Atascosa County’s Operation Longhorn Lockdown leads to multiple felony arrests amid ongoing theft investigations.
SAN ANTONIO — Chris Nava says when he heard sirens, lots of sirens, coming up behind him on South Loop 410 Saturday evening, he started shooting video of the pursuit coming up in his rearview mirror.
“I looked down on the frontage road and I saw a bunch of motion and dust and I heard the sirens,” Nava said. He said he was surprised that the vehicle that was being pursued by law enforcement was a pickup truck hauling a trailer that had already had a rough ride.
“I don’t know how many cops were back there but when I saw him, he was riding on two rims on this side,” said Nava. “The tire blew out on that side. So right here when they got him, he was only down to 1 tire.”
All of this in an effort to catch a suspect that deputies said is part of a group of thieves that have been hitting Atascosa County hard recently.
Chief Deputy Eric Kaiser said, “It’s way out there,” when referring to the isolated area the thieves have been targeting,
Kaiser said multiple arrests have already been made at the location that is near McCoy, a wide spot in the road on FM 541 about 15 miles southeast of Pleasanton, deep in the rolling sandy country.
“Probably some of the people that were arrested knew each other and when one of them made a haul out of there they told their friends and they came back for some more. The place had been hit several times and then we decided that we were going to make a concerted effort to catch the people who’d been going out there and taking things that didn’t belong to them.”
Kaiser said the break in the case came when they decided to install a watchful electronic eye.
“A lot of that credit goes to one of our patrol sergeants, Sergeant Ivan Quintero. He had the idea to put some cameras up and he really took the initiative and was focusing on catching the people,” Kaiser said. Then he added, “Once we had surveillance on the property. We could see every vehicle that went in and out and we would have deputies there pretty quick when somebody went into the property to make sure we caught them on the way out.”
Kaiser said that is exactly what happened Saturday evening, when two suspects pulled up under the watchful eye of a camera. Kaiser said while one suspect was on foot looking for items to steal, his accomplice spotted an oncoming deputy and took off in a pickup and trailer, breaking through a fence and leaving his apparent partner in crime behind.
Atascosa County Sheriff Jake Guerra said even though the area is isolated, thieves shouldn’t assume that it’s open season for property crimes.
“There might be a thought out there in the criminal world that law enforcement might be scarce and it’s not. We’re out there working every day,” Guerra said. Then he added that his people are well familiar with the area and the residents who belong in the area.
“They know who’s supposed to be out there or not and that that leads us to to being able to be successful in catching these criminals,” aid Guerra.
So far, they say they have made at least five felony arrests, and more are expected.
“My investigators out there working it, even today, on recovering some property and making more arrests,” Guerra said. Adding they have recovered many large, valuable items like farm equipment, a boat, a trailer and at least one all terrain vehicle.
They’re calling their effort Operation Longhorn Lockdown and they said they are looking for at least one additional suspect and so far, everyone arrested is not a resident of Atascosa County.
Of the Saturday pursuit, that spanned about 40 miles, from the McCoy area to Loop 410 and South Presa in south San Antonio, Kaiser said they had help from Texas DPS and the Pleasanton Police Department.
DPS Trooper Dila Hidalgo provided a statement that includes details about a crash that happened as the chase moved eastbound on Loop 410: “The suspect continued to evade and as it (the truck) made an illegal left turn on a red light, it struck a black Kia that was stopped at a red light. The driver of the Kia did not have major injuries and refused the ambulance. The suspect then continued to travel on South Presa heading northwest where a TX DPS trooper used his vehicle to terminate the pursuit successfully.”
Kaiser said when the suspect’s truck was forced to a stop, the man tried to run away but he was chased down and taken into custody.
Guerra said the man left behind at the crime scene was also arrested later in the evening when deputies found him wandering in the brush where he had been abandoned.
“We will continue to work at holding those who prey on our residents accountable for their unlawful actions,” Guerra said, adding that anyone with helpful information about suspicious behavior should call 830-769-3434.