A truck driver has been arrested in El Paso County, Texas, after deputies recovered a shipping container, a trailer chassis and approximately 43,000 pounds of fiber-optic cable that had been reported stolen, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said. The driver, identified by the sheriff's office as Laron Lenard Watts, 38, was charged with theft of property valued at more than $150,000 but less than $300,000, according to the sheriff's account reported by CDLLife, the trucking news outlet.
Source: CDLLife
The case began on Friday, November 6, 2026, when the El Paso County Sheriff's Office (EPCSO) responded to the 13100 block of Montana Avenue in far East El Paso after receiving a report that a shipping container, its trailer chassis and the cable load inside it — valued in total at $155,000 — had been stolen. Montana Avenue is part of the U.S. 62/180 corridor that runs east out of El Paso through one of the county's busiest warehousing and trucking districts.
A cancelled shipment and a dispute over final pay
According to the sheriff's office, Watts had been contracted to transport the shipment from Santa Teresa, New Mexico, the border freight hub just west of El Paso. After the shipment was cancelled, the driver reportedly refused to return the property because of a dispute over his final payment, deputies said. That account is the sheriff's office's version of events; the charge against Watts is an allegation, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Deputies tracked down the semi-truck, the trailer chassis and the shipping container to a location along Montana Avenue, the sheriff's office said. After executing a search warrant, deputies recovered the shipping container, the trailer chassis and the approximately 43,000 pounds of fiber-optic cable. The semi-truck itself was seized as part of the investigation, according to the sheriff's office.
The charge under Texas law
Watts was arrested and charged with theft of property greater than $150,000 but less than $300,000, the sheriff's office said. Under the Texas Penal Code, theft is graded by the value of the property involved, and theft in the $150,000-to-$300,000 band is a second-degree felony in Texas — the grading reflects how seriously the state treats high-value cargo cases. The sheriff's office has not, in the reporting available so far, released details of a bond amount or a first court date, and CDLLife's report did not include a statement from Watts or a lawyer for him.
Why the Santa Teresa–El Paso corridor matters
Santa Teresa, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, sits on the border west of El Paso and has grown into one of the Southwest's major freight gateways, with an industrial port of entry, rail links and large warehouse parks feeding the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez manufacturing belt. Loads moving between Santa Teresa and El Paso's east-side logistics parks travel some of the most heavily trucked roads in West Texas, including Interstate 10 and Montana Avenue. Fiber-optic cable is a high-value load in that traffic: it is the raw material of broadband and data-centre construction, it is compact enough to move in a single container, and a full container load can be worth well into six figures — exactly the $155,000 figure the sheriff's office put on this shipment.
On the sheriff's account, a cancelled load and a fight over final pay ended with the cargo treated as stolen property and the driver in jail facing a felony charge. Whatever the facts prove to be in court, the case underlines a line drivers across the industry know well: a pay dispute is fought with paperwork, contracts and claims — holding the load itself can turn a wage argument into a criminal case.
For the large Punjabi and South Asian trucking community that runs the I-10 corridor through West Texas — owner-operators and company drivers hauling electronics, building materials and cross-border manufacturing freight between New Mexico, Texas and Mexico — cargo cases like this one are a practical concern as well as a news story. Disputes over cancelled loads, detention time and final settlements are a routine friction point in the industry, and this case shows how quickly one can escalate when the freight itself becomes the leverage.
What happens next
Watts's case now moves into the El Paso County court system, where the charge will be tested through the normal criminal process, beginning with booking, bond and an initial court appearance. The recovered container, chassis and cable have been documented by deputies under the search warrant, and the seized semi-truck remains part of the investigation, the sheriff's office said. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if the sheriff's office, prosecutors or the court release further verified details, including any statement from the driver's side.