A 40-year-old Orange man was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 16 on suspicion of the theft of three Humvee vehicles, 18 bayonets and various other pieces of military equipment from an Army Reserve Center in Tustin, according to the Tustin Police Department.
The suspect has been identified as Alfredo Reyes Jr., police announced on Wednesday, Jan. 29. An initial release from the department indicated “unknown suspects” had entered the reserve center, but no information regarding potential involvement of others was available.
On Jan. 8, suspects entered a warehouse at the Army Reserve Center between 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Storage lockers in the warehouse were found with removed locks and gear gone from inside, including the bayonets, eight machine gun vehicle mounts, seven free-standing machine gun tripods, 40 pairs of binoculars and medical equipment, according to the Tustin Police Department’s Facebook post.
The fence surrounding a military vehicle parking lot was also cut and three Humvees were stolen: two soft sided vehicles and one armored.
A uniform storage area was also found with an unsuccessfully cut lock.
On Jan. 11, the two soft sided Humvees were found in Orange and Santa Ana.
The armored Humvee and other stolen equipment were recovered during the investigation when detectives served search warrants in Orange alongside the Irvine-Tustin SWAT Team, Army Criminal Investigations Division and Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad, Tustin police said.
Information regarding the locations where the vehicles and property were recovered, a potential motive and whether or not there are other suspects involved was not immediately available.