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Thursday, Mar 28th

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GPD recovers stolen copper

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Gallup Police Department officers were sent to Armored Electric the morning of Aug. 3 to investigate a theft at the business.

According to GPD Detective Charles Wommack, officers responded and were able to gain access to surveillance video that showed two people in a white Chevrolet truck taking electric wiring from the business.

“The suspects are seen getting into the back of the Armored Electric truck where they proceed to take items from the back of the truck,” Wommack said in his search warrant request. “The first item was able to be carried out by one of the suspects. The next item was a large plastic bucket containing the various wire spools.”

Wommack said that he made fliers and visited various recycling places around town until one recognized the vehicle shown on the video.

“One of the recycling places were able to give me information on who drives that truck,”he said.

Once given a name, Wommack said he recognized it from previous dealings. The name was not released because the people involved in the theft are still being investigated. He went to the residence associated with the truck, just west of Gallup near the McKinley West Volunteer Fire Department.

“We knew that it was county, so we requested a Sheriff’s deputy to assist,” Wommack said. “In plain view, inside the trailer, there was wire strewn about. They had been stripping wire diligently.”

Officers sat on the residence while Wommack secured a search warrant for the residence. The search warrant asked that electrical wire of very specific spools be allowed to be seized along with a black color “Smart tub” which was used to hold the wire, a red in color bandana and the White in color Chevrolet pick up truck.

“We came back – made announcements for people to come out [of the residence],” he said.

Officers had seen people moving about inside the residence, after no one came out, they went into the residence. After the initial sweep, they were unable to locate anyone. Wommack said that an officer went to open a dresser drawer and the entire front came off exposing two people who were hiding in the hollowed out dresser.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Lt. James Maioriano said that those two people, Marissa Lujan and Louis Garcia, were both arrested by MCSO deputies based solely on outstanding warrants.

Wommack stressed that the two were not arrested based on the theft or the search warrant, only on their outstanding warrants. They were later questioned about the theft. The details of that questioning have not been released and is still under investigation.

“We recovered a bunch of bare copper that had been stripped of it’s coating, the coating and the tub it was in,” he said.

Crimestoppers is offering a reward for anyone with information (505) 722-6161.

“We recovered the vehicle, all we need is to find out who the suspects are,” Gallup Police Department Capt. Rick White said.