Charges filed against men arrested in auto parts store burglary
Criminal complaints were filed Tuesday in Yuma Justice Court against the two men arrested in connection to the burglary of an auto parts store.
Appearing in separate hearings, 42-year-old Patrick Valdez and 20-year-old Angel Delgadillo were each informed of the charges against them by Justice of the Peace Greg Stewart.
They were both each charged with one count of burglary and one count of criminal damage.
Additionally, Delgadillo has four other pending misdemeanor cases and was out of custody under pretrial supervision when he committed the new offenses.
When the matter of release conditions was addressed during Delgadillo’s hearing, attorney Zachery Dumyhan, of the Yuma County Legal Defender’s Office, asked that it be significantly lowered, or his client released to pretrial services.
He argued that the $100,000 bond as currently set is far higher than the $12,5000 amount the prosecution had recommended.
Dumyhan said his client was asked that bonds in the amount of $100 be set on his other misdemeanor cases so he could be in custody on all of the matters against him.
Stewart denied the requests, stating that Delgadillo was entitled to have a conditions of release hearing later on in Superior Court.
As for Valdez, attorney Ray Hanna, the Interim Director of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, asked that his client’s $50,000 bond be reduced since he had no recent criminal history.
Stewart denied Hanna’s request as well and ordered that attorneys be appointed to represent them.
He also scheduled their next court appearances for 4 p.m. on May 2 for preliminary hearings.
Their cases will likely go before the grand jury before then. If that happens, their next hearings will be in Yuma County Superior Court.
According to Yuma police, the incident happened at approximately 11 p.m. April 21 with officers responding to the AutoZone, located at 1712 W. 8th St., in reference to a commercial burglary in progress.
Upon their arrival, officers saw a Ford Explorer leaving the parking lot and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 1800 block of West 7th Street.
Delgadillo, who was allegedly a passenger in the vehicle, fled on foot, but was soon located in the 600 block of 19th Avenue. Valdez has been identified as the alleged driver of the Ford Explorer.
Evidence of the burglary was also located in the vehicle.
The investigation into the burglary showed that a man broke a window and entered the store, which set off an alarm.
Shortly afterwards the same man left the store carrying several boxes.
He then got into the front passenger seat of a Ford Explorer that had been waiting in the parking lot. Witnesses gave a description of the vehicle and the man who entered the building.
There were no reports of any injuries, but over $1,000 in damages was reported.