A man staying at the Econo Lodge on 3101 West Hwy 66 got a lucky break when Gallup Police Department officers caught up with thieves that had broken into his red Dodge pick up and stole some items on Jan. 18.
The Colorado man got all of his items back thanks to a curious front desk clerk that witnessed the suspects’ shady behavior. She went outside to take a closer look at the activity, then hid behind a pillar to call 911. It resulted in the arrest of Corey Daniel and Jeremy Henry.
A preliminary report states that at about 10 pm, police were dispatched to the hotel, in which they discovered a broken window on the red Dodge. The front desk clerk told police that a black, Dodge pickup truck with no license plate had been parked next to the red truck and were acting suspicious and shining a flashlight in the vehicle.
Police issued “an attempt to locate” the black truck, and in the meantime, the victim said that about $3,550 worth of items, including a laptop, power tools, hand tools computer hard drives, and dog clothes and toys, placed in plastic bags and bins, were missing.
GPD Officer Dominic Molina then left the scene and went to search for the black truck. He checked the parking lot of west Motel 6 and located a truck matching the description. The truck was still warm and had broken glass in the back of the truck matching the glass broken out of the red Dodge.
Molina located the room belonging to the owner of the black truck. Daniel, 22, answered the door and let the officer into the room. Based on visual observations, Molina noticed items matching the description of stolen items that the victim gave in a report. Molina asked Daniel where Henry, 23, went, and she told the officer that he had left the room.
It turns out he was nearby – hiding under the bed. Some more of the victim’s belongings were underneath a second bed. Molina called the victim and he came to the hotel to identify and retrieve his stolen items. Daniel and Henry were each charged with burglary of a vehicle, tampering with evidence, and receiving stolen property.
