About 7 a.m. on May 1, a Bern Township police officer on Route 183 observed a car passing a school bus with its stop lights activated.
After stopping the car, he discovered that the vehicle’s registration plate was supposed to be on a different vehicle.
With a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the car’s open window, the officer requested permission to search the car. The driver, Anthony Lara-Jimenez, 27, Reading, denied the request, according to police..
Police had the car towed to the impoundment area at the Bern Township Police Department while investigators obtained a search warrant.
All four occupants of the vehicle told police they had just finished work at an Amazon warehouse.
Besides a small amount of marijuana, police searching the car’s back seat found 54 Apple AirPod 4 wireless earpods inside a clear lunch bag wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt.
The AirPods, valued at $179 each, had a combined retail value of nearly $10,000. Police learned they had been reported stolen from the Amazon distribution center where the group worked.
According to court records:
Lara-Jimenez, who failed a field sobriety test, was arrested at the scene of the traffic stop on suspicion of DUI and transported to a hospital for a chemical blood test. He was released and subsequently charged with DUI, illegal passing of a school bus, driving under a suspended license and possessing an offensive weapon — a tomahawk found under the driver’s seat.
Serial numbers of the AirPods were compared with the distribution center’s stolen inventory. Surveillance footage showed Alberson Heredia, 23, Reading, who was one of the passengers, had smuggled the merchandise out of the distribution center in the sweatshirt inside the clear lunch bag. The footage showed him walking around the warehouse with Lara-Jimenez, who was determined to have been involved in the theft.
Heredia and Lara-Jimenez were charged with felony grades of receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
Heredia was taken into custody on Feb. 24. He was held for court after a preliminary hearing on March 3 before District Judge Brian Strand in Bern Township. He is free while awaiting a disposition hearing scheduled for April.
Lara-Jimenez was arrested Thursday by Reading police. He was arraigned on all charges before District Judge Gail M. Greth in Reading Central Court. He was committed to Berks County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bail to await hearings in both criminal cases. Information on how he was taken into custody was unavailable.