Suspected thief leaves wallet behind

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - A suspected burglar may be wishing he left his own belongings at home before he went out to break into a car.

Alan McClelland said he came out to his car parked at his Northwest Albuquerque apartment complex Monday evening after he noticed the dome light was on to find a mess.

“Immediately I noticed there was damage to the car, the side panel was pulled off, everything that I had organized in the car was scattered about,” McClelland said.

He started to look around to see what was missing, he discovered the face plate from his car stereo was gone but the stereo itself was left behind.

Just as he was about to call police McClelland said he came across something odd.

“I looked down on the floorboard and noticed there was a wallet there, the wallet was basically left there I’m guessing by the guy who vandalized the car,” he said.

Inside the wallet McClelland found a driver’s license, a bus pass and even an EBT card.

The name on the license was Joseph F. Williams, McClelland said he had never seen, nor met the guy.

Police though had, and they knew where to find him, Williams was already in jail arrested sometime after the break-in.

“He said that the guy whose ID was left in the car, was apprehended and detained over some old warrants,” McClelland said.

The 29-year-old was arrested Monday for skipping out on a court hearing back in January.

McClelland said police dusted his car for fingerprints to see if they could link Williams to the car break-in.

He said unfortunately this is not the first time he has been a victim of a car burglary but finding the alleged crooks information is definitely new territory.

“I’ve never been lucky enough to find the guys wallet when I’ve searched through the car to find out what was missing,” he said.

In all McClelland estimates the damage to his car to be between $200 and $300.

Williams was released from the MDC Tuesday on his other charges, so far he has not been charged in this case.