Eusebio Diaz Acosta, Florida man stands trial for theft of $75,000 of soup
A 51-year-old Orlando man was arrested on charges that he stole a tractor trailer containing $75,000 worth of soup, authorities said.
Eusebio Diaz Acosta, 51, faces charges of grand theft of cargo worth $50,000 or more and grand theft of a motor vehicle following his arrest early Sunday on the Florida’s Turnpike, according to authorities.
Broward Circuit Judge John Hurley called the facts of the case “very unusual.”
“This is the first time the court’s ever seen $75,000 worth of soup stolen,” Hurley said Monday, as he set Diaz Acosta’s bond at $25,000.
The Florida Highway Patrol said that it received a report of a stolen tractor trailer hauling soup that was being tracked by GPS, and the tractor trailer driven by Diaz Acosta was pulled over at the 63-mile marker of the turnpike in Tamarac.
The passenger, described as a 5-foot-10-inches tall black male wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, left the trailer, jumped over the concrete barrier wall, and escaped after he jumped over a chain link fence and fled northwest, an arrest report said.
Diaz Acosta told the troopers that he met the passenger, Pepe, a week beforehand, and that Pepe paid him to drive the tractor trailer and he knows nothing else, the report said.
The tractor and trailer, which both had Minnesota tags and are owned by Lessors Inc in Egan, Minnesota, were reported stolen out of Polk County, the report said. The total value of the vehicle and its contents was $350,000, it added.
Diaz Acosta was arrested at about 12:31 a.m., and the tractor trailer was towed away by SIRT Towing, according to the report.
Diaz Acosta has been been convicted of theft twice before, Hurley said.
Diaz Acosta said in court through a translator that he has $1,000 in the bank. A public defender appeared by his side at Monday’s hearing.
He is being held in the Broward County Main Jail, according to online jail records.
