By Shannon Lukens.
Two men are in the Routt County Jail today after allegedly being involved in a large theft of fuel at a gas station on 13th Street in Steamboat Springs.
Steamboat Springs Police Commander Rich Brown says detectives from the special assignment team with the police department had been aware of fuel thefts so they were watching for unusual activity. Fuel was being stolen in large amounts, from gas stations, typically using stolen credit cards.
They became aware of a large box truck that was at the Pilot gas station overnight Thursday, for an unusually long amount of time. They stopped the box truck when it left the gas station. The driver and the passenger allegedly gave fictitious identifications, according to Brown. The truck was seized and a search warrant was acquired. Steamboat Springs Police found six large stock tanks in the truck, full of fuel.
Brown says over 750 gallons of fuel had been taken Thursday overnight from the local gas station. The financial loss was over $30K total, over time.
Fingerprints were submitted to confirm the real identity of the two men arrested. They are:
- Osnel Perez Palacio – Theft-Intends to deprive owner permanently, 3rd degree burglary, conspiracy to commit, possessed fictitious or fraudulent driver’s license/instruction permit, drove without valid commercial drivers license, display expired license plate. He has a status conference at 1:45 p.m. on Monday in Routt County Courtroom 1A.
- David Caboverde – Theft-intends to deprive owner permanently, 3rd degree burglary, and conspiracy to commit. He has a status conference at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 in Routt County Courtroom 1A.
We have requested mug shots.
The vehicle in the picture is unrelated to his incident.