Saturday, August 30, 2008

Thousands of dollars worth of furniture taken from warehouse

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Belen Tens of thousands of dollars worth of furniture was stolen last weekend from the Hub Furniture warehouse, and police are hoping someone will come forward to help them identify the suspects.

Belen Police Detective Victor Castillo said Officer Pat Gallegos was dispatched to the warehouse, located on Castillo Avenue, on Monday morning when an employee noticed the alarm had been turned off and a large amount of inventory was gone.

"I spoke with ... the warehouse and delivery employee, and he told me that someone was able to gain entry through the west garage door," Castillo said. "They (the suspects) pried the lock and crawled underneath the garage door."

Michael Sanchez, owner of Hub Furniture, said the garage door looked as if someone had kicked it to be able to lift it up.

Castillo said that, once inside the building, the thieves were able to turn off the alarm, which has since been fixed and the code changed. He said because the alarm was disabled, it's not clear when it was turned off.

"This had to have happened after the hours of 3 o'clock on Saturday, when they closed, to Monday morning," Castillo said.

Sanchez said he believes the burglers must have broken in sometime during the weekend, but after 9 p.m. on Saturday because his father, Bennie, who established the business in 1949, drove by then and said everything was fine.

Castillo said the thieves drove their vehicle inside and started loading up. The detective and Sanchez believe that the burglars must have made numerous trips to and from the warehouse, based upon the number of items taken.

The detective said he was able to lift tire impressions from a piece of cardboard the vehicle drove onto once inside the building. He says the measurements of the width of the tires leads him to believe that a pickup truck was used in the burglary.

In all, Sanchez estimates that $29,870 worth of furniture was stolen, including a three-piece sectional, more than a dozen Tempur-Pedic mattresses, loveseats, sofas, bedroom sets, recliners, lamps, paintings, grandfather clocks and many other furniture items.

"Once they left the warehouse, they did shut the garage door, and when the employee came in Monday morning, the alarm was turned off," Castillo said. "They didn't make a mess inside — they knew what they were doing, where to go and what to get. There was no criminal damage other than to the garage door."

Sanchez said the merchandise stolen from the warehouse was insured.

"I'm just as surprised as anybody that anyone would steal this type of merchandise," Sanchez said. "It looks as if this whole thing was planned, and it definitely looks like it took more than two people to do this."

Anyone with information about this case or who is responsible is asked to call Belen Police Detective Victor Castillo at 864-6288.

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