A man accused of organizing a mob of thieves to repeatedly target an Albuquerque business and steal from it is being pursued by law enforcement.
According to Albuquerque CBS affiliate KRQE, the suspect, Isaiah Martinez, allegedly directed the mob to ransack the Sunglass Hut at Coronado Mall last fall.
Authorities told the station that the store’s employees are accustomed to Martinez’s presence – the business has been hit four times – to the point they know him by name.
The suspects purportedly came away with over $12,000 worth of merchandise in the span of several weeks, just a part of an alarming trend happening across the country.
“This guy organized a mob of other thieves to basically just storm a store in broad daylight without regard to other families and customers; that kind of heightened aggressive activity is something that needs to be stopped,” New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said to KRQE.
Investigators said Martinez is accused of stealing an estimated $56,000 worth of merchandise in a short amount of time from another sunglass shop at Cottonwood Mall.
“What’s even more obscene about this case, he’s doing it with cameras and he’s aware of technology and he just doesn’t believe that law enforcement going to arrest him,” Balderas told KRQE.