LLPD looking for suspect who stole computers from Republican legislative office

LOS LUNAS — Los Lunas police suspect a man took advantage of a power outage on the night of Holy Thursday to break into the Los Lunas Transportation Center on Good Friday and make off with three laptops belonging to aides of Valencia County Republican legislators.

According to a police report, the daytime burglary was reported to the LLPD on Tuesday, April 29, by an assistant to a GOP state representative. The woman reported when she arrived that morning, she found three silver HP laptops missing and had been last seen on April 17.

Los Lunas police reviewed security tapes from the building and determined the burglary occurred on Friday, April 18, a holiday for Los Lunas village employees.

“It’s looking like at this point that this was a crime of opportunity,” Los Lunas Police Chief Frank Lucero said in a phone interview. “The building is a shared facility that houses multiple different entities. At this time, it’s hard to prove this was specific targeting. We have no evidence at all of specific targeting of the Republican Party.”

The incident report noted there was no evidence of forced entry. The report also noted that a power outage on the night of April 17 may have resulted in the failure of security systems at the Transportation Center, which left outdoor entry doors unlocked on April 18. Power was restored to the building at 6:30 p.m. that night, according to the report.

Lucero said as of Tuesday, May 6, LLPD still had no leads on the suspect, who is described as “a male wearing a brown long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and a black hat with a “B” on it.”

According to a LLPD report, at about 11 a.m. on Friday, April 18, a driver of white Crown Victoria dropped the man off outside the Transportation Center.

“The male entered through the unlocked south side doors. He walked around the first floor, pulling on the handles of office doors to check if they were open,” the police report stated. “All of the downstairs doors were locked and secured.”

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The report stated the man walked upstairs and opened the door to room 231. He remained in the room for about two minutes and exited a couple of minutes later, carrying a black computer bag containing the three HP laptops.

The suspect then left through the north doors and sat on a bench on the west side of the building, waiting for the train to arrive, the report said. Once the train arrived at 3:10 p.m., the man got on the Rail Runner train that was headed southbound.

Los Lunas Assistant Village Administrator Erin Callahan confirmed that the doors were unlocked on Good Friday due to a “technical issue.” She also confirmed that the GOP office is the only office rental in the facility, which also houses offices for Los Lunas Parks and Recreation, Open Space Division, facilities and maintenance and other departments.

“Public access to the building is limited,” she said. “The doors are normally locked but can be opened. The public spaces (In the building) can be rented and staff makes sure everything is open on those days, but day-to-day, the building is locked.”

Chief Lucero said LLPD has since met with the village’s IT department to make sure the facility is secure for all partners.

A call to state Sen. Joshua Sanchez seeking comment had not been returned to the News-Bulletin by the print deadline on Wednesday.