A recently intensified crackdown on railroad cargo theft carried out by a multitude of agencies and entities, including the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Police has had significant success, while revealing a large international and familial component among the perpetrators.
Investigators have learned that the thieves have previously succeeded because they had inside information about railroad company operations.
According to the Association of American Railroads, “In recent years, organized criminal groups have increasingly targeted the nation’s railroads using sophisticated tactics and technology to commit cargo theft. While these attacks occur across every freight provider and in every region, collectively the result is rippling supply chain disruptions and costly delays that impact American families.”
A statistic quoted by the Association of American Railroads is that in 2024, total costs to the nation’s largest railroads from theft exceeded $100 million.”
Railroad industry sources and law enforcement professionals report that a substantial amount of railroad cargo theft takes place as a consequence so-called “inside jobs,” that is, with the assistance of those who work with the railroads themselves or as part of the rail infrastructure and support network. Those having specific knowledge of the placing and timing of the shipment by rail of high-value goods is a common vulnerability and a major factor in the success of organized rings who target rail cars for theft.
The Sentinel can report that a breakthrough in the effort to deter railroad theft has been made with investigators’ discovery that organized crime is employing individuals who assume relatively low-ranking and even temporary positions with rail companies or at rail terminals and rail yards to obtain information about what goods are being transported on which trains and in specific rail cars, together with information about when and where the trains are to remain stationary for an extended period.
Somewhat ironically, law enforcement has succeeded in obtaining inside information about how the galère of thieves were able to obtain internal information about the various railroad companies’ operations.
While authorities are keeping close to the vest exactly how they have been able to get an inside position within the aggregate of criminals working the railroad industry in Southern California, they were able to do just that, leading to a series of recent arrests of those who were doing alright for themselves and their families by diverting goods from their intended recipients to fences and the black market.
On October 1, 2025, investigators with the San Bernardino county Sheriff’s Department’s Rural Crimes Task Force executed three search warrants, one on a residence in the 8800 block of Maple Avenue in Hesperia, another on a residence in the 14100 block of Anacapa Road in Victorville and one at a storage unit in the 14300 block of Palmdale Road in Victorville.
The sheriff’s department reported that its investigators recovered stolen merchandise valued at $54,442.79 and seized approximately $19,200 in cash at the Maple Avenue residence, and took 11 people into custody, all of whom were arrested on felony charges, including possession of stolen property and conspiracy to engage in criminal acts. At the Anacapa Road location, another six suspects were arrested and $133,867 in stolen property was recovered, along with $42,000 in cash and eight illegal/unregistered firearms—four rifles and four pistols. At the Palmdale Road storage unit on Palmdale Road, investigators recovered stolen items valued at $188,309.
The 17 suspects – Angelberto Dela Rocha, 31, of Hesperia; Erasmo Vega Ramos, 34, of Santa Rosa; Mario Lozada, 23, of Huntington Park; Sergio Vega Ramos, 33, of Hesperia; Tomas Vega Ramos, 40, of Hesperia; Mariah Gutierrez, 22, of Hesperia; Erika Solorzano, 43, of Hesperia; Henry Torres, 22, of Hesperia; Remedios Sanchez Menera, 38, of La Habra; Hector Acosta Espinoza, 29, of Hesperia; Noe Reyes Lozada, 29, of Hesperia; Carlos Mares Feliz, 21, of Victorville; Francisco Bojorquez, 48, of Victorville; Marcos Bojorquez, 26, of Victorville; Miguel Boroquez, 22, of Victorville; Felix Lugo Ricardo Rogeleo, 20, of Victorville; Feliciano Bojorquez, 42, of Victorville – were arrested and transported to the High Desert Detention Center.
