Burglary rate jumps 72 percent in Santa Fe County

Sheriff steps up patrols in hardest-hit areas

Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano believes Timothy Lopez.

The boastful burglar and cocaine addict — who was arrested last month while breaking in to a residence in the city — told city police investigators he had committed up to three burglaries a day in the Santa Fe area for the last 18 months. So far, the 22-year-old Santa Fe resident has been charged with four residential burglaries in the city and five in the county.

“In our discussions with him, he described others (he’d done), but we couldn’t tie them to reports,” Solano said. “So, yeah, I actually do believe him.”

Solano said when a burglar of Lopez’s alleged caliber is taken off the streets, often times burglary statistics will show a significant drop. And while it’s too early to tell if Lopez’s incarceration will lead to fewer residential burglaries, the sheriff and his counterparts in the city police department can only hope that happens.

The residential burglary rate in Santa Fe County increased 72 percent during the third quarter of 2007 as compared to the same three-month period last year, according to statistics from the sheriff’s department. That’s not as high as the 84 percent rise in residential burglaries logged by the city in the same time period, but it’s definitely enough to get the sheriff’s attention.

Solano has stepped up patrols in the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the last six weeks and assigned more detectives to the problem. Deputies have been using any excuse — broken tail lights, expired registrations and the like — to pull over cars in hopes of snaring a burglar with a car full of loot, he said.

Deputies arrested 10 alleged burglars — including Lopez — in September, which is at least double the usual number, Solano said. “I believe we’re making some headway,” Solano said. “The results may not be immediate ... but you’re going to see a reduction in the long haul.”

According to the statistics, the areas in the county that experienced the largest increases in residential burglaries included Glorieta/Hondo Hill/Canada De Los Alamos, which had 14 incidents between July and September compared to three during the third quarter of 2006, and Tano Road/Pojoaque/Tesuque Pueblo/Cuyamunge, where the number of residential burglaries rose from four in 2006 to 16 in 2007.

Burglars also hit the Camino La Tierra area hard, where the number of residential burglaries climbed from five in the third quarter of 2006 to 18 in the third quarter this year. Finally, the Eldorado area and neighborhoods in El Rancho, Jacona and San Ildefonso Pueblo experienced more than 100 percent increases, according to statistics.

Meanwhile, Lopez remains in the Santa Fe County jail as investigators from the city and county continue to investigate him. He admitted to five burglaries in the Chupadero area between December and April, Solano said.

He was initially caught by Santa Fe police officer T.J. Grundler on Sept. 20 while trying to break in to a home in the 500 block of Silva Street near Larrogoite Elementary School, said Deputy Police Chief Benjie Montaño. He admitted to burglarizing two other homes in the same block before he was nabbed, and investigators have enough evidence to tie him to another burglary at a home on Callejon Zenaida, Montaño said.

However, Lopez didn’t target any one particular area of the city or county. “It was all over,” Montaño said. Lopez mainly stole guns, prescription medication, cash and jewelry, he said.

“Whatever he could get rid of quickly,” Montaño said. “He says he really doesn’t want to (burglarize houses), but he has a drug problem he has to support.”

The residential burglary numbers are especially daunting, considering December is typically the month when police see the highest number of such crimes, Solano said.

“I hate to say this, but I can pretty much promise that burglaries will rise in December,” he said. “Burglars need presents, too.”

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.