Foreign national charged in stolen tools case in Wentzville

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A foreign national currently living in Florida faces jail time for allegedly stealing tools worth tens of thousands of dollars from the Wentzville area.

According to the Wentzville Police Department’s probable cause statement, police responded to a theft at the Home Depot on Wentzville Parkway on Thursday, Dec. 5.

Police said Yoandry Rodriguez Mirabel and an accomplice entered the store and grabbed an empty storage tote. Mirabel and the accomplice filled the tote with tools with a retail value of $3,193, and then placed the lid on the tote.

Mirabel walked out of the store with the tote while the accomplice distracted a store employee at the register. The incident was recorded on store surveillance video, according to the probable cause statement.

Mirabel loaded the tote and stolen tools into a van and left the area with the accomplice, police said.

A short time later, police conducted a traffic stop on the van. Mirabel was traveling without identification and refused to identify himself to law enforcement, police said. Officers used facial recognition software to identify Mirabel.

Police eventually learned that Mirabel, who has an address in a Miami suburb, has a felony warrant for his arrest in Florida. Officers recovered the tote and stolen tools from the van, along with an additional $24,000 in tools believed to have been stolen.

The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Mirabel with stealing – $750 or more.

Mirabel is in the country illegally, according to the police, and ICE has detained him on two occasions.