SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Jose Garcia and his family enjoyed a long day dashing on the waves on their two Jet Skis Wednesday afternoon.
And to wind down from all the wave running, Garcia, 44, and his family took a stroll down Padre Boulevard to check out the stores on the strip.
They were near Gravity Park around 10:30 p.m. when Garcia saw what he thought were his two Jet Skis being pulled away by a black Hummer H3.
“I saw the jet skis drive by and I recognized them,” Garcia said.
He said his first thought was to go check up on the Jet Skis he had left on the trailer at his condo on Georgia Ruth Street to make sure they were not stolen.
“When I got to the condo, mine were gone,” Garcia said. “I called 911 and then started driving around to find them.”
Garcia said police asked him to go back to his home to make the report.
But Garcia was already on the hunt for his two stolen Jet Skis.
“After about 30 minutes of driving around, we spotted them on Highway 100,” Garcia said. “We called 911 again and the cops showed up and pulled them over and got the guy.”
Garcia said he followed the black Hummer pulling his two Jet Skis until the police arrived.
He said when he found the vehicle pulling his Jet Skis he didn’t know what to do.
“Luckily, the cops showed up right away,” he said.
The robbers were stopped outside of Laguna Vista.
“I was not expecting to find them, but we found them,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the police told him he was very lucky because most often Jet Skis that go missing are never recovered.
South Padre Island Police Officer Cesar Valdez arrested Frank Herrera and Yvette Villarreal, both of Pharr.
The two were charged with theft and the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Police said the black Hummer H3 also was stolen.
“Luckily, we found them. We got our Jet Skis back, someone gets their truck back and we get one of the South Padre Island thieves out of here,” Garcia said.
