Del City Police arrest man accused of lawn mower theft in broad daylight
DEL CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – Del City Police have arrested a man accused of stealing multiple lawn mowers from homes within blocks of each other.
Police said the alleged crimes happened May 13th. According to police, the first lawn mower, valued at $450, was stolen around 12:30 p.m. the same afternoon.
Police said that mower was taken to a pawn shop right across the street from the police department later in the afternoon. Court documents say the manager of the pawn shop noticed the lawn mower looked identical to one that was reported stolen on a Facebook page and to police.
Documents say the manager took a picture of suspect Michael Salinas' ID and of the mower; ultimately refusing the sale. Documents say the manager called and spoke to the victim and notified her the mower had been brought in.
News 4 spoke with one of the victims named in court documents, Guadalupe Baza, who said her mower was the one brought to the pawn shop.
Baza said her security cameras caught Salinas coming onto her property to steal the lawn mower from her backyard. Baza said her daughter was able to snap multiple pictures of the van and license plate as it was leaving.
"I always had my lawn mower out," said Baza. "I've never had an issue here, and it was just crazy that it was like in the backyard and that's when it ended up being stolen."
Documents and police say a second call was received about a stolen lawn mower from a home three blocks away from Baza on the same day of the initial theft. Documents say that lawn mower was valued at $1,000 and stolen out of the victim's front yard.
"I just hate that people work so hard for the things that they got and people just go and they just take it," said Baza.
Police told News 4 they were able to make an arrest because of the pictures Baza shared, which enabled FLOCK cameras to find Salinas' van.
Documents say Salinas was arrested May 16th and admitted during an interview the same day that he stole both Baza's and the other victim's lawn mower.
Salinas also admitted to using Facebook to sell one of the lawn mowers.
Salinas was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail.
The Oklahoma County District Attorney's has charged him with grand larceny, violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, possessing stolen property and Petit Larceny.