Santa Fe police officers arrested a former Española School District board member, and current chief deputy assessor for Los Alamos, and his wife, for allegedly shoplifting an accumulated $172.39 worth of goods.
Officer Edward Chavez arrested Lucas Fresquez, 45, of Santa Cruz, on charges of shoplifting under $250 and possession of a schedule III controlled substance, both misdemeanors, on Oct. 11.
Officers arrested his wife, Andrea Fresquez, 37, on a charge of shoplifting of $250 or less.
According to the Los Alamos Reporter, Lucas Fresquez is still employed by the county as the chief deputy assessor while his wife is no longer employed as a records specialist with the Los Alamos Police Department.
Santa Fe Police officers appeared to have pulled over the Fresquezes after they left the Santa Fe Target, and before any allegation of shoplifting had been made against them, and asked Target employees to search for evidence of wrongdoing after detaining the couple.
Officer Edward Chavez wrote in a statement of probable cause that he found a small blue container on Lucas Fresquez with a white powder, which he identified as buprenorphine and that he had prescription, but he liked to crush it up into small pieces. The drug is a synthetic opioid used as a painkiller and to treat opioid addiction.
Chavez wrote he went to help out Sgt. Erasimo Montijo who pulled over Lucas Fresquez’s car. It is not clear why he pulled the car over, or what probable cause he had. A loss prevention officer told the sergeant that a “typical couple” was in the store and he didn’t see them conceal anything, but he had them on security cameras “skip scanning multiple items in past visits.”
Montijo told Chavez that before pulling them over, he ran their license plate while in the Target parking lot and found the car was registered to them and they lived in Rio Arriba County.
Target’s employees then, after the Montijo pulled them over, reviewed the footage to see if they stole anything that time.
“Sergeant Montijo advised that Lucas said he would return to the Target and pay for the items he didn’t pay for earlier in the night when he was in the store,” Chavez wrote. “Sergeant Montijo advised that the loss prevention officer advised that two phone cases, a screen protector, two lip balms, face masks, deodorant, and vitamins (were taken). The items were located in the trunk of the Honda Accord Target bag.”
Target employees gave Montijo a receipt for $172.39 of allegedly stolen items, but no video surveillance to back up the charge.
Both cases are still pending.