Citizen Staff Writer
SHERYL KORNMAN
and DAVID L. TEIBEL
news@tucsoncitizen.com
Tucson police have an arrest warrant on aggravated robbery and armed robbery charges for a Tucson man jailed in San Antonio in an apparent Craigslist ripoff scheme.
Tucson police Sgt. Mark Robinson said that on Dec. 17, Eduardo S. Cordero III, 22, robbed three Sierra Vista men at gunpoint in Tucson after advertising a phantom motorcycle on Craigslist.
The men answered the Internet ad and made arrangements to meet the seller in Tucson to buy the motorcycle for $3,500.
They met Cordero and an accomplice at a restaurant parking lot near Interstate 10 and West Starr Pass Boulevard, Robinson said.
Cordero had advertised a Suzuki GSXR and lured the men to Tucson by taking $500 off the asking price, Robinson said.
Cordero, armed with a handgun, and the accomplice, armed with two guns, took the $3,500 from the men along with their wallets and “other personal items,” Robinson said. The victims weren’t physically harmed, police said.
The victims later identified Cordero and his alleged accomplice from a photo lineup.
Five days later, Cordero was arrested in a drive-by shooting in Tucson in which no one was hurt.
He was released from the Pima County Jail on his own recognizance, Robinson said, and apparently went to Texas.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, Cordero used Craigslist to advertise a phantom motorcycle for sale in San Antonio and allegedly pulled off another cash ripoff.
On Jan. 9, a 29-year-old San Antonio man responding to an online ad showed up with $4,000 and Cordero and an accomplice robbed him at gunpoint, according to the newspaper’s account, citing San Antonio police sources.
A San Antonio robbery detective obtained records for the telephone number used in the Craigslist ad and tracked the suspects to Tucson. The phone records showed calls between Tucson and San Antonio.
Robinson said robbery detectives in San Antonio spoke with Tucson robbery detectives and linked the suspects in the armed robbery case here to the San Antonio crime.
On Jan. 8, a Vail resident responding to a Craigslist ad for a carpet cleaner paid Cordero $1,000 for it. The seller told the buyer his name was “Jason.” He told the buyer to make the check payable to “Eduardo Cordero.”
The Vail resident identified Cordero and his accomplice in a photo lineup.
Cordero is in Bexar County Jail in San Antonio on $175,000 bail.
Tucson police have an arrest warrant for the alleged accomplice, Christopher Mayorga, 21.
He is 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 180 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.
Robinson asked anyone with information about Mayorga’s whereabouts to call 911 or 88-CRIME.
Suspect in Tucson Craigslist robbery arrested in Texas