A Santa Fe man is wanted on a bench warrant in a shoplifting case after he failed to appear for a court hearing.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo issued the bench warrant on Feb. 12, ordering Christopher Abeyta, 30, to be held without bail after he is arrested and before he can see a judge.
Española City Police officers charged Abeyta on Jan. 19 with shoplifting between $500 and $2,500, for an incident at Walmart.
Officer Francisco Lovato wrote in a criminal complaint that he was called to Walmart at 1 p.m. for a shoplifting call. When he got there, he went to the security office. Unnamed security officers told him they allegedly caught Abeyta trying to leave the store with a $100 drill in his pants, pushing a shopping cart with goods valued at $529.
“According to staff Christopher was caught passing all point of sales in the automotive department section of Walmart,” Lovato wrote. Upon apprehension of (sic) staff, and while in the AP office, Christopher admitted to hiding the drill in his pants, but denied the rest of the items.”
Lovato then arrested and charged Abeyta with the shoplifting charge, a fourth-degree felony.
After being released on his own recognizance on Jan. 21 by Magistrate Judge Joseph Madrid, but ordered to report to be on pre-trial services supervision, he allegedly failed to appear for a status conference on Feb. 12 and Naranjo then issued the bench warrant.