SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Fire Marshal's Office reported two men are under arrest, accused of stealing the Jaws of Life tool and other life-saving equipment used to free victims from twisted wreckage.
They are identified as 33-year-old Michael Wroblewski and 28-year-old Blake Gundred, both charged with burglary of a vehicle and theft. A third suspect remains at-large.
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Al Castillo, chief of District 2 Fire and Rescue, said the loss is estimated at $20,000.
He said the equipment has yet to be recovered, but it is insured and the department has another Jaws of Life at one of its fire stations on the southside.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the theft from one of its fire trucks was discovered May 27 at the department's storage area in the 20,000 block of Pleasanton Road on the same property where the Southside ISD alternative school is located.
An investigator with the Fire Marshal's Office described in the affidavit how the arrests were made after a mobile home fire Wednesday in the 200 block of Duke Road.
In an odd coincidence, the landlord said Wroblewski often stayed there with his sister, who was out of town at the time of the fire that remains under investigation.
Not only that, Laura Jesse, a spokeswoman for the Fire Marshal's Office, also said, "The same fire department that he stole from was one of the fire departments that responded to the fire."
"It's odd, very odd. Just a very odd set of circumstances," Jesse said.
The affidavit stated it also is the same location where in late May or early June, a man said Wroblewski allegedly showed him the Jaws of Life in the trunk of a car, then asked him if he knew of anyone interested in buying it.
The Fire Marshal's investigator said when the man asked Wroblewski where he had gotten the equipment, he allegedly told him it came from the fire engine parked at the Pleasanton Road location.
The investigator said the man reported what he had learned to Southside ISD police.
"The Fire Marshal's Office did a phenomenal job. They were on top of everything. Everyone worked very hard on this case," said Chief Castillo.
He said next to SAFD, his department is the area's second largest and busiest fire department, covering west and southwest Bexar County.