Trucker Arrested in Shooting of Burglary Suspects

Truck driver Fernando Sancho, a rifle at his side, was sleeping early Monday morning in a rig packed with $250,000 worth of frozen seafood when the would-be thieves came. A repeat victim like many truckers, Sancho chased the raiders and didn’t stop shooting until they fell, police said.

The 39-year-old independent trucker was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly chasing and gunning down two men who no longer posed a threat to him or his cargo. The two men were hospitalized Monday with serious injuries that were not life-threatening. They were arrested, along with a third man, on suspicion of attempted burglary. All three were unarmed, police said.

The roadside showdown comes at a time when cargo theft is running rampant and police and the industry are searching for answers. The FBI estimates that cargo heists total $3.5 billion a year nationwide, and Southern California is the leading hub for the crime and the black markets that support it.

For truck drivers, especially the independents whose entire livelihood can ride on one expensive shipment, the harsh realities have compelled them to arm themselves in record numbers, ride in pairs or simply abandon the career.

“They’re moving targets, and it’s more lucrative than bank robbery,” said Deborah Whistler, managing editor of Truckers News, an Orange County-based magazine sold at truck stops nationwide. “The drivers are beaten, shot, found dead in their rigs. And the loot is on wheels. Ready to go.”

Most often, the merchandise is taken in burglaries and inside jobs, and, while high-tech goods are the priciest loot, food is the No. 1 target in tonnage. “You can’t put a serial number on meat,” one industry advocate said.

It was seafood that Sancho was protecting as he snoozed in the pale-pink cab of his big rig. He and a friend, Jorge Mendoza, picked up the seafood in Florida last week and planned to transport it to Los Angeles on Monday. On Sunday, Sancho dropped Mendoza off in the San Fernando Valley and headed to his La Habra home for a shower and change before parking his truck for the night in the 1000 block of South Beach Boulevard near Imperial Highway.

The spot in a dense, commercial strip is the closest area convenient to Sancho’s home and a common--but not necessarily safe--one for truckers. Sancho himself recently recounted to a friend how he arrived at the spot once before to find his rig and cargo had vanished.

“He warned me to be careful because I park my rig there once a week when I stop in to have lunch with my mom,” said trucker Jimmy Avalon, 40, of Las Cruces, N.M. “Robberies happen all the time. Things aren’t like they used to be. You have to be careful. You can’t stop and help anybody like you used to.”

It was about 1:30 a.m. Monday when Sancho heard stirrings outside his rig, according to the account he gave police investigators. A shattered truck window suggests he may have shot at the intruders outside, who then ran away. Sancho climbed down and chased the three men across the parking lot, apparently firing steadily, according to police and witnesses.

“At first I ran to the window. . . . He was walking slow and had a gun,” said Gerry Powers, a lodger at a Sunset Inn across the street who was awakened by the shots. “I didn’t know who was shooting what. For all I knew, it was someone on a shooting rampage.”

The three suspects--later identified by police as Joel Montes, 20; Fernando Avilia, 21; and Alfonzo Rodriguez, 27, all of Los Angeles--made it to their car and drove to an all-night Fullerton warehouse, where someone called paramedics.

Avilia and Rodriguez were treated for gunshot wounds at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, according to La Habra Police Capt. John Rees, who said the hand and shoulder injuries are serious but not life-threatening. The men were unarmed, police said.

A friend said Sancho acted out of fear and the memory of bitter losses in a previous raid at the same spot in La Habra, but police said his actions overstepped the bounds of self-defense.

“People don’t have the right to take a life for property,” La Habra Lt. Jerry Cline said. “What value do you put on a human life?”

The three suspects were booked on suspicion of attempted burglary, while Sancho was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The case was immediately turned over to the district attorney’s office’s special assignment unit. No decision had been made Monday about what charge prosecutors would pursue, assistant Dist. Atty. John D. Conley said.

The fact that Sancho could, if convicted, face far more prison time than the suspected would-be thieves was a source of consternation for some within the trucking industry who are grappling with rampant crime.

“That’s terrible,” said Gail Toth, executive director of a security issues committee for the American Trucking Assn. in Virgina. “Are they seriously going to charge him? That’s his life they were trying to steal. He was just mad. I hope somebody takes that into account. Drivers do what they have to to protect their investments and their lives.”

More and more, truckers are driving in tandem, using sophisticated alarms and satellite tracking systems and bringing dogs with them on their long hauls to stave off the threat of theft, Whistler said.

Whistler’s magazine published a 1995 series on trucker safety that estimated that more than 70% of truckers are packing weapons--although they drive through states that may forbid the practice. In California, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

“They’re scared,” Whistler said. “It’s a scary life. They have to park and pick up cargo in the most seedy areas in the worst parts of town. The underbelly of the world is where they do business.”

Sophisticated thieves and hijackers shadow drivers and learn their routines, where they park, sleep and eat, and then pick the most opportune time to strike, said Sgt. Harvey Smith, part of a California Highway Patrol statewide cargo theft team.

“Truckers are creatures of habit, and [thieves] use that against them,” Smith said. The merchandise is then ferried to a warehouse or remote area, where the cargo is carved up and parceled out through a network of small merchants, swap shops and street dealers.

Food--especially seafood--is a popular target. Smith said he worked a case in which police seized two pallets of stolen crab meat worth $65,000. The commodity moves quickly and is nearly impossible to trace.

Southern California is the ripest market of all for cargo thefts, with a mountain of merchandise arriving every day through Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, along with the region’s airports and latticework of freeways. Computers, televisions, perfume, designer clothes--all of it is moving and vanishing throughout the area every week.

“It’s a growth industry, unfortunately,” said Lt. Joe Lista, a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Cargo Criminal Apprehension Team, which has arrested 800 suspects in seven years and seized $120 million worth of stolen property.

The lack of standardized reporting among agencies makes it impossible to get a handle on the exact size of the problem, but some local law enforcement experts estimate that $1 million worth of cargo is stolen every day.

Avalon, who saw his friend jailed Monday after yet another heist turned into something worse, had one piece of advice for truckers driving with valuable merchandise: “Don’t stop.”

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Taking Down Trucks

The California Highway Patrol has been tracking reported cargo thefts, but because police agencies have no uniform reporting system for the crime, the following data may represent only one-fifth of the actual cases:

Cargo Thefts

Cargo Value (in millions)

Vehicles Stolen

* Through May 26

Note: Number of vehicles includes trucks, trailers and/or containers

Source: California Highway Patrol