Working off of a Crime Stopper’s tip, the Albuquerque Police Department’s Repeat Offender Project team arrested one of the city’s top property crime offenders Thursday.
Working off of a Crime Stopper’s tip, the Albuquerque Police Department’s Repeat Offender Project team arrested one of the city’s top property crime offenders Thursday.
On March 26, a warrant was issued for Jeffrey Brasher’s arrest on two auto theft-related counts after detectives used fingerprints to determine he stole a car while it was warming up.
At the time he allegedly stole the car, Brasher, 18, was awaiting trial on a separate auto theft case in which he was accused of 26 felonies. He had recently been released on his own recognizance from the Metropolitan Detention Center.
After the warrant was issued, APD immediately made Brasher one of their top targets. His picture was placed on 10 electronic billboards and detectives all over the city were looking for him. It is believed someone saw the picture and called Crime Stoppers. ROP detectives then took him into custody.
Targeting offenders like Brasher is one of the core principals of Mayor Richard J. Berry’s property crime initiatives. Offenders’ photographs have been placed in newspaper ads and billboards as a part of Berry’s plan.
Thus far three offenders featured on the billboards have been captured and 53 profiled in Albuquerque Journal advertisements have been taken into custody.
“We are continuing to make Albuquerque a bad place to be a criminal,” Mayor Berry said. “This is a prime example of how average citizens are working with the police to take criminals off the street. I am grateful that members of the community are willing to come forward to help us stop these repeat offenders from doing more harm.”
In January, Brasher, his brother, Justin, and four others were charged in connection with an auto theft ring in which dozens of cars were stolen. He was awaiting trial on that case when he was let out of jail.
