Golden loot easily sold in Albuquerque

Burglary victims often wonder forever what happened to precious items, and now KRQE News 13 has followed the tracks of two accused crooks whose gold loot was sold for scrap and melted down.

Jamie Muñoz and Michael Lucero are accused of breaking into at least 20 homes in the East Mountains and Placitas.

Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies who caught up with the duo and searched their home reported finding a large stash of loot.

"Basically it was everywhere in the house," Detective Ed Vigil told News 13. "She just started pointing out 'That's stolen; that's stolen; that's not stolen; that's stolen.'"

Muñoz reportedly told deputies they especially liked to steal jewelry because she could get the most value out of it. She also claimed she sold a lot of jewelry at Gold and Silver Exchange in Albuquerque during eight to 10 visits over a four-month period.

When News 13 visited the exchange on Menaul Boulevard NE getting in to talk to the manager required passing through two locked doors and by a security guard.

Manager David Castle said he didn't catch the frequent criminal visitors because at the time he had three different people working for him. It raises a red flag when a customer comes in multiple times to sell items, he added.

"You want to buy everything you can," Castle continued. "You don't want to buy any stolen property.

"You're not the judge and the jury. Nevertheless you have to be judicious."

While News 13 was at the exchange a woman sold a gold necklace to the company for $35 and did not bargain for the price.

According to investigators agreeing to so little money for an expensive item should also be a red flag for businesses.

"Some of this gold is very expensive, but he's paying very little money," Vigil said. "But in return when he's melting it down, he's making a very good profit."

Castle said employees "generally do not know" if an item is stolen or not. He also said the exchange complies with a state law requiring the business to ask for IDs, keep paperwork on the sellers and hold the items they've sold to the shop for five days.

Vigil said Castle had the paperwork but loose about his filing system.

"The way he kept the transaction slips was in a box, and he would keep the receipts in there," Vigil said. "He literally scooped up all the transactions and started looking for the specific name I wanted, and that was his database."

Deputies said they would like to cite businesses for receiving and transferring stolen property, but it's very hard to prove the staff knew the items were stolen.

"What he's doing is wrong, and there's no way any cop doing anything about it," Vigil said.

Even if they could, the first offense would only be a misdemeanor although second and additional offenses are fourth-degree felonies.