A suspected train theft in Colton, California, ended with police stopping a pickup truck and recovering 350 boxes of Hot Wheels. The Colton Police Department valued the toy cars at $54,000 and said it had arrested one suspect.
The response began around 3 a.m. Thursday, when a caller reported a theft near the end of Maple Street. Audio included in the department’s video captures the caller directing police toward the trains.
“Yeah, they’re robbing the trains down here at the end of Maple Street,” the caller says. An officer positioned himself near South 7th Street and South La Cadena Drive, where he could hear boxes being loaded.
“I can hear them loading up some boxes right now,” he says in the recording. He returned to his patrol vehicle when a black pickup began pulling away.
A Pickup Pulls Away
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Dashcam footage in the police video shows the officer following a black Chevrolet Silverado before pulling it over. The driver stepped out with his hands on his head and was taken into custody without incident.
Each recovered box contained multiple Hot Wheels vehicles. The box count therefore does not represent the total number of individual toy cars recovered.
Police announced the recovery with a pair of puns. “We derailed his plans!” the department wrote, followed by the quantity and value of the merchandise. It closed with, “His wheels weren’t hot enough to get away!”
The suspect was booked into the West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of burglary, possession of stolen property, and grand theft. The department listed the corresponding California Penal Code sections as 459, 496(a), and 487.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.