Arizona train heist: Nearly $500K in stolen goods recovered after suspect dives into Colorado River
HOLBROOK, AZ - APRIL 17: A Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) freight train travels west as it parallels Route 66 on April 17, 2026 in Holbrook, Arizona. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Two men – A Mesa resident and a Mexican national – are facing felony charges after a dramatic train burglary investigation in western Arizona led to a police chase, a plunge into the Colorado River and the recovery of nearly half a million dollars in stolen cargo, authorities said.
The bust on Thursday is part of a growing, sophisticated criminal trend targeting passing trains across northern and western Arizona, prompting a multi-agency response to disrupt organized railroad heists.
What we know:
The latest investigation began on June 25 around 8:30 a.m. along Interstate 40 in Yucca. Mohave County Sheriff’s deputies and detectives responded to the area to assist BNSF Railway Police with a report of a suspicious vehicle parked near the tracks.
Officers located a box truck hidden deep inside a ravine with its doors wide open. An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter provided air support as officers approached the abandoned, disabled vehicle. On the ground, investigators found dozens of shipping boxes stacked and scattered across the desert floor.
Authorities determined the merchandise had just been ransacked from a container on a passing BNSF train. The recovered goods in the ravine were valued at $194,240.
Called in the big guns
The investigation quickly expanded as Mohave County detectives teamed up with Homeland Security, BNSF Police and neighboring law enforcement agencies.
A major break came farther south when La Paz County Sheriff’s deputies spotted and pulled over a second box truck along Highway 95. During the traffic stop, a passenger inside the truck jumped out and fled on foot. The suspect reportedly dove straight into the Colorado River in a desperate bid to escape before being captured by the law enforcement boating division.
File photo of the Colorado River
The driver of the second truck was found in possession of the vehicle title for the disabled box truck abandoned earlier in the ravine, authorities said. Deputies obtained a search warrant for the second truck and said they found it packed with stolen cargo matching the items taken from the train in Yucca. The additional illicit merchandise found inside the second vehicle was valued at $295,680.
The suspects
The suspects were identified as 22-year-old Gabriel Eusebio Coronel-Guerrero of Mexico and 21-year-old Angel Isaac Ochoa of Mesa. Both men were transported to Lake Havasu City and booked into the Mohave County jail on charges of burglary, theft and trafficking stolen property.
Big picture view:
This marks the second major Arizona railroad heist reported this month. On May 29, thieves targeted a BNSF train near Meteor Crater, resulting in a police chase and the recovery of over $500,000 in stolen cargo—bringing the total amount of train merchandise recovered by state authorities in June to nearly $1 million.
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Arizona BNSF train burglary investigation leads to discovery of over $500K worth of stolen goods: sheriff
Authorities say over a half million dollars worth of stolen goods were recovered after a train was burglarized in northern Arizona.
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office and the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office.