whole, there's always been people coming up with ways to steal fuel," he said. "I know years ago there were guys with bigger vans, and they'd have a hole cut out of the floor with a tow inside of it. They'd pull over where trucks deposit underground, then they'd open it up, drop in a stinger and just suck the fuel up."
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Tow company plotted to torch rival trucks in Bay Area, federal indictment alleges
A federal grand jury indicted a tow truck operator in San Francisco this week for conspiracy to commit arson as part of an alleged plot to drive more business to his companies by torching the trucks of his competitors. The indictment accuses Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, and four co-conspirators of setting fire to at least six tow trucks across the Bay Area on four occasions between April and October 2023. Authorities allege Badillo orchestrated and directed others to set the fires to retaliate against rivals for perceived wrongs, according to the indictment. The first incident detailed in the indictment was April 4, 2023, when a 2008 white Sterling Bullet 45 tow truck and a 2012 white Dodge Ram 4500 tow truck were torched. Several weeks later, a 2018 Peterbilt 579 'heavy wrecker' was set on fire in East Palo Alto, Calif. A 2009 Ford F-550 tow truck was lit on fire on July 25, 2023, followed by two more tow trucks on Oct. 3 of that year, including two Ford F-550s and a 2022 Dodge Ram 550 flatbed. Authorities did not detail how investigators linked the fires to Badillo, or how the alleged conspirators were involved. At least one co-conspirator was a business associate of Badillo's and was affiliated with one or more towing companies, including Specialty Towing, according to the indictment. The indictment is the latest of several criminal investigations centered around Badillo. On Aug. 9, Badillo was charged with auto insurance fraud. FBI agents executed search warrants in connection with the case, including at one of his towing yards. Also charged in that case was 31-year-old Jessica Elizabeth Najarro. A grand jury indictment in that case accused Badillo of purchasing an 'undriveable' car with 'severe front-end damage' in July 2019 before transferring ownership of it to Najarro, who then allegedly filed a false claim after obtaining auto insurance for it. Read more: Feds charge San Francisco towing company operator amid FBI raids About two weeks later, a federal grand jury again indicted Badillo and three others in a similar auto insurance scheme. Badillo and Abigail Fuentes, who authorities say are in a relationship and have children, were already facing multiple felonies from an alleged welfare fraud scheme filed by the San Francisco district attorney's office in October 2023. Prosecutors in that case accused Fuentes of improperly approving Badillo's welfare application when she was an employee of the San Francisco Human Services Agency. Prosecutors said Fuentes failed to disclose her relationship to Badillo and accused the pair of lying about their income and assets. At the time the application was filed, investigators said the pair had been operating three towing companies — Auto Towing, Jose's Towing and Specialty Towing — which generated more than $2 million in gross annual income. The case led to more scrutiny of the pair's business practices by San Francisco authorities last year, specifically from San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu, whose office later alleged that one of the couple's companies was profiting from illegal tows. Last February, Chiu moved to suspend the company, Auto Towing, and its affiliates, which included Specialty Towing, from receiving contracts from the city. The company came under public scrutiny two months later when a bystander recorded one of its trucks trying to tow a woman's car as she was driving in San Francisco. "We were freaking out calling and basically rolling down our window and saying, 'Hey what you are doing? You can't be doing that,'" the driver, identified only as Joanne, told ABC 7 News in an interview. "He started backing up and his lever came down and basically he was just backing up trying to latch onto our car." Representatives for Auto Towing and Specialty Towing did not immediately respond to calls or voicemails seeking comment. Badillo is scheduled to appear in district court for arraignment on March 20. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted on all charges, according to authorities. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
15-03-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Tow company plotted to torch rival trucks in Bay Area, federal indictment alleges
