Pair arrested for stealing, buying handgun that was taken from car being detailed

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joel Antonio Vazquez, 19, and Oscar Nathaniel Wright, Jr., 56, were arrested yesterday after Vazquez, who is on probation, allegedly stole a handgun from the glove compartment of a car he was detailing and sold it to Wright, who allegedly knew it was stolen.

Vazquez, who was working for a car detailing company, was reportedly cleaning the victim’s car at BMW of Gainesville, 2853 N. Main Street, when he noticed a Ruger LCP2 .380 in the glove compartment and allegedly stole it. The gun’s value is estimated at $400.

A Gainesville Police Department investigation found that Vazquez took the gun to the house of a witness, and the witness reportedly gave him $100 to give to the owner of the gun “in order for him not to get in trouble.” Vazquez reportedly returned to the dealership and offered the $100 to the victim, but the victim reportedly refused the money and demanded that his gun be returned. However, when an officer contacted the witness, the witness reportedly said he was never given a gun by Vazquez.

Post Miranda, Vazquez reportedly admitted taking the gun to kill himself.

After arresting Vazquez, officers went to the house of the witness in an attempt to locate the gun and made contact with the witness, who said Wright had the gun and called Wright back to the house. The witness reportedly told the officer that Vazquez had brought the gun to his house in an attempt to sell it, but he wanted no part of buying a stolen gun. He said Wright offered to buy the gun and that he saw Wright give Vazquez $100 in exchange for the gun. The witness also reportedly said that Wright was told that the gun was stolen.

The officer reported that as he approached Wright, he heard something drop to the ground and found a handgun on the ground nearby.

Post Miranda, Wright reportedly said he had learned that Vazquez had stolen a gun from work and wanted to sell it, so he gave him $100.

A search of Wright, incident to arrest, reportedly produced 0.5 grams of cocaine.

After arresting Wright, an officer re-interviewed Vazquez, and post Miranda, he reportedly said that after he stole the gun, he decided he didn’t want it anymore, so he went to the house of the witness and gave the gun to him. He said that when he got back to work, he was confronted about stealing the gun by other employees, so he went back to get the gun, but the witness said the gun had been given to someone else. He said the witness gave him $100 to give back to the victim in an attempt to repay him.

Vazquez has been charged with grand theft of a firearm and dealing in stolen property. He was charged in 2022 with stealing an $1,800 hunting bow from a vehicle; he entered a plea of nolo contendere to two felony charges in October 2023 and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, with adjudication of guilt withheld; he has been re-arrested in that case. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail for violating probation and set bail at $35,000 on the new charges.

Wright reportedly told the arresting officer that he is a convicted felon in Georgia; he has two misdemeanor convictions in Florida, with the most recent in 1992. He has been charged with dealing in stolen property, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and cocaine possession. Judge Miller-Jones set bail at $85,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

  • The level of stupidity is incredible. Our curriculum is lacking in real-world situations.

  • Two idiots cant even come up with one story. Vazquez sure changed his mind about wanting to kill himself over the love of money and probably drugs. Never leave your firearm in a vehicle if you are having work done on them. You have to remember Gainesville doesnt do background check on people per ordinance so you don’t know who is creeping around in your car.

    • Gainesville does still do background checks. They just can’t do them prior to giving a job offer.

  • This highlights the reason current gun laws aren’t working and additional gun laws need to be considered. Felons aren’t getting their guns legally. Felons are getting their guns from legal gun owners who store their guns irresponsibly.

    For what it’s worth, I’m okay with legal gun ownership, though I have no need for a gun myself.

    • Current gun laws aren’t working because they are not prosecuted. When they rise above wrist slapping plea bargains, judges just slap their wrists a little harder, instead of giving full term sentences.

      • The criminals are in fact prosecuted within the law, which allows for the wrist-slapping you describe. The wrist-slapping is a different problem, one which will not be overcome by harsher sentences in a system already overburdened with the highest per-capita rate of incarceration among developed nations in the world. Unless you and everyone who agrees with you wants to drop what he’s doing and go to work for the prison industry, your call is falling on deaf ears.

        That said, you have to address how and why felons get their hands on guns. They’re not doing it legally, so _how_ they get their guns is by stealing them, and _why_ they steal them is because “law-abiding” gun owners make it easy by storing their guns irresponsibly. Case in point above.

        That prompts the question: why are we allowing gun owners to store their guns irresponsibly? I’m not big on more laws and more incarceration, for the reason cited above, but irresponsible gun owners need at least the wrist-slapping that the thieves are getting, and that requires at least considering some new laws.

        The law itself is a rabbit hole with no end in sight. Laws, like the people who make them, are imperfect, requiring constant tweaking by way of new laws once you decide to go down that hole. The clang and clamor to enforce the laws already on the books rings hollow at its core.

  • You have to wonder why somebody would leave there weapon in their vehicle while it’s being detailed. That’s where the stupidity starts.

    • You are right but if the owner of the car/gun rocks for BMW. They may against the rules to have firearms on the property. He/she can’t do anything about that. The issue is why didn’t he/she lock the glove box up. And keep the key while they were cleaning the car

  • It was pretty hard trying to read that article and their twisting accounts of what happened.. I’m still not exactly sure.. but I think the reporter did the best they could.

  • It’s like a bad buddy movie. Now the lawyers and judges will keep them all here to chuckle over, unable to leave during probation, and hit Repeat for years more 👹🤑🤑🤑🍦🍦🍦

  • The owner of the car who put the gun in an unlocked glove box should be charged as well. Stupid people shouldn’t own or carry guns.

  • Another deadly weapon crime with probation that didn’t work. It’s a shame the SA and judges don’t seem to live in the real world.

  • Want stricter gun control? This is where you make a change, tougher penalties for this right here, and actually enforce them.
    Go after the criminals not the law abiding citizens. However, I will say you should never leave your gun in your unattended vehicle, even at your home.

  • Per ASO….49 incidents of stolen guns from unlocked cars so far this year. Please don’t leave an unsecured gun in your unlocked car

  • The best laid plans of mice and men…his original intent would have worked out.

    Save the underpaid and overworked SAO some money and time and as an added bonus, save taxpayers some funds as well. Win, win.

  • If it wasnt a gun, he would’ve stole anything worth value.

    A Gun doesn’t force someone to steal it.

    But the company who’s providing contract service should be held accountable and lose contracts over the poor quality of employees….

    Your employees directly represent your business…. In this case 2 time convicted thief….. Makes you wonder who else is on his employee list…

  • Owning a BMW is like owning a horse or a boat.
    Just keep throwing money at it, and it doesn’t really do anything special.
    2nd,
    I bet they pay more money monthly, for BMW’s heated seats app, than what they paid for the gun. 🤣

      • No…..
        I’d just rather have a sound running vehicle, that’s locked, paid for, that I can clean, and work on my self, in my driveway, that don’t require
        “addicted thieving laborers” to clean, or an app for heating the seats.
        BMW owners seem to want that …..
        To say the least about insurance, loans, and financing payments.
        For example, GMC stamped right on their vehicles what they really mean in their advertising.
        They stamped DENALI right on the side of some of their products.
        What they really meant to spell was DENIAL.
        Because of the payments and financing and so on.
        I do believe however, that GMC owners are “bright enough” to not leave their guns in their vehicles when it’s heading to be cleaned at the detail shop.
        JMO 🤔

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