Tow truck driver accused of towing federal vehicle during L.A. immigration arrest

A Los Angeles tow truck driver was arrested after allegedly towing away a government vehicle that federal officers were using in an immigration arrest, according to prosecutors.

According to a criminal complaint, 33-year-old Bobby Nunez interfered with Homeland Security Investigations officers on August 15 as they attempted to arrest 23-year-old Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, a Colombian national living in Los Angeles without legal status.

Officers had used two government vehicles with emergency lights activated to block her car outside a luxury apartment complex downtown.

During the officers’ struggle to arrest Martinez, Nunez approached the vehicle and began pressing the passenger side door of her vehicle on an officer, who then threatened Nunez with arrest.

After being told the officers were conducting a federal investigation, Nunez swore at the officers and told them “Something was going to happen” to them, prosecutors said.

A second man then approached the woman’s vehicle to interfere with the arrests. While officers addressed this man’s interference, Nunez got into his Dodge tow truck and towed one of the government vehicles that was boxing in Martinez’s vehicle.

At the time of this interference, the government vehicle had its keys inside and a firearm locked in a safe inside it as well.

Two days later, law enforcement observed Nunez’s tow truck parked in an assigned residential space at the same luxury apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles.

If convicted, Nunez would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.