March 25, 2011
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

DELTONA MAN CHARGED WITH OPERATING CHOP SHOP

As so often is the case in law enforcement, officers responding to one thing earlier this week ended up discovering something completely different. And with a couple of days of follow-up investigation led by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s Auto Theft Unit, 42-year-old Hector Davila of Deltona is now in custody facing felony charges of operating a chop shop.

Davila’s name had come up in previous investigations. However, officers had no idea what they were going to find when they responded late Wednesday afternoon to a fire in a shed at Davila’s property on Fort Smith Boulevard. Deltona firefighters were first on scene, but they quickly realized this was more than just a routine blaze. So they called in the Sheriff’s Office to help investigate. The State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office’s City-County Auto Theft Unit and the National Insurance Crime Bureau also got involved.

The scattered vehicle parts on Davila’s property led the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s Auto Theft Unit to obtain a search warrant. By 1:45 a.m. on Thursday, investigators moved in and -- during a search that went well into the morning -- seized two cars, two stolen engines and 11 transmissions that were missing their anti-theft identification labels. A variety of power tools, a tow dolly and an engine hoist also were seized during the search.

On Friday, Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators presented their evidence to Circuit Court Judge Randell Rowe, who issued an arrest warrant charging Davila with operating a chop shop. When they went looking for Davila Friday afternoon, deputies spotted him driving away from his house at 178 Fort Smith Boulevard and pulled him over in a parking lot off of Fort Smith Boulevard just before 4 p.m. After investigators finish processing him, Davila will be transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach and held without bond.