One of 2 suspects who robbed vendor arrested

Police arrested over the weekend one of two men who allegedly robbed a vegetable vendor, stole his pickup truck, and then set it on fire.

CeeJay C. Echalico, 20, a hotel employee, was arrested for robbery, theft of vehicle, and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Echalico was identified by the victim and witnesses as the one who choked the victim from behind with a rope.

His preliminary hearing will be on Aug. 11 at 9am. Bail was set at $25,000 cash.

Detective Patrick Sablan stated in his report that a police officer had responded to a site near San Antonio Market on July 7 at 5:20pm after receiving a call about a theft of a vehicle incident.

Preliminary investigation showed that while the victim, a Chinese national, was selling vegetables at the back of his pickup truck, a man later identified as Echalico allegedly posed as a customer, asking about cucumbers. Echalico then choked the vendor from behind using what was described as a rope.

As the victim was being choked, the second male suspect, described as 5’11 tall and muscular, boarded the vendor’s truck and started the engine.

Echalico reportedly released his hold on the victim and jumped onto the bed of the truck. The truck sped off west, leaving the victim on the ground.

While patrolling Afetna Road to look for the suspects, two patrol officers spotted Echalico running out of a secondary roadway. The officers stopped Echalico and talked to him as he matched the description of one of the suspects.

Echalico was breathing hard, sweating profusely, and was not wearing any shirt at the time.

A police officer escorted the victim to the site, where he identified Echalico as the one who had choked him.

Sablan said that he and detective Jonathan Decena, along with a Chinese interpreter and the victim, met with a witness at her residence in San Antonio on Thursday.

According to the witness, she and her child had gone to buy vegetables from the vendor when she noticed two persons approach the victim.

The witness said the skinny man asked the vendor about buying some cucumber, while the taller and bigger suspect entered the victim’s truck.

The skinny man then allegedly choked the vendor with a rope and dragged him nine feet away from his truck. The suspects then fled aboard the victim’s truck.

The truck was reportedly later found burning in a grassy area in Koblerville.