La Paz County deputies help stop $500,000 train burglary chase

La Paz County deputies helped end a western Arizona train-burglary chase after stopping a second box truck on Highway 95 and catching a suspect who jumped into the Colorado River. The case tied local law enforcement into a wider multi-agency response that recovered nearly half a million dollars in stolen property and led to burglary, theft and trafficking charges.

The investigation began at about 8:32 a.m. June 25 near milepost 37 on Interstate 40, close to Yucca, after deputies were sent to a suspicious vehicle near the railroad tracks. Officers and detectives with the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, working with BNSF Railway Police, found a hidden box truck in a ravine with its doors open and shipping boxes scattered around the desert. FOX 10 Phoenix valued the cargo at about $194,240.

The search widened south into La Paz County, where deputies stopped a second box truck on Highway 95. During that traffic stop, a passenger ran from the truck and jumped into the Colorado River in an attempt to get away, but the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office boating division captured him. Investigators later linked the driver of the truck to the title to the abandoned box truck from the first scene, and a search warrant turned up about $295,680 more in stolen merchandise.

The suspects were identified as Gabriel Eusebio Coronel-Guerrero, 22, of Mexico, and Angel Isaac Ochoa, 21, of Mesa. Both were booked into the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility on burglary, theft and trafficking stolen property charges.

The case was the second major railroad heist in the state in about a month, following a separate Coconino County BNSF train burglary case in late May that led to more than $500,000 in recovered property and two arrests. A June 4 rail burglary case also left investigators looking for additional suspects after more than $500,000 in stolen goods was recovered.