“Operation Tractor Pull” Nabs Suspects Taking Stolen Equipment Across Southern Border
October 30, 2024 – Tulare County Sheriff’s Office officials report that on March 2024, the Sheriff’s Office was alerted to a backhoe theft in the area of Ave. 8 and Road 176 near Delano. Five days later, a LoJack hit alerted TCSO Detectives to the stolen backhoe at a truck stop in Tulare. The backhoe was hidden within a semi-truck alongside another stolen backhoe and an excavator reported missing from Kings County.
While arresting the drivers, 22-year-old Juan Carlos Murrufo and 31-year-old Endi Jesus Lopez Bustillos, both Mexican Nationals, Detectives were able to obtain critical statements and evidence indicating a more extensive operation involving the trafficking of stolen construction equipment across the border into Mexico. Murrufo and Bustillos told Detectives about multiple trips they had made, hauling equipment stolen from around the Valley across the open border to various locations in Mexico.
In April, TCSO Ag Detectives received a “Be On The Lookout” alert from Stanislaus County, pinpointing two additional suspects connected to the ongoing theft operation in Mexico. Ag Detectives initiated further investigative measures.
By June, the investigation escalated with the discovery of two loaders stolen from Camp Nelson, which then led Detectives to Hollister. This development resulted in the identification of additional suspects and vehicles linked to the theft ring.
Over the course of several months, TCSO Ag Detectives, working alongside a number of surrounding law enforcement agencies, have conducted extensive surveillance operations and gathered substantial evidence. To date, this theft operation has accounted for more than $2.25 Million in stolen equipment, with about $1.3 Million successfully recovered. That’s 24 pieces of stolen equipment recovered in all.
The findings suggest a sophisticated network involved in the systematic theft and trafficking of heavy machinery and organized criminal activity with implications that extend far beyond our local boundaries. This is a sophisticated criminal network that relies on our free and open border to illegally transfer stolen equipment from the U.S. to Mexico and sell that equipment to someone there.
Early Tuesday morning, TCSO Detectives, with help from surrounding agencies, converged on six separate locations in Los Banos, Hollister, Riverdale and Lindsay to serve warrants. After the homes were cleared, Detectives conducted a thorough search and collected any stolen equipment, tractors, trailers, cellphones/computers and surveillance cameras.
As of Tuesday morning, four more arrests were made: 30-year-old Noe Guevara of Los Banos, 43-year-old Joel Avila of Hollister, 32-year-old Isrrael Garrido Cortez of Lindsay and 24-year-old Nicolas Ruiz Cruz of Salinas.
The property recovered Tuesday morning included three stolen trailers, a stolen generator and $46,000 cash.
Detectives also recovered two truck-bed loads of processed marijuana, two handguns, two rifles and three shotguns.
All of the suspects face charges of grand theft, conspiracy to commit a crime & receiving stolen property charges. Isrrael Cortez also faces charges of operating or maintaining a drug house for the sales or distribution of controlled substances
Three of the suspects have significant border crossing history. Ivan Garcia (still outstanding) was caught trafficking drugs across the border in 2022. Marco Antonio Alvarez Medrano (Mexican National, still outstanding) owns a trucking company in Mexico, which has been flagged by U.S. Customs & Border Patrol for trafficking drugs for La Linea Cartel. Francisco Javier Diaz Garcia, 33, (arrested last Tuesday by TCSO) was flagged as crossing the border 23 times this month alone, and has more than 500 crossings in the last two years.
There are still five outstanding suspects (some are mentioned above). They are 30-year-old Ivan Avila Garcia of Los Banos, 43-year-old Michael Angel Saez of Los Banos, 33-year-oldd Francisco Muniz de la Mora of Riverdale, 43-year-old Eliseo Ortiz Puyicatla of Lindsay and 36-year-old Marco Antonio Alvarez Medrano of Mexico.
Operation Tractor Pull included 75 law enforcement personnel from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, the Merced County DA’s Office, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, the Kings County Sheriff’s Office, the Kings County DA’s Office, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, Gilroy Police, Kingsburg Police, the Tulare County DA’s Office, CHP TRATT, the National Insurance Crime Bureau and the California Rural Crimes Prevention Task Force.
Large Agricultural Theft Ring Dismantled: Operation Tractor Pull
View press conference video here.
Source & photos: Tulare County Sheriff’s Office
