The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department earlier this month made a significant breakthrough in connecting an element of the Sinaloa Cartel to the massive cargo theft network that has been plaguing Southern California desert rail corridor for much of the last decade, identifying and rolling up now fewer than nine of the criminal enterprise’s participants.
All nine taken into custody on October 16 were Mexican nationals.
In the days following those arrests, investigators were able to glean information relating to operations, participants, the location of its bases of activity, specialized equipment and means of communication which will further cripple the organization.
That organization is a remarkably sophisticated one that utilizes inside operators who have over the last several years insinuated themselves into positions with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe/Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway or Union Pacific railroads or at the Barstow, Colton/Rialto, Needles, Del Rosa San Bernardino, San Bernardino Third Street, Kelso, Kramer, Goffs and Highland railroad yards, and as insiders can provide information as to the contents of railroad cars as well as the location and timing of their transit.
On October 15, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department served a search warrant a home in the 1200 block of East 35th Street
The investigation by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has focused on an organized criminal network purportedly tied to the Sinaloa Cartel that is allegedly responsible for burglaries targeting the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway trains, resulting in millions of dollars’ worth of stolen property, the department said in a news release.
On October 16, members of the Sheriff’s department’s rural crime task force, supported by the sheriff’s specialized enforcement division, served a search warrant at a residence with the 1235 E 35th Street San Bernardino, where Jose Edgar Navarrete, 24; Brian Iran Fontes-Carrillo, 27; Mauro Ruiz-Medina, 30; Pastor Pena-Lerma, 43; Alfredo Israel Covarrubias-Navarrete, 24; Jose Alfredo Castillo-Baca, 24; Jose Ismael Palafox-Bernal, 18; Cesar Daniel Navarrete-Martinez, 31; and Cristian Erubiel Navarrete-Zapien, 23 were arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Ruiz-Medina is being held on a no bail USM warrant out of Los Angeles County.
Covarrubias-Navarrete is also charged with HS11370.1(A) possession of a controlled substance while armed. His bail has been set at a combined $ 40,000.
During the search of the premises and at least four vehicles associated with the arrestees, investigators came across and recovered more than $333,000 worth of alleged stolen retail merchandise. including JBL speakers, Logitech computer hardware, Victoria Secret products, Nike and New Balance shoes, according to the department.
Authorities further discovered and seized tools used to access cargo cars, four semiautomatic handguns, a drone used for surveillance and cash.
After separating the suspects and interrogating them, the detectives had varying degrees of success in learning from them the individual roles they played in the train burglary operations and how they articulated with the overall scheme. They have been charged with PC487H(A) grand theft of cargo worth in excess of $950; two counts of PC496(A) receiving property known to be stolen; and PC182(A)(1) conspiracy to commit a crime. They were booked into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino and are being held in lieu of $30,000 bail, a relatively minor bond amount as part of the investigative process, as it is believed that other members of the organization they are involved with will be involved in throwing the bail, which will allow for them and their associates to be identified.
All nine of those arrested were determined to be members of the Sinaloa cartel, and are believed to be in the country as apart of the support network of a wider conspiracy to import fentanyl into the United States.
The sheriff’s department’s operation was coordinated with other law enforcement agencies to a degree that rivaled, indeed exceeded t, the sophistication of the criminal organization that is being targeted.
For more than a year, Southern California law enforcement agencies have recognized that highly organized
thefts involving international criminals targeting railroad cargo cars in San Bernardino County and elsewhere in San Bernardino County have been intensifying.
According to a statement from the Association of American Railroads put out earlier this year, “In recent years, organized criminal groups have increasingly targeted the nation’s railroads using sophisticated tactics and technology to commit cargo theft.”
Beginning last fall, an intensified crackdown on railroad cargo theft has been pursued by a multitude of agencies and entities, including the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Police as well as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
On October 1, 2025, 17 people, at least 14 of whom were Mexican nationals at that time living in Hesperia, Victorville another desert locations, were arrested for engaging in train car theft. On October 6, 2025 another 14 individuals involved in railroad car thefts were arrested in or around a residence located in the 14600 block of Willow Street in Hesperia. On 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, the 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 in Los Angeles County relating to the ongoing investigation into train burglaries in the Victor Valley area, including ones in the 4900 block of Mason Street in Southgate, the 7800 Block of Rose Street in Paramount, in the 7000 Block of San Luis Street in Paramount and in the 14900 Block of Downey Avenue in Paramount. As a result of those searches property stolen from Burlington Northern Santa Fe cares worth at least $2,118,459,20 was recovered. Taken into custody during that 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.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department personnel responded to or interrupted cargo stealing operations along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail lines between Devore in the Cajon Pass and in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County on May 5, June 16, August 17 and August 24 of this year.
According to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “armed crews of mostly illegal Mexican immigrants have looted many hundreds of millions of dollars in easily fenced merchandise from the railcars, financially strengthening one of Mexico’s most murderous drug trafficking syndicates.”
The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that evidence has been presented as part of “several federal court cases [that] the Sinaloa Cartel posts merchandise spotters at sea and airports to watch the trains load up with the likes of Nike shoes and electronics. They send notes about the valuable train cars to separate mobile robbing crews who drive ahead on the rail routes and wait.”
Operation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in March recovered $7 million in stolen goods and led to nine arrests of foreign nationals breaking into rail cars. The previous month, the Los Angeles Police Department arrest five Mexican nations who specialized in stealing from rail cars. They were found to be in possession of $5 million worth of stolen merchandise.