Mexicali’s regional prosecutor secured formal charges against four men accused of stealing refrigeration components from an OXXO convenience store in the Nuevo Mexicali neighborhood on February 28. The suspects, identified as Máximo Enrique “N,” Fernando Daniel “N,” José Daniel “N,” and Santiago “N,” allegedly arrived in a GMC Yukon, quickly stripped the store’s refrigeration equipment, and fled the scene.
Witness Identified Suspects at Nuevo Mexicali Store
A witness at the OXXO location identified the four men, leading to their arrest and formal charges of aggravated robbery. A judge ordered preventive detention for all four suspects and gave investigators a two-month deadline to close the case.
OXXO, owned by Mexican conglomerate FEMSA, operates more than 22,000 stores across Mexico and is a fixture of daily life in border cities like Mexicali. The chain’s refrigeration units are valuable commercial equipment. FEMSA also controls a refrigeration division and beverage distribution network through its subsidiary Solistica, which means the stolen components likely carried significant replacement costs.
Retail Theft Pattern in Mexicali
The case fits a broader pattern of organized retail theft targeting OXXO stores in Mexicali. Just days before this incident, on February 21, municipal police in Mexicali arrested five people for stealing 48 beers (four cases) from a separate OXXO location in the Parajes de Oriente neighborhood. Local reports have noted that OXXO stores are among the most frequent targets of theft in the city.
Nuevo Mexicali sits in Mexicali’s eastern urban sprawl, a rapidly growing area of the capital city of Baja California. Mexicali, which sits directly across the border from Calexico, California, is home to roughly 1.1 million people. The city’s OXXO locations serve as more than convenience stores; residents also use them to pay utility bills, transfer money, and purchase phone credit.
The aggravated robbery charge carries a heavier sentence than simple theft under Baja California’s penal code because multiple suspects acted in coordination. Investigators now have until late April to present their full case to the court, according to The Baja Post.