Burglar Bobo busted in tobacco heist

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - Bernalillo County sheriff's investigators connected an easily recognizable face with a serious addiction to cigarettes and came up with a burglary suspect Wednesday.

Joseph “Bobo” Barboa, 41, was arrested Wednesday for burglary. Workers at the Chevron off Isleta Boulevard SW found the glass door smashed and reported $2,500 worth of cigarettes and chewing tobacco stolen.

Sheriff's Sgt. Sid Covington of the street crimes unit said the burglar seen in the store’s surveillance video initially wore a trash bag over his face.

“So he was not recognizable at first,” Covington said. “As he started to collect items from the cigarette shelves and chewing tobacco, he took the bag off his face to fill it up with items, so then he was easily recognized.”

Barboa is no stranger to deputies. He has only one eye after losing the left one in 1998 when a deputy shot him as he tried to run over officers

Barboa had broken into Jerry’s Market, which is on the same street as the Chevron, and had stolen cigarettes then, too, Covington said.

Barboa served time for that crime, but Covington said he went back to his old ways.

“I guess it's kind of mind boggling that someone would repeat an offense after he went through a traumatic event like he went through in ‘98,” Covington said. "If he hasn’t learned his lesson yet, who knows?"

Soon after the surveillance video had been viewed, Covington said he found Barboa at his mother’s house. He was in his truck with a trash bag filled with the stolen goods, according to Covington.

Workers at the Chevron said Barboa was a regular customer at the gas station.

A look into Barboa’s criminal record shows several arrests for crimes ranging from burglary to three counts of aggravated battery on a peace officer.