2 out-of-state men arrested after series of crimes at Midway Truck Plaza in northwestern Berks
Two out-of-state men are in Berks County Prison after being connected to property crimes at the Midway Truck Plaza that Bethel Township police discovered after a trucker found one of them sleeping in his ransacked cab.
On Thursday about 3 p.m., police were called to a parking lot of the Exxon gas station in the 300 block of Midway Road at the Interstate 78 Bethel interchange. The trucker who called for police said he had locked the truck tractor after parking it the previous night and when he returned it was running and someone was inside.
According to court records:
Raudel Lara-Valdes, 41, of Tampa, Fla., was in the sleeper compartment when a policeman arrived. The vehicle had been ransacked, with items removed from every compartment.
The in-cab video camera was ripped off the dashboard and the SD card removed, rendering it inoperable.
Found inside the truck tractor were keys to various truck tractors, from Western Star to Kenworth to Peterbilt models.
It appeared Lara-Valdes had opened and begun to eat a microwaveable pasta meal belonging to the operator.
Lara-Valdes was taken into custody, but police learned of other crimes at businesses in the area.
While trying to determine how Lara-Valdes got there, the suspect pointed to another truck parked on the opposite side of the lot. That truck, a blue Peterbilt tractor, bore a license plate that belonged on another truck.
In the sleeper cab of the blue truck was Yorkiel Crespo-Garcia, 34, of Kearny, N.J.
Hitched to the tractor was a trailer owned by Horning’s Market of Bethel and was last parked at the company’s warehouse property at 9521 Old Route 22, about 2 miles west of the Midway intersection.
Crespo-Garcia was arrested for being in possession of a stolen trailer.
Police contacted the owner of Horning’s. Further investigation revealed the same blue Peterbilt tractor was seen entering the Horning’s Market warehouse property about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Lara-Valdes was also seen trespassing on the property at the same time the trailer was hitched to the tractor and driven away.
While on this call, an overnight burglary was reported by Trainer’s Midway Diner, about a quarter-mile from where the trailer was recovered. Someone had entered the restaurant while it was closed and moved arcade machines and fixtures.
One of the burglars left a mobile phone behind in the kitchen. When police called Lara-Valdes’ cellphone number, the phone recovered from the restaurant rang.
Lara-Valdes was charged with burglary, theft by unlawful taking, theft from a motor vehicle, criminal mischief and loitering and prowling at nighttime.
Crespo-Garcia was charged with theft by unlawful taking.
Both men were committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail each to await a hearing following arraignment Thursday night before District Judge David L. Yoch in Reading Central Court.
