Man Celebrates turning 43 by Stealing a Forklift
For most guys, a midlife crisis means getting a flashy sports car. But an Indiana man chose a much slower vehicle.
43 year-old Javier Villasenor-Arreola, of East Chicago, skipped the Ferrari and went with a forklift.
The incident happened on April 30th in New Lexox, Illinois. Mr. Villasenor-Arreola stole a forklift from his ex-employer and proceeded to engage police on a low-speed chase. Very low speed, as most forklifts have trouble exceeding 15 miles per hour.
Will County sheriff’s deputies were alerted about a theft at the warehouse where Mr. Villasenor-Arreola used to work. On the way to the property, officers were told that the suspect was driving on Illinois Highway in the stolen forklift.
The suspect faces a lengthy list of charges, including felony counts of burglary, theft and aggravated DUI, in addition to a misdemeanor count of damage to property and operating a vehicle with expired registration and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
Mr. Villasenor-Arreola was (surprise, surprise) intoxicated at the time of his arrest, confirming once again the equation that forklifts + alcohol = definitely not good. Toss in the anger from being fired a few weeks earlier, and the end result was bad for the suspect – and it could’ve been much worse for motorists and other innocent bystanders.
Currently, Mr. Villasenor-Arreola is in the Will County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
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For more information about our forklift training (which Mr. Villasenor-Arreola apparently never signed up for), please call us at (888) 699-4800, or check out our contact page. Thanks for reading the CM blog!