A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 in Howard County, Ark., for a Dallas man accused of stealing a scissor lift valued at $4,017 in Nashville, Ark.
Armando Padilla Jr., 24, of Dallas, Texas, has been charged with theft of property, which is a Class D felony with a potential sentence of a maximum six years in prison or a maximum fine of $10,000.
The theft involves an online auction.
The investigation started May 3, 2017, when Max McTeer, with MaxLift in Oklahoma City, Okla., contacted Marion and reported he purchased a blue Genie scissor lift through an online auction company, Crossbid. The scissor lift was being sold by Walmart and was located at the Nashville, Ark., Walmart.
McTeer won the auction item on April 11, 2017, and paid $4,017.
"When he made arrangements to have the scissor lift picked up, he was told the scissor lift had been stolen. Crossbid advised him an unknown person had contacted Neeley's Wrecker Service, provided a false receipt, and requested them to pick up the scissor lift at the Nashville Walmart," said Marion's report.
The suspect paid for the wrecker service with a credit card and signed the credit card receipt as Jason Korver.
"I obtained the credit card number and subpoenaed the information on the credit card account, which allegedly belonged to Lisa Jasmine Rubio. From the credit card information, I also learned there were two transactions in Foreman, Ark. on the same date as the transaction at Neeley's Wrecker Service. I obtained video surveillance of the transactions made at EZ Mart in Foreman and Subway in Foreman. On video there was a dark colored full size Ford FX4 pulling a trailer with a blue scissor lift on it," said Marion's report.
"I found a Lisa Rubio in Grand Prairie, Texas and contacted the woman. I learned from her that her boyfriend drives a black full size FordX4. I sent pictures of the truck from the video surveillance for her to identify. Shortly after, I received a phone call from a male that stated he was George Rivera. He told me it was him and his truck on the video and that he was just trying to make a living by picking up equipment for someone," said the report.
"When asked, he couldn't give me the name of the person that sent him to pick up the equipment. He also would not give me any other information about himself or the equipment," said the report.
Marion verified the person who called was the boyfriend of Lisa Rubio.
"Padilla has an equipment business and he goes on a website and sees what things his clients need and drives to that location and picks it up. Padilla brings the items back to Dallas and cleans it up and sells it," said the report.
Crossbid provided a list of stolen property from the past two years with the same or similar circumstances regarding the theft.
The blue Genie scissor lift has not been located since the theft.