SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police arrested a man who they say stole items from construction sites and resold them on OfferUp and Facebook.
Jose Ricardo Moreno Vela, 33, was arrested Wednesday and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity after days of surveillance by SAPD, an arrest warrant affidavit states.
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Police first received a tip that building materials were being loaded onto several vehicles at a South Side home.
The affidavit states that on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, Vela and another man left the home and drove a white cargo van to a home construction site in the area of Culebra Road and Loop 1604, on the Far West Side.
In both instances, they stole plywood and rolls of roofing felt from the sites of unfinished homes, investigators said.
Officers stopped the van both times and issued traffic citations. Officers were also able to look at the material in the van.
The material stolen on those days was worth nearly $900.
On Tuesday, officers saw two unidentified men leave the home and drive to a construction site near Potranco Road and Highway 211.
They took 69 sheets of plywood worth $1,640 and placed them into a Chevrolet Suburban, police said.
Officers stopped the vehicle, and they told officers that they were taking the materials to the South Side home, but they were going to return it to the construction site the next day.
They were taken into custody and when interviewed, they said they were working with Vela in taking materials from construction sites, the affidavit states.
They told police that Vela would sell the stolen materials on OfferUp and Facebook. The total amount stolen was estimated at $2,537.
The two men were also charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, but their names were not released. Records show another man, Jose Francisco Aranda Salazar, is also wanted on the same charge.
Vela’s bond is set at $7,500.