Under a new state law, felony shoplifting charges have recently begun to appear in Santa Fe County courts.
As the Christmas holidays approach, and with them an increased potential for shoplifting, it remains to be seen whether several cases pending in court will bring the kind of stiffer penalties – and crime deterrence – that the law promises.
In late November, a Truchas man was arrested on suspicion of a relatively new criminal charge called “organized retail crime,” with a 12-page warrant affidavit detailing an investigation by the state attorney general’s office into thousands of dollars worth of merchandise the suspect allegedly took from a local Lowe’s home improvement store.
Roselio Miguel Duran, 30, faces one count of organised retail theft, as well as charges of conspiracy, shoplifting and criminal damage to property, according to the affidavit.
Some cases have also been filed for another new charge called “aggravated shoplifting”.
Both charges were created in legislation overwhelmingly approved by state lawmakers earlier this year that provided for more serious shoplifting charges. The law allowed prosecutors to consider the total value of items stolen from a retailer over the course of a year when charging a shoplifter with aggravated shoplifting.
Under the bill, which was signed into law by the governor in April, shoplifting can be charged as a felony if the total value of the stolen goods exceeds $500.
The law also created a new second-degree felony charge called “organised retail crime”, which can be applied to two or more people accused of conspiring to shoplift a total of $2,500 or more over a period of one year or less.
Aggravated shoplifting, a felony, is defined in the law as “assaulting or striking another with a deadly weapon immediately after an act of shoplifting”.
The bill passed both chambers with only a handful of “no” votes.
Capt. Aaron Ortiz, who oversees criminal investigations for the Santa Fe Police Department, said in an interview that he believes “the increased consequences for shoplifting help to some extent.
Ortiz said Santa Fe police noticed a dramatic increase in shoplifting a few years ago, but that incidents appear to have leveled off in 2023. He added that he believes the incidents are under-reported by retailers.
Still, the new law “has had a positive effect on it because there is a greater consequence for suspects to think about before they commit a crime,” he said. “It’s definitely helped us.”
Santa Fe County has several pending felony shoplifting cases under the new law, including some recently filed. One man is accused of stealing $3,500 worth of electronics from Target in two incidents, according to a 27 November criminal complaint. Another man was charged with three separate felony shoplifting charges between November and December, with the alleged thefts totalling more than $3,000.
In August, a Santa Fe man was charged with aggravated shoplifting, a third-degree felony, after a Walmart employee told police the man was brandishing a gun, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case. The employee told police he saw the man try to steal a pair of gloves, the complaint states, and when the employee confronted him, the man threatened him with a firearm.
First Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesman Nathan Lederman wrote in an email Tuesday that the law has not been in effect long enough “to comment on specific trends.
Lederman wrote some cases that might be eligible for aggregation as felonies are instead being charged by officers as stand-alone misdemeanors.
He added that officials have found that “there is no mechanism in place to prompt officers to look deeper into a defendant’s history to see if there are more incidents that could be aggregated under the new law to create a felony case.”
An arrest warrant for Duran, who is charged with organized retail crime and several other felonies, was issued in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court on 28 November. The state’s court records database shows that he has not been arraigned on the charges.
State Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Lauren Rodriguez wrote in an email that the new charge carries a maximum penalty of up to nine years in prison, two years of probation and a fine of no more than $10,000.