$133,243 Forfeiture Case Involves Elwood, Joliet

JOLIET, IL — It's rare to see a criminal forfeiture case at the Will County Courthouse topping six figures, but there's one currently out of Elwood. The Will County State's Attorney's Office has asked a judge to declare as forfeited assets $133,243 in U.S. currency as well as a 2016 Honda Pilot belonging to Ruben and Desirea Garza, a pair of Elwood residents.

The high-dollar forfeiture complaint results from a criminal investigation opened last October at the Elwood Police Department. According to the complaint, Police Sgt. Andrew Anderson spoke with the supply security manager for Samsung Electronics America surrounding a past theft at the Neovia Logistics warehouse, 21000 block of Walter Strawn Drive in Elwood.

Back on July 2, 2018, the complaint reads, a large order of 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tablets were loaded onto a semi-trailer operated by XPO Logistics. The merchandise was destined for the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group in Quantico, Virginia.

Eight days later, after the delivery was made, representatives in Virginia "discovered 315 Samsung Galaxy Tablets were missing from the shipment, for a loss of $101,426.85," court records state.

How did the investigation lead back to Elwood, Illinois?

Neovia and XPO determined the driver of the stolen merchandise was XPO Logistics truck driver Ruben Garza "who had picked up the shipment of tablets," court records show. "Garza, who lives in Elwood, Illinois, is a frequent driver from Neovia Logistics in Elwood."

Elwood Police were provided the GPS records for Garza's XPO Logistics truck and Elwood Police later subpoenaed the bank records for Garza and his wife, Desirea Juarez-Garza, according to the forfeiture.

The bank records led Elwood Police to Joliet's Cube Smart Self Storage, "which was in close proximity to the XPO facility where Garza was employed," court papers note. "The GPS records indicated that Ruben Garza drove his truck within a mile of two Cube Smart Self Storage facilities in Joliet and July 2, (2018)."

Bank Probe Yields Clues

According to the complaint, Sgt. Anderson determined that Ruben Garza was putting large sums of money into his Chase bank account, money in excess of what he made as a full-time trucker, "specifically in January and February of 2018, where deposits totaled $93,307.58. In total, the Chase records for Ruben Garza indicated total income from July 2017 to July 2018 of $276,930.90, of which $212,586.30 is not related to his XPO annual salary of $52,410.60."

Elwood Police suspect that Garza was selling Samsung Gear watches on eBay.

"The records provided by eBay and PayPal showed sales of Samsung products totaling $72,996.50 from September 26, 2014 to May 7, 2018 ... Sgt. Anderson searched social media accounts for Ruben Garza and Desirea Juarez-Garza and located a Facebook account belonging to Desirea, which showed photos available to the public of Ruben and Desirea wearing Samsung Gear watches and holding Samsung Galaxy tablets,"' the complaint reads.

Last December and this January, Elwood Police did a stakeout of the Garza property in the 800 block of Laurel Drive, court records show, and police saw "more than one classic car in the open garage of the residence as well as up to five newer model cars parked in and around the residence. All vehicles were registered to Ruben Garza ... it should be noted that a garbage pull on January 14, 2019 recovered Samsung user guides for a television and speaker sound bar."

In March, Joliet Patch reported that three men were facing now criminal charges in connection with the alleged theft of $1 million worth of Samsung merchandise. The three men are Ruben Garza, Paul Calderon, 36, of Chicago, and 36-year-old Joliet resident Jose Sanchez.

Only Sanchez has been taken into custody. Police say the other two men have gone into hiding and have not been located yet.

Because Elwood Police suspect the Garzas were involved in money laundering, Will County's judicial system has been asked to declare a total of $133,352 from two cashiers checks in the Chase Bank account of Ruben Garza and Desirea Juarez-Garza as a police asset.

A court hearing is set for June 12.