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Thief pawns stolen saddle in Albuquerque

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Staff Reports

A warrant has been issued against a Grants man accused of stealing a saddle from a Gallup pawnshop and then pawning it in Albuquerque.

The warrant was issued Monday against Durwin Nelson, 30, at the request of the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, which has been looking for Nelson since April 20 in connection with the theft of a $2,000 saddle from T&R Rope and Feed Store north of Gallup on U.S. Highway 491.

MCSO Sgt. Robert Turney said in his arrest warrant that officials for the pawnshop discovered the saddle had been stolen on April 18 when they did their regular weekly inventory. Once they discovered the item was missing, they searched their video logs and found out the theft occurred on April 13.

Turney said he had problems viewing the video but began a search through a nationwide pawnshop list showing items that had been pawned. The saddle was a Scott Thomas brand and he found only one pawned in the period after the theft and this was at a 505 Quick Cash and Pawn in Albuquerque.

The pawn form showed that it was pawned by Nelson for $300. He called the Albuquerque pawnshop and officials there said the saddle was still in their possession. He had it placed on hold and the management agreed to send him photos of the saddle and the man who pawned it.

He finally got the video working from T&R and discovered that Nelson was wearing essentially the same clothes in both videos. He was also able to determine through photos that the saddle being held in Albuquerque matched the one that was stolen.

At that point, Turney began making an effort to find Nelson using the phone number on the pawn ticket but he was not successful. The sheriff’s office is now trying to track him down from the address he gave them and through friends.

According to officials at the sheriff’s office, Nelson also has some connection with people in the Gallup area and that is being looked into as well.

Anyone with information about Nelson’s whereabouts is being asked to contact Turney at (505) 722-7205.

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