A 39-year-old man, Harrison Lyle Byars, was arrested on February 21 for stealing a tractor truck from a mechanic shop in north Laredo. He faces charges of theft of a motor vehicle, a third-degree felony, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a state jail felony.
The case began on September 8, when a Laredo police investigator noticed a white tractor truck with its headlights off at the intersection of San Dario Avenue and Shiloh Drive. The investigator observed the driver, later identified as Byars, struggling to get the vehicle into gear and moving.
Given a recent spike in stolen tractor truck cases, the investigator decided to wait near Tejas Loop to track the truck’s movements. The investigator saw the truck still being driven slowly with the headlights off, prompting a traffic stop with the help of a marked police unit.
Upon stopping the vehicle, Byars claimed he was test driving the 2017 Kenworth and that his girlfriend had dropped him off nearby. His story seemed questionable as he stated he was learning to drive the tractor truck while also claiming he was taking a class for his commercial driver’s license. When asked about the owner of the vehicle, Byars said he didn’t know.
Authorities tried to contact someone from the company, but since it was around 3 a.m., they couldn’t reach anyone. Byars was cited and released, but the police impounded the truck as he couldn’t prove ownership, and he didn’t have a valid commercial driver’s license to operate the vehicle.
Later that morning, at 7:26 a.m., the truck’s owner contacted police to report the vehicle stolen. She confirmed that the tractor truck should have been at a mechanic shop in the 300 block of International Boulevard, and expressed her intention to press charges.
Byars was arrested and is currently in custody, facing charges for his involvement in the theft.
