BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – It may have been one of the biggest shoplifting rings in Albuquerque. However, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department said they caught the kingpin.
An undercover deputy, who is in the organized retail crime unit, told KRQE they’ve busted a big ring.“This was the last prolific offenders that was hitting Coronado mall. They are all gone now. Everyone else that comes in there steals one or two things. That’s it,” said the undercover deputy.
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The deputies found this ring by focusing on those who stole the most. They watched what stores they went into and what they were stealing. “They tend to be the ones that are the link to the fence.”
The stores they were targeting were Sephora, Target, Lululemon, and Ulta. In the complaint, it states those stores suffered $10,000 of stolen items each in a year.
Some of the more than 18 people involved in this ring are Marileysi Campos and Yarelis Cespedes who are accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and then taking the items to the receiver who buys the products and sells them. “All the offenders were using the free bus system. They would get property from the shoplifting incident to the next level fence within minutes.”
Their investigation eventually led them to Raul Garcia. “He is, they use the concept, King Pin.”
According to the deputy, once arrested, Garcia confessed to using the females to get the stolen property and then reselling it. The ring racked up more than $100,000.
The department has been tracking this ring since June 2023. Garcia is facing organized retail crime, money laundering, racketeering, and tampering with evidence charges.