Building on information they derived from interrogating some of those 17 suspects, investigators learned about the activities of others involved in the theft of cargo from rail cars. They focused attention on a particular house in the 14600 block of Willow Street in Hesperia, bringing to bear a number of investigative tools, including ones that allowed them to monitor cell phone communications originating at or being received at that location. Not quite five full days after the arrest of the 17 suspects on October 1, in the wee hours of October 6 a combination of members of the department’s Rural Crimes Task Force, detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s Hesperia Station Detective Bureau and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Police staked out the residence on Willow Street. At 6:30 a.m., the investigators moved in raiding the home. As they did so, seven of those present attempted to flee. All were apprehended in short order with the assistance of the Sheriff’s Aviation Unit and Hesperia deputies. Another seven individuals were found inside the home.
Investigators recovered stolen property belonging to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad valued at $42,500 and seized $55,000 in U.S. currency found on the premises during the search.
The 14 suspects – Jose Rodriguez Cecena, 28, of Hesperia; Tomas Valdez Olivares, 25, of Hesperia; Jesus Jimenez Gonzalez, 24, of Hesperia; Johan Camargo Salazar, 25, of Hesperia; Juan Oliveras Valdez, 27, of Hesperia; Jesus Fierro Escalante, 22, of Hesperia; Leobardo Corral Corrales, 46, of Westminster; Juan Jimenez Garcia, 29, of Hesperia; Ezequiel Jimenez Gaxiola, 36, of Santa Rosa; Jose Navarette Carrillo, 24, of Victorville; Isidro Mendivil Mendez, 23, of Hesperia; Armando Gonzalez, 20, of Hesperia; Eloid Paz Lizarraga, 21, of Hesperia; and Guadalupe Alejandro Raya, 26, of Hesperia – were arrested and booked into the High Desert Detention Center on suspicion of violating PC496(A) being in possession of stolen property and PC182(A)(1) conspiracy to violate the law.
The two operations in early October were even more significant than they appeared to be on the surface, with at least eleven of the 31taken into custody providing detectives with further leads, including information they would have been unlikely to obtain in any other way. Moreover, investigators were able to use information extrapolated from some of the items seized, including communication devices, computers and accounts tied to credit cards in the possession of several of those arrested, to reach further conclusions or come by evidence that proved out as very useful in charting what members of the rail cargo theft ring were doing and how they operate.
On Thursday, October 30, 2025, the sheriff’s department’s Rural Crimes Team, with the assistance of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Victor Valley Detective Bureau, its Marijuana Enforcement Team Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Police, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Southgate Police, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, served a total of seven search warrants relating to the ongoing investigation into train burglaries in the Victor Valley area, in Los Angeles County.
The first warrant was served at 6:00 a.m., in the 4900 block of Mason Street, Southgate. Investigators located a large locked prefabricated room within a body shop, the room contained a large amount of stolen Burlington Northern Santa Fe property.
Evidence from the search warrant led to the issuance and serving two additional search warrants at a residence and business proximate to and virtually across the street from the Mason Street address, within the 4900 Block of Mason Street in Southgate. Three suspects were contacted and arrested.
Evidence from the three search warrants led investigators to another residence in the 7800 Block of Rose Street in Paramount where a search warrant was authorized and served. Additional stolen Burlington Northern Santa Fe property was located.
Evidence from the search warrant led investigators to a nearby storage facility in the 7000 Block of San Luis Street in Paramount. Two additional search warrants were authored for two storage units where additional Burlington Northern Santa Fe stolen property was located.
Based off information from the previous search warrants, investigators authored an additional search warrant for another residence in the 14900 Block of Downey Avenue in Paramount. Additional Burlington Northern Santa Fe stolen property was located.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe estimated the recovered property totaled $2,118,459,20.
Penultimately, all the recovered property was released to Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Eventually, it will be returned to the rightful owners.
Those taken into custody during the operation were Alfredo Santos Reyes, a 34-year-old resident of Southgate; Cesar Martinez, a 41-year-old resident of Southgate; and Jorge Castillo, a 46-year-old resident of Southgate.