Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Cuba man on allegations that he broke into the Coronado High School over the winter break and stole medical supplies, computers and a few chocolates.
Deputies charged Mario Gonzalez, 21, with two counts of non-residential burglary, one count of breaking and entering and one count of larceny between $500 and $2,500, all fourth degree felonies.
The theft of a medical backpack and four laptops was discovered on Jan. 5 by a teacher who came into her classroom and found the laptops missing and the backpack gone, Deputy Patrick Martinez wrote in a criminal complaint.
“(Teacher) noted that the suspect had gone through her desk, removed snack bags, and placed them on a table but did not take them,” Martinez wrote. “However, chocolates were reported missing from (teacher’s) desk. (Teacher) further stated that the suspect appeared to have organized items neatly after going through them.”
All of the classroom computers were also unplugged, he wrote. The window to her classroom appeared to have a damaged seal, which Martinez surmised meant it was pried open, he wrote.
School staff was ready with surveillance footage for Martinez, including some that showed someone walking on the property at 10:14 p.m. on Dec. 28, then the “same suspect” entering and exiting the building on the night of New Year’s Eve, Martinez wrote.
A Human Resources employee thought the thief was Gonzalez, described as a “local male in his mid-20s who previously attended the school” and gave Martinez an address for him in Gallina, he wrote. How she knew it was Gonzalez is not clear.
The security footage showed a person wearing an orange hat, black pants, black sweater with a white diamond in front, carrying the backpack out of the building, he wrote.
After meeting with school staff on Jan. 5, Martinez went to an address reported for Gonzalez. He wasn’t home but the homeowner gave him permission to search the house. In the house, he saw one of the stolen laptops, with a sticker stating it was the property of the Jemez Mountain Public Schools, as well as the medical backpack, Martinez wrote.
After poking around, he found another laptop under some clothes outside and then spotted Gonzalez, read him his Miranda rights and Gonzalez agreed to talk. He admitted to entering the school and taking two laptops and the backpack, but claimed he didn’t steal the other two.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo released him on his own recognizance the following day and a status conference is set for Jan. 28.