Three men are locked up in Schuylkill County Prison after they stole 2 skill games from a store in Shenandoah.
Juan Reyes Valdez, 24, of Reading, Ezequiel Acevado, 26, of Bronx, NY, and Atahualpa De La Cruz, 41, of Bronx, NY have all been charged with 2 counts of felony theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.
According to the documents filed Shenandoah Police Officer Matthew Williams, on Wednesday, August 21st, 2024, around 7:30pm, he along with Officer Parker received a dispatch to the Boyer's Food Markert on West Centre Street for a theft in progress of a PA Games of Skills Machine.
Dispatch was able to provide a description of the vehicle involved which was reported as being a white Chevrolet Van with New York Registration with 3 males inside and it was traveling south towards Frackville. A witness of incident also followed the vehicle.
A short time later, Officer Hysock from West Mahanoy Township Police located the vehicle in the area of Oak Street and Lehigh Avenue.
Officer Hysock, along with Frackville and State Police units, pulled the vehicle over and took the 3 individuals, Acevado, De La Cruz, and Valdez, into custody.
Inside the van, two PA Games of Skill Machines were found inside. Each valued at $3,700. The manager from Boyers confirmed they were machines from the store.
Witnesses told police that all three were seen wheeling the machines from the store and placing them in the van, which had no registration on it at the time of the theft.
It wasn't until they got to Frackville, pulled over, then placed the New York registration back on the vehicle.
They then pulled back out and would later be stopped by police.
After being taken back to the Shenandoah Police Station for questioning, it was found that Acevado and De La Cruz were not legally in the United States as per US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
All three were arraigned by on-call Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer on the above charges and locked up in Schuylkill County Prison on $100,000 straight cash bail.