Albuquerque police have made significant progress in a month’s long investigation into the theft of $190,000 of merchandise, resulting in the arrest of multiple suspects who work for ABF Freight System Inc, as well as several local teachers.
Albuquerque police have made significant progress in a month’s long investigation into the theft of $190,000 of merchandise, resulting in the arrest of multiple suspects who work for ABF Freight System Inc, as well as several local teachers.
On December 6, detectives were called on to investigate the theft of an ABF tractor trailer rig which was transporting 70 large, flat screen televisions. On that same day the rig was recovered in Valencia County. The missing televisions were valued at $999.00 each. Detective Jessie Carter launched his investigation by checking Craig’s List locally for similar items. It wasn’t long before he identified a seller who was advertising flat screen televisions of the same product description as the stolen merchandise. Detective Carter arranged for an undercover purchase of one of the televisions and in the process recovered two of the televisions and took the two sellers into custody. The initial contact led him to another individual who was the supplier of the televisions.
On December 8, detectives arranged a second undercover purchase out of Belen. Several more individuals were detained and four more flat screens were recovered. This led to the identification of several more people who were involved, including the main offender in the theft operation, who was identified as ABF employee, Adrian Limas.
On December 9, detectives interviewed numerous offenders who were involved in the crime and as many as 23 televisions had been recovered. The various suspects were involved in the initial theft, the transfer of the stolen merchandise or the attempted sale of the televisions.
On the 10th Detective Carter obtained an arrest warrant for Limas and a few days later members of the northeast area impact team arrested Limas. Later that week detectives conducted more interviews and another sixteen offenders were identified. As of today’s date, 23 stolen televisions have been recovered and arrest warrants have been issued for 15 additional suspects. Of the total number of suspects, 15 have been arrested to date and the investigation is ongoing.
“The arrest of multiple offenders in this complicated scheme represents outstanding investigative work on the part of APD detectives and the northeast impact team. I know they will not rest until all of the suspects are arrested and held accountable for these crimes,” Police chief Ray Schultz said.
APD detectives will continue to track down the remaining stolen television set. Anyone in possession of one of the stolen televisions is encouraged to contact police at 823-4455
“Turning in a stolen television before officers arrive to reclaim them could keep people out of jail this New Year’s weekend,” Chief Schultz said.
