On September 7, 2017, just before midnight, a YCSO deputy noticed suspicious activity involving a man at the Shell Service Station on Highway 89 in Congress, Arizona. The man had been loitering and appeared unusually concerned about the presence of a Sheriff’s vehicle in the area. The man eventually left the station in a 2007 tan colored Ford sedan and was stopped for no record of insurance.
The driver, identified as 33-year-old Brandon McCubbin from Yarnell, was sweating, extremely nervous and holding a cell phone in his hand at the time. His mother and another family member were passengers in the car. McCubbin admitted his license was suspended and as he exited the vehicle, he attempted to conceal the cell phone he was holding.
While conducting an investigation at the traffic stop, YCSO dispatch alerted the deputy to a theft incident that had just occurred at the Congress Shell Station. The victim reported the theft of his cell phone involving the driver of the tan Ford sedan.
The deputy spoke with the victim who indicated he was sitting on the tailgate of a truck at the Shell station when McCubbin approached and asked for a cigarette. While retrieving the cigarette, McCubbin apparently stole a red colored cell phone that was sitting on the tailgate. The deputy confirmed that the cell phone McCubbin attempted to hide was the victim’s stolen phone which was eventually returned to its owner.
Before towing the suspect vehicle, the deputy conducted an inventory of its contents and discovered a backpack containing what would be later determined as burglary tools and drug paraphernalia. Items included gloves, screwdrivers, a bolt cutter, metal wire cutting pliers, wrenches, a black bandanna, plastic bags with brown tar residue (heroin), tourniquets, spoon, cotton balls, and syringes with apparent heroin residue.
The victim told deputies that when McCubbin originally asked for a cigarette, he admitted just getting out of rehab after previously using narcotics and having to ‘break into houses and steal things’ to pay for the habit. He was currently relocating to Yarnell.
McCubbin was booked into the Camp Verde Detention Center on charges including Theft, Control of Stolen Property, Possession of a Narcotic Drug, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of Burglary Tools, and Driving on a Suspended License. He remains in-custody on $25,000 bond.
The investigation is contuing.
McCubbin was booked into the Camp Verde Detention Center on multiple charges, remains in-custody on $25,000 bond.