Politics
LA Jury Returns Not Guilty Verdict For Tow Truck Driver Who Moved ICE Vehicle
Bobby Nunez, a 33-year-old tow truck driver from Los Angeles was found not guilty after moving a federal vehicle during the middle of an immigration enforcement operation.
On August 15, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were arresting Colombian social media influencer Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, known online as Tatiana Martinez, outside her apartment complex. Video footage captured the events, showing agents using two unmarked SUVs with emergency lights activated to block Martinez’s vehicle in the driveway.
During the arrest, Nunez arrived in his tow truck and proceeded to hook up one of the government SUVs, driving it away while an agent chased on foot. The vehicle reportedly contained keys in the ignition and a firearm secured in a safe.
Nunez was seen laughing and filming the scene on his phone. The towed SUV was moved approximately one block away and returned within about 13 minutes.
On September 2, the U.S. Justice Department announced Nunez’s arrest on a federal criminal complaint charging him with theft of government property. The complaint alleged that Nunez unlawfully towed a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — an agency within ICE — vehicle during the August 15 incident.
According to the affidavit supporting the complaint, HSI special agents had positioned two unmarked SUVs with red and blue emergency lights flashing to secure the area during the arrest of an individual believed to be in the country illegally. The agents were attempting to take Martinez into custody when a bystander intervened by pressing the passenger door of her car against an agent’s leg, prompting the agent to warn of potential arrest for assault on a federal officer.
The affidavit further detailed that Nunez, operating a tow truck, approached the scene and began hooking up one of the government SUVs despite being informed by agents that it was a federal vehicle involved in an official operation. Agents reportedly told Nunez the SUV belonged to law enforcement and instructed him not to tow it, but he proceeded anyway, driving off with the vehicle.
One agent pursued the tow truck on foot for a short distance. The complaint noted that the SUV contained sensitive items, including a government-issued firearm locked in a safe and the keys left in the ignition for quick access.
BREAKING – A leftist jury in Los Angeles has acquitted Bobby Nunez, a South LA tow truck driver who in November towed away an ICE vehicle from an active investigation.
You can steal federal officials’ vehicles in California and get away with it now.
Incredible. pic.twitter.com/L3rMkYVKcr
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) December 21, 2025
The trial took place in federal court in Los Angeles and lasted four days, beginning earlier in the week of December 15, 2025. Prosecutors argued that Nunez’s actions constituted theft by intentionally depriving the government of its property during an active operation.
Prosecutors argued that Nunez’s actions constituted theft by intentionally depriving the government of its property during an active operation. Defense attorneys, including Deputy Federal Public Defenders Rebecca Harris and David Menninger, countered that the SUV was blocking the apartment complex driveway, further arguing that Nunez simply moved it a block away.
After three hours of deliberations, a Los Angeles jury returned a not guilty verdict on one count of theft of government property. Nunez’s legal team thanked jurors and described the case as “prosecutorial overreach.”
“The trial lasted four days. The jury deliberated for more than three hours. We have no further comment,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in statement of their own.
