Thief Boosts $20K Of Tools From Ford Dealer In Santa Cruz County

Police arrested a 43-year-old man this morning on suspicion of stealing about $20,000 worth of tools from a Ford dealership in Watsonville, according to the Watsonville Police Department.

A dispatcher sent officers to Marty Franich Ford-Lincoln at 550 Auto Center Drive at about 2:10 a.m. where officers arrested Benjamin Sanchez, police said. Police said they arrested Sanchez after he finished loading the tools into the back of a Dodge van.

Police said they were tipped off to the burglary after getting a report that an alarm was going off in the upper mechanic’s shop. When officers arrived they saw the van with its rear door open and a man dressed in black taking tools from the shop and putting them in the van.

Police and Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies set up a perimeter before attempting to arrest Sanchez, police said. Police said they booked Sanchez into the county jail on suspicion of commercial burglary, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Employees of Marty Franich Ford-Lincoln came to the shop after police made the arrest and said the tools in Sanchez’s van belong to the business or employees of the dealership, police said.

Anyone with information about the incident is being asked to call the Watsonville Police Department at (831) 471-1151, the department’s investigation’s bureau at (831) 768-3352 or the anonymous tip line at (831) 768-3544.

--Bay City News