11 charged with stealing over $440K of Nike shoes from BNSF train
PHOENIX ‒ Eleven people have been indicted for stealing over $440,000 worth of Nike shoes from a BNSF train traveling through northern Arizona, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona announced this week.
A grand jury returned the indictment against Noe Cecena-Castro and 10 others on Feb. 11, charging the defendants with possessing $440,000 worth of stolen Nike shoes, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Along with the charge of possessing stolen goods, the grand jury also returned charges for three defendants for Re-entry of Removed Alien and six defendants for Improper Entry by Alien. Nine of the 11 defendants, including Cecena-Castro, are Mexican nationals, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
Court records state that on Jan. 13, Cecena-Castro and 10 others were arrested for involvement in the Nike train robbery.
At around 11 a.m. local time, a BNSF train was stopped due to a cut air hose in Perrin, Arizona, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Shortly after the emergency stop, a BNSF police officer spotted several cases of Nike shoes beside the train.
Several people were observed loading Nike cases into a U-Haul truck and a Ford Econoline truck nearby.
When authorities found and searched both trucks, they found 1,985 pairs of unreleased Nike shoes, worth over $440,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
All 11 defendants are in federal custody pending trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The defendants will be arraigned on the charges on Feb. 19.
Train heist uptick
The indictment follows a string of train thefts from northern Arizona and California over the past 15 years with a notable uptick in the last two years. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that the suspects are often part of transnational theft organizations originating in Sinaloa, Mexico, and operating out of California and Arizona.
In October 2024, two individuals were arrested after a Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a train burglary report and chased four vehicles for miles along Interstate 40. Yavapai County is located just north of the Phoenix metropolitan area.
In December of the same year, a passing BNSF train spotted several Nike sneaker cases piled next to the tracks near Yampai, west of Williams along Route 66. Four U.S. citizens were charged with possession of stolen goods after the boxes were seized.
Paste BN reported in 2022 that there was an increase in train thefts involving ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. One of the country's largest railroad companies, Union Pacific, said they had seen about $5 million in damages and thefts and noted on average, more than 90 shipping containers are looted per day.
The heists typically involve cutting air hoses to control where trains carrying valuable cargo stop. Criminal organizations specializing in train theft have used this dangerous method to derail cargo trains, some traveling at speeds of up to 70 mph.
This method involves multiple steps and separate crews to pull off a train theft. Once the train is stopped at a predetermined location, one crew breaks into specific container cars and unloads the cargo onto the ground next to the tracks.
Another crew then drives box trucks or other cargo vehicles to the scene, loading up the stolen goods for transport to California, where they are sold online.
Contributing Lane Sainty, The Arizona Republic; Thao Nguyen, Christal Hayes and Chris Woodyard, Paste BN