Redlands Police arrested a 41-year-old transient for grand theft following the removal of more than a dozen city-owned backflow devices, mostly taken from commercial properties throughout the city.
Enrique Luis Ibarra was arrested Friday, Oct. 16, after a City Water Division employee spotted his vehicle and called police, directing officers as he followed the vehicle. Police conducted a traffic stop and located burglary tools, stolen backflow devices and additional parts inside the vehicle.
Backflow devices are critical public safety tools installed in water lines to prevent contaminated water from siphoning backward into the clean drinking supply if system water pressure drops. Because they are constructed from high-grade metals, they are frequently targeted by thieves who sell them for scrap…