Truck driver arrested for diesel theft after large magnet found concealed in cab, Florida officials say

The Florida Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement (OALE) arrested a truck driver at an inspection station as part of an ongoing investigation into an organized fuel theft ring.

According to a March 13, 2026, statement from OALE, truck driver Alain De Jesus Aguila-Martinez was recently arrested and booked into the Escambia County Jail on felony charges of Larceny – Tampering with/Removing a Retail Fuel Dispenser.

The arrest occurred after Aguila-Martinez arrived at a Florida Agriculture Inspection Station in Pensacola behind the wheel of “a blue semi truck pulling a refrigerated trailer that matched the description in a BOLO linked to a sophisticated fuel theft operation spanning multiple counties.”

OALE officers identified the truck from the BOLO and selected the truck for a regulatory inspection.

“During the inspection, an OALE K9 unit conducted a free-air sniff around Aguila-Martinez’s 2002 Freightliner semi truck and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered a large magnet concealed under the driver’s steering wheel. The magnet was identified as a device commonly used to manipulate fuel pump solenoids, enabling the unauthorized theft of diesel fuel,” the agency said.

Officials later discovered that Aguila-Martinez had active arrest warrants for multiple felony charges, including Organized Fraud, Retail Fuel Theft Tampering, and Petit Theft.

Aguila-Martinez held a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) out of Florida.

An investigation is ongoing into an organized fuel theft ring operating across Santa Rosa, Escambia, and Walton Counties, OALE said.