VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – New body-worn camera videos show the arrest of two men in Volusia County, accused of stealing diesel fuel.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was notified around 9 p.m. Saturday of a black minivan flagged as a suspect vehicle in a diesel fuel siphoning ring out of Seminole County, according to an arrest affidavit. The following half hour was spent in large part tracking the vehicle, during which another minivan, gold in color, was noticed possibly following it, the affidavit states.
By 9:30 p.m., a deputy in an unmarked cruiser had closed in on the gold minivan, which spent about 15 minutes parked over the fuel intake port at a RaceTrac gas station along Deltona Boulevard near DeBary before moving on to a nearby Waffle House, according to the sheriff’s office.
Another deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the van because it was unregistered, yet after it was seen that nobody was inside of the vehicle, employees at the Waffle House began pointing deputies toward a man who had started walking away, then running once deputies switched on their emergency lights, the affidavit states.
Following a foot chase, Henry Gonzalez Ortega, 33, of Hialeah, was apprehended behind the aforementioned RaceTrac. Meanwhile, deputies canvassing the area on the other side of Interstate 4 located the black minivan and secured its driver, 35-year-old Jose Garcia Aguila of Orlando.
Deputies said two red 5-gallon gas cans and a clear hose were inside of the black minivan while the gold minivan’s rear windows were observed to be tinted to the point that nothing could be seen through them from the outside. Inside of that minivan however, deputies reportedly uncovered an auxiliary fuel tank behind the front passenger seat and otherwise found the vehicle’s undercarriage to be closer than normal to the ground.
Both of the men were taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail and will face charges associated with the theft and unlawful conveyance of fuel, the sheriff’s office said on social media.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: