Overview
- Investigators set up an undercover rental sting after learning a local business was being targeted and arrested 50-year-old Jaime Sanchez Valdez when he tried to rent a $37,000 mini excavator using a false identity and a fraudulent credit card.
- A search warrant at a Prunedale property produced a skid steer reported stolen from Quinn Company in November 2025, a stolen forklift and a four-stall luxury restroom trailer, with recovered items valued at about $300,000.
- Forty-four-year-old Hazael Corona Andrade was arrested at the Prunedale search and booked on suspicion of theft by false pretenses, possession of stolen property, grand theft and conspiracy with bail set at $37,500.
- The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Agricultural Crimes Unit is leading the investigation and said detectives will continue working with local rental businesses and allied agencies to identify suspects and recover property.
- Equipment thefts target high-value, movable machinery that can be rented and resold, experts say, and the recovery of items tied to a November theft suggests the operation may span months and could lead to more arrests and tighter vetting by local contractors.