Suspect is ex-cop, prosecutor's husband

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Santa Fe Police said the man who held up two pharmacies in and around Santa Fe is a former cop and KRQE News 13 learned he’s also the husband of a Santa Fe prosecutor.

On Wednesday, police filed an arrest warrant for George William Smith, 43, for two attempted robberies in and around Santa Fe.

“We did receive some crime stoppers call identifying George as the suspect,” Lt. Louis Carlos said.

Carlos said detectives believe Smith is the man seen in surveillance video from “Wiley Chemists Pharmacy” on Hospital Drive on Monday. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department reported that Smith is also the wanted man in a pharmacy heist on Tuesday.

Carlos said Smith pulled a gun on the pharmacist and demanded Oxycodone. However, the pharmacist insisted they didn’t have any and Smith walked out of the store mumbling there was somebody waiting outside.

“Something clicked inside my mind and I was going to protect my crew,” Pharmacist Bruce Bowman said on Tuesday.

To Bowman, the man who walked into his pharmacy pointed a gun at him was nothing more than a crook. However, police said he’s a former cop.

Rio Arriba County Sheriff's office confirmed it hired Smith in 2011. About a month on the job the Sheriff asked him to resign and Smith did.

The sheriff's office said according to Smith’s application he apparently worked for a South Carolina sheriff's department for seven years.

On Wednesday, Smith’s former employer found out he’s a wanted man. Police will not say who called detectives.

However, District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco said it was Smith's wife, Assistant DA Dorie Biaganti Smith.

Pacehco said the Assistant DA recognized her husband as the man in the surveillance video in a news report. She then confronted him about it and called police.

Pacheco said Dorie Smith hasn't seen him since.

“The only thing that I’m going to comment on is the family is worried about him, about his safety, about his well being,” Carlos said.

Pacheco said she approved the warrant and charges. She said if and when Smith is arrested Taos District Attorney's Office will take on the case.

We contacted Smith to get comment about her husband's arrest warrant but she declined.