Former Inland Empire UPS Driver Sentenced for Stealing Gun Shipments

By City News Service:

A former UPS driver who stole dozens of rifles and pistols that he was supposed to deliver to Inland Empire retail outlets but instead sold on the black market was sentenced today to 3 1/2 years in federal prison.

Curtis Ivory Hays, 37, of Rancho Cucamonga was convicted in January of the 15 felony counts on which he was indicted, including theft of firearms in interstate commerce, conspiracy, possession of stolen firearms and receipt of goods stolen in interstate commerce.

Riverside-based U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips imposed the sentence recommended by the federal Office of Probation, which found that because Hays lacked prior convictions, he was eligible for a low-term sentence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed that the 41-month term was acceptable -- despite the fact that the defendant could have faced up to 115 years behind bars.

In addition to prison, Phillips ordered that Hays serve three years of supervised release.

His co-defendant, 35-year-old Dennis Dell White of Moreno Valley, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit a felony and is slated to be sentenced on May 4.

In December 2010 and again between May and August 2012, the longtime friends worked in concert to steal and fence 72 guns, as well as jewelry and mobile phones -- all carried aboard one of the UPS delivery trucks that Hays drove, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He had worked for UPS more than 15 years by the time he was fired in January 2013.

In court papers, prosecutors alleged Hays would depart his Ontario- Rancho Cucamonga route to rendezvous with White, sometimes in Moreno Valley, where firearms were taken off the delivery truck and placed in White’s possession.

Prosecutors said White would either sell the stolen guns himself or turn them over to friends to sell for him and Hays.

Most of the stolen merchandise was bound for Turner’s Outdoorsman, a mega sporting goods outlet alongside Interstate 15 in Rancho Cucamonga. A few of the guns, however, were supposed to be delivered to other retail establishments, including Costco.

Among the stolen guns were 34 Kimber .45-caliber semiautomatic pistols, five Benelli Super Nova 12-gauge shotguns and 20 Browning .22-caliber Buck Mark pistols. According to the prosecution, investigators have since recovered four of the stolen guns.

One of the .22 pistols was used by a wanted felon, Isaac Arriaga, during a pursuit that began in Moreno Valley and ended in Baldwin Park. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlo DiCesare, Arriaga shot at California Highway Patrol officers during the chase, narrowly missing them. He ultimately surrendered.

After Arriaga’s July 2012 arrest, federal agents began investigating how the convicted felon had obtained the handgun, culminating in the identification of Hays and White, according to court papers.

Ontario police and agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pieced together the case after several months, seizing mobile phone records, as well as items stored by the two defendants at their homes and other locations.

In text messages downloaded from White’s phone, he bragged about selling “anything that’s not bolted down” and referred to several alleged stolen rifles as his “new toys,” according to the government’s trial brief.

Hays’ attorneys maintained that he was not a participant in the thefts, implying that the firearms could have been stolen anywhere along the supply and delivery chain.

(Image via Shutterstock)