PENSACOLA, FLORIDA — A truck driver was arrested at a Florida agriculture inspection station after officers recognized his vehicle from a BOLO alert tied to a sophisticated fuel theft operation spanning multiple counties, discovering a magnetic device used to steal diesel fuel concealed under his steering wheel.

Officers at the Florida Agriculture Inspection Station in Pensacola spotted a blue semi-truck pulling a refrigerated trailer that matched the description in a BOLO linked to an organized fuel theft ring operating across Santa Rosa, Escambia, and Walton Counties. Officers selected the truck for a regulatory inspection and identified the driver as Alain De Jesus Aguila-Martinez using his Florida Commercial Driver's License.

During the inspection, an Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement K9 unit conducted a free-air sniff around Aguila-Martinez's 2002 Freightliner semi-truck and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered a large magnet concealed under the driver's steering wheel. The magnet was identified as a device commonly used to manipulate fuel pump solenoids, enabling the unauthorized theft of diesel fuel.

Further investigation revealed that Aguila-Martinez had active arrest warrants for multiple felony charges, including Organized Fraud, Retail Fuel Theft Tampering, and Petit Theft. He was taken into custody by OALE Agricultural Inspection Officers and transported to the Escambia County Jail, where he now faces felony charges of Larceny — Tampering with/Removing a Retail Fuel Dispenser. The investigation into the organized fuel theft ring operating across Santa Rosa, Escambia, and Walton Counties remains ongoing.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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