A 40-year-old person has been detained in a late-night break-in at the Army Reserve Center in Tustin, according to police, who is suspected of stealing a stash of military technology, including three Humvees.
According to the Tustin Police Department, on January 8, at least one person broke into a storage facility at the supply centre on Red Hill Avenue, ransacked store boxes, and cut a fence to gain access to a parking lot for military vehicles.
Three Jeeps, a type of all-terrain aircraft used in military actions to carry passengers and cargo, were taken. Eight machine gun car bolts, seven standing machine gun camcorders, medical equipment, 40 pair of glasses and 18 bayonets even went missing from the hospital, police said.
Authorities said they found two Jeeps three weeks after the theft, one in Santa Ana and the other in Orange. However, the second car and the rest of the items were unaccounted for until Jan. 16 when government claimed to have recovered the next Humvee and other misplaced items while issuing search warrants in Orange.
Authorities at the time also made an arrest for Alfredo Reyes Jr., an unknown suspect.
What led police to believe Reyes was a liar? On Thursday, authorities on the case declined to provide additional information.
Several Humvees have been taken from military sites across the county, including in California, in recent years.
A Pomona man allegedly fled an Army Reserve Center in Upland in 2020, followed for a short while by the police with a Humvee worth more than$ 200,000.
Five days later, a Humvee that was taken from a Bell National Guard Armory was recovered.
Another vehicle was discovered behind a Home Depot in Imperial Beach after being taken from Naval Base Coronado in San Diego County in 2022.
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