A federal grand jury in San Antonio has indicted three men who allegedly netted more than $1 million from a scheme involving the purported repair, renovation and sale of food trucks and trailers throughout the United States and Mexico.
Miguel Cuellar Lopez, son Miguel Cuellar Martinez and Omar Cruz Moreno were each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They are accused of taking customers’ money without doing the contracted work from October 2022 through the end of 2023.
Cruz was arrested Aug. 25 in South St. Paul, Minn., where he’s alleged to have operated a similar scheme, and made his first appearance Monday in federal court in San Antonio. He waived his arraignment and entered a not-guilty plea.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad deemed him a flight risk and ordered that he remain jailed until at least his next court appearance on Oct. 9. Cruz’s lawyer had asked the judge to release him with a GPS monitor into the custody of his father-in-law, who lives in San Antonio.
FOOD TRUCK TROUBLES: After thriving through pandemic, Cruising Kitchens hit ‘rock bottom,’ owner says, but not giving up
The other two have not been arrested.
“We’re expending all efforts to find the other two defendants because there’s a lot of victims in this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Blackwell said after Monday’s detention hearing. “It’s important that we bring justice to them. I want them to know that we’re looking for the other two defendants hard.”
One of them may be in Mexico.
According to the indictment, Cuellar Lopez had operational control over Csirius LLC, which operated under the name Tu Trailita. He and his son were the owners while Cruz served as manager, the document adds.
Cuellar Lopez and Cruz originally were charged in Bexar County in connection with the alleged scheme in San Antonio but those charges were dismissed in lieu of the federal case. Many of the alleged victims live in the United States and Mexico.
Fred Slowik, a deputy with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, testified during the hearing that the federal criminal case involves more than 80 customers who have lost more than a $1 million combined.
Slowik said he reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and IRS to assist with the case not long after the elder Cuellar and Cruz were arrested in late 2023 and early 2024.
While free on bail, Cruz moved to Minnesota even though he allegedly didn’t have authorization to leave Texas.
MORE WOES: Another Fort Sam Houston official charged with stealing from Army program
While in South St. Paul, Cruz allegedly ran a business called Twin Cities Trailers. Its website says it delivers “high-quality, custom food trucks and trailers designed to turn dreams into thriving mobile businesses.”
Brian Wicke, chief of the South St. Paul Police Department, said it has fielded a “number of reports” from mostly Minnesota residents who had done business with Twin Cities Trailers for a food truck or food truck trailer.
“They feel they were swindled out of their investment,” Wicke said in a phone interview Monday. His agency has partnered with the FBI and Minnesota authorities in the investigation, though no one has been arrested thus far.
The South St. Paul investigation has turned up about 25 people who have collectively reported losing more than $600,000, he added.
During Monday’s hearing, the judge said Cruz should remain in jail, in part because he doesn’t appear to have legal status in the United States. Blackwell, the prosecutor, told Bemporad that Cruz’s nonimmigrant visa had been revoked in April. Matthew Allen, Cruz’s lawyer, said he understood that the visa doesn’t expire until 2027.
Bemporad set a hearing for next week to get an update on the status of the visa.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison on each charge. Prosecutors have indicated they intend to seek forfeiture of any property obtained from the defendants’ alleged crimes.
