An Albuquerque man who stole from hundreds of people was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday after several of his victims testified he had “destroyed their lives.”
An Albuquerque man who stole from hundreds of people was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday after several of his victims testified he had “destroyed their lives.”
Shane Price had pleaded guilty to 31 counts of Residential Burglary, Automobile Burglary, Identity Theft, Receiving Stolen Property, and Possession of a Stolen Credit Card. He faced a maximum of 40 years in prison when he was sentenced Friday by Judge Denise Barela Shepherd.
Mayor Richard J. Berry attended the sentencing along with Public Safety Director Darren White and Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz. After the sentencing, Berry said he was pleased with court’s ruling.
“I attended the hearing today to show my support for the police officers who worked this complex investigation, the district attorneys who prosecuted this case and the judge who made the tough decision to send someone to prison for decades,” Mayor Berry said. “This should be a message to all criminals in our community – if you break into homes, steal cars and take people’s identity, the police department is going to catch you and chances are you are going to prison.”
Price started his crime spree in August 2008 and over four months he broke into hundreds of homes and stole dozens of cars. In most of the cases he broke into homes at night by prying open a garage door and would go through the house while the homeowner was sleeping. He then would steal credit cars, checkbooks, iPods and computers. In some of the cases he would drive away in the victim’s car.
APD was able to link Price to hundreds of burglaries using fingerprints. A District Court grand jury had indicted Price on 106 felony counts in five separate cases before a plea agreement was reached with the District Attorney’s Office.
In January Mayor Berry announced his property crime initiative. Once of the elements of Berry’s plan is to attend sentencing hearings of repeat property crime offenders to let the court system know how big of an impact these offenders have on our community. The mayor plans to attend more sentencing hearings in the future “to show my support for the team effort it takes to get criminals off the street,” he said.
