The FBI is searching for convicted felon Leonard John Lucero, 51, after finding dozens of firearms and more than $100,000 in suspected stolen property while executing a search warrant in his home and storage unit.
“We have the obvious power tools and things that you would find at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s,” Raul Bujanda, a Special Agent in Charge of FBI Albuquerque, told KRQE News. “This was something that was a little different and unique on this specific search warrant.”
The FBI’s Violent Gang Task Force -- along with Albuquerque Police, Rio Rancho Police and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office -- executed search warrants on Jan. 4 at Lucero’s home and four storage units he rented off 2nd St. in Northwest Albuquerque.
The suspected stolen items included more than 300 bottles of alcohol, TVs, appliances and power tools. An additional 51 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition were also discovered, according to KRQE News' report on the criminal complaint.
With three felony convictions, Lucero faces the federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm
“We’re looking for him,” Bujanda said. “We’re actively pursuing any leads that anyone might have related to his arrest.”
According to federal court documents, the FBI targeted Lucero’s stash after learning of his involvement in a violent Albuquerque gang.
“Some of this came from informants, from cooperatives who are now working with us, who have been arrested in the past,” Bujanda told KRQE.
He said gangs are usually connected to the crimes people hear about every day.
“If we say that we have a gun problem, if we say we have a drugs problem, if we say we have a retail theft problem, well that’s very circular, very cyclical, because these types of things can be used as a barter system,” Bujanda told KRQE News.
The Violent Gang Task Force is a new, independent group after being part of the Violent Crimes and Gang Task Force.
“For us, we needed to be more specific in what it is that we were trying to target,” Bujanda told KRQE News. “Because as much as we thought that these things are interconnected, and they are in many aspects, they’re also independent of each other. The more that we can do separate and apart and then work on the connecting pieces together, I think the more effective we’re going to be.”
The Violent Gang Task Force is the group behind the record 1.1 million fentanyl pills seizure in Albuquerque in September, according to KRQE News.
Bujanda said tips from the public are vitally important.
“If you start kind of sharing those pieces of information with law enforcement and with the FBI, then we can turn it into these kinds of results,” he said, according to KRQE News.
The FBI is working with retail partners to return the suspected stolen items. Anyone with information on Lucero’s whereabouts is encouraged to call the FBI at 505-889-1300.