Police arrested two men for arson, burglary and vehicle theft in
connection with a late night blaze at Budget Rent A Car in
mid-October.
Police arrested two men for arson, burglary and vehicle theft in connection with a late night blaze at Budget Rent A Car in mid-October.
Robert Cuevas, 32, and Joseph Uvalles, 21, were arrested this morning after the Santa Clara County Crime Lab confirmed that evidence collected at the scene of the fire linked the men to the crime, police said. The men were also linked to the crime through surveillance video, which showed the men at the car rental, which is located near the intersection of U.S. 101 and 10th Street.
On Oct. 16, emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:34 a.m. from the night manager at McDonald’s that the car rental place across the street was on fire.
When they arrived, flames engulfed the front office and reached as high as three feet above the vaulted roof, he said. A gray Chevrolet Impala parked out front and the awning in front of the business were also ablaze. It took about 30 minutes for all the Gilroy engines and firefighters to control the two-alarm fire.
By commute time the same day, the building was a charred mess – the entire front face was missing and support beams had curled back. Singed and soaked boxes were strewn across a parking lot a half-inch thick with fire retardant foam. The Impala’s windows were broken and melted right side sagged toward the curb in front of the building.
Franchise owner Dean Williams said the front office contained four computers and monitors, none of which was visible in the remains. A television and PlayStation 2, which the owner’s brother-in-law said were in a back trailer not damaged by the fire, were also missing, fire investigator Andy Holiday said.
Most of the stolen property associated with the car rental burglary – and property stolen in unrelated vehicle burglaries – was recovered, police said.
Uvalles has been a suspect in the arson since the day after the crime. He was nabbed after taking Amador County law enforcement on a high-speed, early-morning chase spanning two counties while driving a stolen pickup truck. He was arrested for auto theft, possession of stolen property, evading a peace officer and being an unlicensed driver.
About 4:30am Oct. 17, Uvalles, in a silver Ford F150 pickup truck, and another man – possibly Cuevas – driving a sedan were both parked at the Amador Ridge Shopping Center in Martell – about 40 miles northeast of Stockton. When a sheriff’s deputy approached in a car, they sped away.
The deputy pursued, ran the license plate of the pickup and found it reported stolen from Budget Rent A Car. As the two vehicles split apart, the deputy followed the truck, which reached speeds of 90 mph as it headed west on Highway 88 out of Amador County. After more than 30 miles with three cars on his tail, Uvalles lost control of the truck and it careened off the road, rolled twice and ended up sideways in an open field east of the town of Wallace – about 25 miles northeast of Stockton.
Officers arrested Uvalles, who was uninjured, and searched the vehicle. They found burglary tools and stolen property associated with a burglary at a Martell Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Both Cuevas and Uvalles were in the custody of other law enforcement agencies when Gilroy police arrested them.
