After a lengthy investigation into near-daily shoplifting in Chimayó, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies charged five people for a scheme to sell stolen goods for drugs.
Sgt. Nicholas Diaz started his investigation in February that led to charges filed on April 10 of organized retail crime against Felix Lewis, 45, and his wife Roseanna Lewis, 45.
Roseanna Lewis was arrested on April 20 on a warrant charging her with organized retail crime — recruit, supervise and finance, organized retail crime — receive, purchase or possess and conspiracy to commit bribery of a witness and released on her own recognizance the same day.
Felix Lewis was arrested on April 20 on charges of organized retail crime — recruit, supervise and finance, organized retail crime — receive, purchase or possess and bribery of a witness.
The warrants for the Lewises were issued 10 days earlier on April 10.
Diaz charged Luke Velasquez, 24, of Chimayó, with one count of organized retail crime — theft. Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Joseph Madrid ordered him to be released on pretrial supervision after his April 27 arrest.
Courtney Atencio, 24, and Adrian Chavez, 28, both of Chimayó, were charged with misdemeanor shoplifting in February and both are wanted on bench warrants.
Prosecutors are now asking that Felix Lewis be held without bail as a danger to the community, citing that he poses a “danger of physical harm to the victim,” that he was on probation at the time of his arrest and he was previously found dangerous in a case where he was initially charged with kidnapping after a man said Lewis allegedly lured him to a house, kidnapped him and raped him over a drug debt. Felix Lewis pleaded down to drug possession in that case after the victim died.
A hearing to see if Felix Lewis will be held without bail pending trial was set for Tuesday.
Alleged Crime Ring
Diaz was sent to the Chimayó Family Dollar on Feb. 12, for a report of ongoing shoplifting, but he wasn’t able to get there until after the store closed. The description from dispatchers matched a pattern: a man stealing who left through the fire exit, unknown what was taken or direction of travel, he wrote in the 15-page affidavit for an arrest warrant for Felix Lewis.
“However, over the last two years, I noticed there was approximately 24 reported shoplifting incidents at the Chimayó Family Dollar from September 22nd, 2024, until present day, February 12th, 2026,” Diaz wrote. “Upon closer inspection, I noticed a higher frequency of shopliftings over the last few months. Due to the findings, I decided to investigate further into the matter.”
The calls had common threads: stealing dog food and laundry detergent, leaving through the emergency fire exit that puts out an audible alarm when opened. Diaz knew that the store’s surveillance cameras “are in disrepair and hardly ever function properly” and the store manager told him that the store usually calls once every two weeks for shoplifting, but it happens everyday, he wrote.
“Daniela stated they stopped calling for law enforcement due to the extremely high-frequency of thefts and the fact that law enforcement normally took approximately 20-minutes to arrive, by which time the suspects were long gone,” he wrote.
Thieves would steal laundry baskets and use those to cart away the goods. When workers started tying the hampers together, they used coolers. When employees tied those together, they brought in their own duffel bags or backpacks, he wrote.
“She estimated each theft involved approximately $200 or more of merchandise in a single basket or cooler,” he wrote. “Suspects do not appear selective about items, randomly grabbing merchandise as they move through the store.”
Velasquez was identified by staff as one of the main people responsible for taking items from the store, he wrote.
Diaz wrote that he made a plan to deal with the thefts, by stationing undercover officers in the store to catch a thief in the act.
Sgt. Jonathan Coriz called Diaz on Feb. 20 and told him he caught two people shoplifting, Atencio and Chavez, less than a mile from the store. Along with Detective Matthew Jacobs, he told them about the thefts, Diaz wrote.
Atencio told deputies that Chavez steals items from the store, $100 to $200 worth at a time, and trades the goods to Roseanna Lewis for cocaine worth 50% of the face value of the items. As an example, $100 of stolen dog food and laundry detergent would be returned at $50 worth of cocaine, he wrote.
Chavez allegedly told deputies he has been stealing from Family Dollar in Chimayó since Christmas 2025 and he steals $100 to $200 worth of stuff each time, leaving each time through the emergency exit.
“Adrian stated he shoplifted approximately every other day to support his drug habit.” Diaz wrote. “He said he would trade the stolen merchandise to people in Chimayó who would give him either cash or drugs in exchange, typically receiving half the retail value.”
One of the managers told Diaz on March 24 that Felix Lewis allegedly came to the store and threatened her and told her to “be careful” and a co-worker told him that deputies were looking to get a warrant for his house. He went to the store after she followed multiple people who stole from the store to his house, Diaz wrote.
The Lewises are “ring leaders” in the scheme, he wrote.