ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque church is looking for help finding a couple of burglars who were caught on camera stealing thousands of dollars worth of heavy-duty power tools from their campus.
The theft happened at Calvary Church on Osuna near I-25. In late July, surveillance video captured a man and a woman coming to the church multiple times to steal a paint sprayer, a tiller and a handheld radio system.
“When you start stealing from a church, that’s kind of like the bottom of the barrel,” said Vince Harrison, director of safety and security for Calvary Church. “You should not be coming to God’s house, stealing.”
The suspected duo has been identified as 29-year-old Joseph Cordova and 44-year-old Anna Duran.
Harrison says surveillance video captured the pair using bolt cutters to tear through a fence, then cut the lock off of a shed. On July 24, the couple stole a paint sprayer, valued at $4,000.
Days later, the same surveillance cameras captured the couple stealing again. Video shows a man using a parked scissor lift to hop over the fence to get to a tiller. The suspects were captured on camera, loading the tiller into a gold-colored Chevy sedan.
“There aren’t a lot of Chevys that match that description, so we knew it was the same person,” said Harrison.
According to a criminal complaint, Albuquerque police were able to match the license plate seen in the video with a car registered to the suspects. The suspects’ names were also recorded at a local pawn shop, where the suspects are accused of trading in the stolen equipment.
Cordova and Duran both now have warrants for their arrest. They’re each accused of multiple burglary related charges.
Harrison says the church is there to help serve the community, including those in need.
“I think the church is here to help, we give out, we have a helping hands ministry that gives out food and money to people, if you need help, come and ask,” said Harrison.
The church was able to recover its stolen items from that local pawn shop where the suspects traded the equipment.
Cordova and Duran both have criminal histories with past arrests for drugs.