One man is in custody following an overnight incident in Branson. At approximately 1:45 a.m. this morning, the Branson Police Department responded to a call pertaining to property damage at the Branson Landing View motel, located at 403 W. Main, after a person attempted to drive a U-Haul truck under the office awning and was not able to do so. After damaging the awning, the driver left the scene. A short time later, officers located the suspect vehicle at the Wendy’s restaurant, just west of the Branson Landing View motel. They found damage to the U-Haul consistent with the damage done to the awning at the motel. Officers were able to locate the driver of the U-Haul, 23 year-old Victor Arellano of El Paso, Texas, and he was taken into custody on charges of driving while revoked and leaving the scene of an accident.
The U-Haul was towed incident to the arrest and a search warrant was obtained and executed this afternoon. Inside the truck was over 100 pounds of marijuana, packaged for distribution. Street market value of the confiscated marijuana is estimated to be in excess of $100,000.
At this time, Victor Arellano remains incarcerated, with paperwork being forwarded to the Taney County Prosecutor’s Office for the filing of charges.
Caroll W. McCullough
Chief of Police
