ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A Florida resident suspected of orchestrating a multi-state burglary spree totaling thousands in stolen merchandise is now in custody after being arrested in Wentzville.
Investigators allege that Yoandry Rodriguez-Mirabal, 42, of suburban Miami, and another man were inside the Home Depot store in Wentzville on Thursday, when they began hiding nearly $3,200 in power tools inside of a plastic tote that they were pushing inside of a shopping cart. The two men then put the lid onto the plastic tote.
While the other man distracted a store clerk, Rodriguez-Mirabal pushed the cart outside and loaded the items into a van, according to court documents. The men then left the area.
A short time later, Wentzville Police Department officers stopped the vehicle. During the traffic stop, authorities learned that Rodriguez-Mirabal was in the country illegally.
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"(He) is in the country illegally and has already been detained by ICE on two separate occasions. Rodriguez-Mirabal was traveling with no identification and refused to identify himself, forcing officers to use facial recognition software to identify him," Wentzville Police Detective Scott Gruswitz wrote in court documents.
Records do not disclose Rodriguez-Mirabal's home country and officials with the Wentzville Police Department did not respond to interview requests.
After officers learned that Rodriguez-Mirabal had an arrest warrant issued in Florida, they detained him and began to search his vehicle. Inside the van, they found the tools stolen from the Wentzville store and an additional $24,000 in suspected stolen tools from other stores.
Officials are still investigating what states and stores the other tools were stolen from, according to court records.
Rodriguez-Mirabal has been charged with one count of stealing items valued at more than $750. He is scheduled to be arraigned in a St. Charles County courtroom on Wednesday.
He is being held at the St. Charles County Jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.
