A 37-year-old Silver Springs man was arrested after he was accused of stealing a pickup truck with two dogs in the back seat.
On Sunday, August 21, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office corporal and deputy responded to the 18100 block of SE 24th Street in reference to a stolen vehicle.
Upon arrival, the corporal made contact with the male victim who stated that he had left his vehicle, a 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, running in the driveway for approximately five minutes to keep his two dogs in the air conditioning while he was inside his home. The victim stated that one of his dogs is a black pit bull mix and the other is a brown pit bull mix.
While inside his residence, the victim stated that he observed his pickup truck as it began to slowly back out of the driveway. His truck then headed westbound on SE 24th Street towards SE 183rd Avenue Road. The victim told the corporal that a neighbor across the street might have video footage showing the suspect.
The corporal made contact with the neighbor who advised that a man, later identified as Daniel Lopez Aguilar, was walking westbound on the road in front of the victim’s residence shortly before the vehicle theft.
The neighbor showed the corporal a still image that showed the suspect, though the image did not clearly show the suspect’s face. The MCSO report indicates that the corporal then watched the video footage from the neighbor’s security camera, and it showed the victim’s pickup truck backing out of the driveway at 10:52 a.m. on Sunday.
While the corporal was at the victim’s residence, MCSO received a call for service from a woman who stated that an unknown man had “let himself into her home with a black dog.” The woman advised that the man did not say anything when she tried speaking with him, but she stated that he was “muttering Spanish words that she did not understand.”
The woman told MCSO that the man left her residence with the black dog. When she walked around her property, she advised that she found a brown dog that did not belong to her.
An MCSO deputy responded to the area and located the victim’s pickup truck at the intersection of SE 115th Terrace and SE 185th Terrace. The pickup truck was unoccupied and the engine was running. The deputy took the keys from the ignition.
According to the MCSO report, a passerby flagged down the deputy and stated that a man was observed walking down the street with a dog. The deputy located Lopez Aguilar, and he was walking with a black pit bull. The deputy gave Lopez Aguilar multiple commands to stop, which he ignored. After deploying a Taser, the deputy detained Lopez Aguilar.
The victim was contacted and later confirmed that both dogs that were found belonged to him.
A Spanish-speaking deputy read Lopez Aguilar his Miranda rights. Lopez Aguilar admitted that he took the victim’s pickup truck, but he initially claimed to not remember if both of the dogs were in the vehicle. He then admitted to the deputy that he was aware of the dogs, and he stated that he brought them across the street because he thought they needed water.
Lopez Aguilar was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $10,000 bond. He is facing felony charges for grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft (over $300 but less than $5,000), and unarmed burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, along with a misdemeanor charge for resisting an officer without violence.
A court date has been scheduled on Tuesday, September 20 at 9 a.m., according to jail records.