{"id":213247,"date":"2026-03-31T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213247\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:02:07","slug":"14k-worth-of-stolen-tools-recovered-after-martin-county-deputies-stop-fleeing-suspects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/213247\/","title":{"rendered":"$14K worth of stolen tools recovered after Martin County deputies stop fleeing suspects"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A tool theft escalated into a pursuit when deputies said they used stop sticks and a PIT maneuver to arrest two suspects and recover more than $14,000 in stolen equipment.<\/p>\n

The Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> announced the arrests on Tuesday, and said the incident began at a business along SW Ellipse Way, where a work truck was targeted by a pair of traveling thieves. The business owner noticed suspicious activity around a trailer and quickly contacted deputies, a move authorities say helped stop the crime in progress.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office announced the arrests on Tuesday, and said the incident began at a business along SW Ellipse Way, where a work truck was targeted by a pair of traveling thieves. The business owner noticed suspicious activity around a trailer and quickly contacted deputies, a move authorities say helped stop the crime in progress. (MCSO) <\/p>\n

The sheriff’s office said the suspects broke into the truck and stole thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of tools before leaving the area. Deputies soon located the suspect vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver refused to pull over, prompting a short pursuit.<\/p>\n

The driver was identified as 45-year-old Marcos Andres Balbuena Lopez of Palm Springs. Deputies escalated their response by deploying stop sticks and later using a pursuit intervention technique to bring the vehicle to a controlled stop. Lopez and his passenger, 33-year-old Eyer Cedeno, who told deputies he was homeless, were taken into custody without reported injuries.<\/p>\n

See also: DeSantis signs bill renaming PBI Donald J. Trump International Airport, effective July 1<\/a><\/p>\n

A search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of more than $14,000 worth of stolen tools, along with burglary tools believed to have been used in the theft. Deputies also reported seeing items thrown from the vehicle during the pursuit. That evidence led to the recovery of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office announced the arrests on Tuesday, and said the incident began at a business along SW Ellipse Way, where a work truck was targeted by a pair of traveling thieves. The business owner noticed suspicious activity around a trailer and quickly contacted deputies, a move authorities say helped stop the crime in progress. (MCSO) <\/p>\n

In addition to theft and burglary-related charges, both suspects now face charges connected to narcotics possession and tampering with evidence. Authorities said the stolen tools were returned to the victim, sparing the small business owner significant financial loss.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office credited the victim\u2019s quick call for helping deputies recover the property and take the suspects off the road. Lopez and Cedeno were booked into the Martin County Jail<\/a>, and the case remains under review by the State Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A tool theft escalated into a pursuit when deputies said they used stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-213247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}