Nathan Avalos : Teen Arrested for Pallet Theft: Publix Theft Scheme

Immokalee Teen Arrested for Stealing Pallets from Publix in Cape Coral

An adolescent from Immokalee found himself in trouble with the law after being accused of pilfering pallets from a Publix store in Cape Coral with the intention of selling them to local farmers. The incident took place on Tuesday, May 14, when law enforcement officers, while on patrol, noticed two individuals loading blue pallets onto a trailer attached to a white pickup truck behind the Publix premises.

The two suspects abruptly halted their activity upon spotting the officers and swiftly drove away in their vehicle. Subsequently, the officers initiated a traffic stop as the truck did not have a license plate. The driver, identified as Nathan Avalos, aged 19, claimed to have misplaced the tag for the trailer. When questioned about the pallets, Avalos initially asserted they belonged to him and he was merely fixing them.

However, Avalos eventually confessed that the pallets did not belong to him and he was planning to sell them without authorization from Publix. Accompanying Avalos was a juvenile passenger who was charged with loitering and prowling. Reports indicate that a total of 34 pallets were stolen, with each pallet valued between £20-£65.

Further investigations revealed that Avalos had travelled from Immokalee and intended to sell the stolen pallets to farmers in the same area for £2-£3 each. Mercedes Simonds, a spokesperson for the Cape Coral police, explained that the accumulation of charges, including grand theft, stemmed from their plan to sell the stolen pallets in Immokalee.

Both Avalos and the juvenile passenger admitted that this was not their first time engaging in such criminal activities. Prior to the Publix incident, they had stolen pallets from a Walmart store in Fort Myers earlier in May. Avalos now faces charges of loitering and prowling, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property.