A federal grand jury indicted a tow truck operator in San Francisco this week for conspiracy to commit arson as part of an alleged plot to drive more business to his companies by torching the trucks of his competitors. The indictment accuses Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, and four co-conspirators of setting fire to at least six tow trucks across the Bay Area on four occasions between April and October 2023. Authorities allege Badillo orchestrated and directed others to set the fires to retaliate against rivals for perceived wrongs, according to the indictment. The first incident detailed in the indictment was April 4, 2023, when a 2008 white Sterling Bullet 45 tow truck and a 2012 white Dodge Ram 4500 tow truck were torched. Several weeks later, a 2018 Peterbilt 579 'heavy wrecker' was set on fire in East Palo Alto, Calif. A 2009 Ford F-550 tow truck was lit on fire on July 25, 2023, followed by two more tow trucks on Oct. 3 of that year, including two Ford F-550s and a 2022 Dodge Ram 550 flatbed. Authorities did not detail how investigators linked the fires to Badillo, or how the alleged conspirators were involved. At least one co-conspirator was a business associate of Badillo's and was affiliated with one or more towing companies, including Specialty Towing, according to the indictment. The indictment is the latest of several criminal investigations centered around Badillo. On Aug. 9, Badillo was charged with auto insurance fraud. FBI agents executed search warrants in connection with the case, including at one of his towing yards. Also charged in that case was 31-year-old Jessica Elizabeth Najarro. A grand jury indictment in that case accused Badillo of purchasing an 'undriveable' car with 'severe front-end damage' in July 2019 before transferring ownership of it to Najarro, who then allegedly filed a false claim after obtaining auto insurance for it. About two weeks later, a federal grand jury again indicted Badillo and three others in a similar auto insurance scheme. Badillo and Abigail Fuentes, who authorities say are in a relationship and have children, were already facing multiple felonies from an alleged welfare fraud scheme filed by the San Francisco district attorney's office in October 2023. Prosecutors in that case accused Fuentes of improperly approving Badillo's welfare application when she was an employee of the San Francisco Human Services Agency. Prosecutors said Fuentes failed to disclose her relationship to Badillo and accused the pair of lying about their income and assets. At the time the application was filed, investigators said the pair had been operating three towing companies — Auto Towing, Jose's Towing and Specialty Towing — which generated more than $2 million in gross annual income. The case led to more scrutiny of the pair's business practices by San Francisco authorities last year, specifically from San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu, whose office later alleged that one of the couple's companies was profiting from illegal tows. Last February, Chiu moved to suspend the company, Auto Towing, and its affiliates, which included Specialty Towing, from receiving contracts from the city. The company came under public scrutiny two months later when a bystander recorded one of its trucks trying to tow a woman's car as she was driving in San Francisco. 'We were freaking out calling and basically rolling down our window and saying, 'Hey what you are doing? You can't be doing that,'' the driver, identified only as Joanne, told ABC 7 News in an interview. 'He started backing up and his lever came down and basically he was just backing up trying to latch onto our car.' Representatives for Auto Towing and Specialty Towing did not immediately respond to calls or voicemails seeking comment. Badillo is scheduled to appear in district court for arraignment on March 20. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted on all charges, according to authorities.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Yahoo
Rockford man wanted for multiple burglaries, stealing a truck is in custody
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford Police arrested Paul Bahler, 49, for an alleged string of burglaries among other incidents. On Jan. 27, around 6 p.m., a woman called the police and reported that her house was being burglarized in the 1300 block of Cosper Avenue. She said she was watching a live video from her security cameras on her phone. As officials arrived at the scene, a red GMC Yukon was seen fleeing the area. Authorities attempted to pull the SUV over but were unable to. Police determined Bahler was the suspect after an interview with the driver of the SUV. On February 4, around 1 p.m., officers were on patrol when they were told by dispatch that a Ford F-550 with 'Troy Lee Excavating' displayed on both sides of the vehicle was stolen. Authorities found the truck unoccupied with the keys still in the ignition on 22nd Street. One of the workers who uses the truck arrived on the scene and told officers a man stole the truck while his crew was working near Charles and 21st Streets. The man also said his tools and phone were missing from the truck. Police found the victim's belongings on the side of a house in the 2400 block of 23rd Street. Officers determined from further investigation Bahler was the suspect. He was also a suspect in a June 2024 burglary, a March 2024 theft and two 2021 vehicle thefts. Officials eventually arrested and booked Bahler into the Winnebago County Jail on February 6th. Bahler is charged with burglary, possession of meth and stealing a vehicle. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
