Skid-steer still missing but two renters charged

Two people have been charged with the theft of Mayor David Berrong’s skid-steer, but he said Wednesday it still has not been recovered.
Those charged are Jason Scott Pedro and Gabriela Del Carmen Torres, both 36 and Clinton residents.
The 2012-model Bobcat skid-steer valued at $30,000 was rented Jan. 30 by Ms. Torres from Berrong’s business, Grand Rental Station, with an agreement to return it the next day. The mayor said Wednesday it still has not been returned.
“No, the search is going on,” said Berrong. “The Police Department told me they have it on a national bulletin. I haven’t heard anything about it being recovered.”
Berrong said it’s the first time his business has been the victim of theft.
“I knew I was on borrowed time,” he said, “but this was a normal rental. I knew one of the parties, and I had no suspicion this was going to happen. It’s in the hands of the Clinton Police Department now.”
An affidavit of probable cause written by Detective Lt. Luis De La Torre said Ms. Torres was the person who rented the skid-steer, agreeing to return it within 24 hours. When it hadn’t been returned six days later, Berrong reported it missing.
De La Torre’s affidavit said the mayor reported that Ms. Torres would not answer his phone calls or knocks on the door of her residence at 412 N. Seventh St.
The detective said Berrong reported she was accompanied by a man when she rented the machine, and that police later determined the man to be Pedro. De La Torre said she told police she had rented the equipment for another woman, Jessica Clayton, and Pedro had taken it with him after dropping Torres off.
On Feb. 7, said De La Torre, he learned that Pedro was in the Clinton City Jail on unrelated charges. The officer interviewed him and said he admitted going with Gabriella Torres to rent the skid-steer. He also said he drove a couple of blocks to a parking lot where he left her and the machine.
Pedro and Ms. Torres are now charged in this case with embezzlement of rental property, him after former conviction of two or more felonies. He also has been charged in another case with knowingly concealing stolen property, that one too after former conviction of two or more felonies. The property in that case was a trailer with a large welder mounted on it, and the owner was Bert Chaney of Hammon.
Special District Judge Stephanie Jones set his bond in the two cases at a combined $75,000 and Ms. Torres’ in the one case involving the mayor’s property at $2,500.
The defendant was a former client of Ms. Jones’ before she was sworn in as Custer County’s special district judge Feb. 1.
Alert work by Clinton policeman Bill Gerstenkorn led to the charge involving the trailer and welder. Another affidavit written by Lieutenant De La Torre said Gerstenkorn saw a red Dodge pickup pulling the trailer and welder parked Feb. 6 at Domino’s, 1324 Gary Blvd.
Apparently knowing he was already a suspect in the theft of the mayor’s skid-steer, the policeman took a picture of the pickup, the trailer and the welder, and the photo was forwarded to the Roger Mills County Sheriff’s Office. It was then shown to Chaney who identified the trailer and the welder as his.
Pedro was arrested by Clinton police Tuesday on two warrants, presumably the ones resulting from the thefts of the mayor’s skid-steer and Chaney’s trailer and welder.
In the last 15 years, since he turned 21, Pedro has been convicted of at least nine felonies. They include possession of a controlled substance (Oxycodone) in a 2004 case; feloniously pointing a firearm, possession of firearms after conviction or during probation, and possession of a controlled substance, all in another 2004 case; domestic abuse – assault and battery – second and subsequent offense, in 2013; grand larceny, 2013; uttering a forged instrument, 2013; possession of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a park, 2014; and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, 2019. Other charges have included escape from arrest or detention and making a bomb threat in 2013.