Men used jobs for freight-contracting company to sell expensive stolen watches on eBay, according to indictment
Two railroad contractors have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Kansas, accused of using their positions to steal expensive watches and sell them online.
The indictment, issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in July, names Gerald “Jerry” Ditz and Michael Alaniz as the defendants. Both men were employed as engineers by ConGlobal, a freight-contracting company based in Atlanta, and worked at the Santa Teresa intermodal train station in New Mexico. According to the indictment, they used their roles to steal Garmin watches from a shipping container and sell them online.
Investigators discovered that the stolen watches were registered to over a dozen individuals, representing approximately 15% of the workforce at the Santa Teresa facility, both current and former employees.
The theft targeted a Garmin shipping container that originated in Taiwan. When the container arrived at a Kansas warehouse, around 1,500 electronic devices were missing. Authorities believe the theft occurred in May 2023 at or near the Santa Teresa facility.
The indictment states that on the day the Garmin container left the Santa Teresa facility—a day when Ditz was scheduled to work—two Garmin watches were activated and registered to an email address linked to Ditz. He then allegedly created an eBay account to sell the stolen items.
Ditz reportedly sold at least 37 Garmin watches, 30 of which were shipped from El Paso, Texas, to buyers in other states. The watches ranged in value from $599 to $1,124 each. Unbeknownst to him, at least two of these watches were sold to undercover FBI agents. The serial numbers of the watches matched those of the stolen items from the Garmin container.
Alaniz and his wife, whose name was not mentioned in the indictment, are also accused of creating eBay accounts to sell stolen items. The indictment states they sold at least 15 watches.
In May 2023, Ditz allegedly exchanged Facebook messages with an unidentified individual, discussing the continued supply of stolen goods in exchange for finding buyers. He even offered to trade a watch for a golf club and used Facebook to try and sell more watches.
Both men have been charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property, interstate transportation of stolen property, mail and wire fraud conspiracy, and mail fraud. They made their court appearances in July.
