A Coachella man was arrested after deputies say he called in threats and false reports of violence at two Coachella Valley big box stores and then proceeded to steal from the stores after they were evacuated, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies arrested 43-year-old Carlos Alberto Contreras at a home in Coachella on Thursday, May 15. He was formally charged on Friday, May 16 with falsely reporting an emergency, falsely reporting a bomb threat and two counts of committing petty theft after previously being convicted of theft. The charges also carry enhancements that were applied because Contreras has prior convictions and was on probation at the time of the alleged crimes.
The sheriff’s department said in a press release that the first of the two false reporting incidents occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Monday, May 5, when deputies were dispatched to a store in the 79900 block of Highway 111 in La Quinta after someone called in an anonymous bomb threat. The store was evacuated and searched before being reopened after the bomb threat was determined to be unfounded. While the department did not identify the store, the described address is the location of a Home Depot.
Then, on Monday, May 12, someone called police and anonymously reported that a mass shooting was occurring at what the sheriff’s department described as “a large retail store” in Indio. As with the first incident, the store was evacuated before officers ultimately determined no shooting had occurred. The release did not identify the suspect store in that incident.
Deputies following investigative leads eventually determined that the same suspect, who they identified as Contreras, had made both calls to 911 with the aim of getting the stores evacuated so that he could steal what the department described as “high-value merchandise.” The department did not say what Contreras is alleged to have stolen, but he was charged with “petty theft,” the charge for theft of property whose value does not exceed $950.
Contreras pled not guilty to the charges Friday, May 16. He remained in jail in Riverside Friday night on a $100,000 bond.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development, business and, occasionally, music festivals in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Man arrested for falsely reporting bomb, shooting at Coachella Valley stores to rob them
Reporting by Paul Albani-Burgio, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
