Joseph Montoya, 37, is currently facing over 60 charges for breaking into stores and stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of items.
According to the authorities, he targeted Cell Masters twice and allegedly stole at least 30 phones, amounting to $20,000.
The owner of Cell Masters, Zaid Alqam, said that security measures in their store are being taken seriously.
“To get into the store, I have to go through… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7 locks,” he stated.
Alqam told the authorities that security measures were taken after the break-ins.
“Right now, we have bars, door, then bars. So we had, like, extra bars in the place it looks like… looks like a prison outside.” He added.
Apart from Cells Master, Shane Westhoelter, CEO of All In Autographs, also complained about the same incident with the same person.
He claimed that Montoya also stole $20,000 worth of merchandise in one night.
“That was probably about $20,000 worth of merch that he took on that particular night.” He said.
Westhoeler said they have taken additional security measures to prevent the incident from recurring.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to try and secure everything down, make sure that everything is tie wrapped, secured, you know, locked down the best that we can,” he said.
Montoya was arrested in February after being shot during another burglary spree. The Albuquerque police later identified him as a suspect in multiple burglaries across the city.
