Stolen Atmos Truck In Amarillo

Ok, I gotta tell ya I've seen and heard about some strange things in my time here in Amarillo, and you'd think at some point it wouldn't phase me hearing about it.

Then something happens that is just an absolute head-scratcher. Something that seems like it would be so obvious NOT to happen, then it actually does and you start to question humanity and how smart we actually are as a whole.

Yes I know, criminals are not the smartest people. Well, some of them are, but they typically commit those white-collar crimes that have 400 layers to them and steal millions of dollars. What happened in Amarillo on Wednesday wasn't that type of crime, but it did involve some inexplicable stealing.

It all kicked off when police were called just shy of 4 pm to the 3800 block of Holiday. The call? An Atmos work truck had been stolen.

Not exactly the best move. In case you don't know, a lot of these companies have a tendency to put GPS tracking on their vehicles for a multitude of reasons. Most of the time, they equip them so they can make sure workers are going on calls and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

In this case, the Atmos truck did indeed have GPS tracking so it was easy to locate the vehicle. Officers were updated with the location and off they went.

Right around the same time police arrived in the 2200 block of S. Arthur, another Atmos employee had located the truck. He was threatened with a knife by the suspect before he snatched the keys from the suspect and ran.

Without a vehicle to drive, the suspect, Nathanial Soto, took off on foot. At this point, police were on to him and chased him down. They deployed a taser on Soto which stopped him and they were able to take him into custody.

Soto was arrested and hit with a litany of charges, including aggravated robbery, evading arrest/detention with a vehicle, possession of a controlled substance penalty group 1/1B, more than or equal to one gram but less than four grams, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.