Multiple auto repair shops hit by recent burglary spree

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Based on security camera footage, many auto repair shops across Albuquerque believe the same thief is breaking into their businesses to take anything he can find.

Taz Brewster, owner of Taz Auto Repair, said he knows about 11 auto shops that have been hit.

“I seen the door that was pried open and I didn’t know if one of my employees were in there until I seen that the lock was broken so, I was like, they got into me,” Brewster said.

He thinks the same criminal is responsible for all of them.

“I came and I saw the owner has new locks so I asked her what had happened, they told me that they got burglarized – when we spoke yesterday we realized that it was connected,” Paul Sanchez, a service advisor for One Stop Auto Care, said.

It’s also the same guy who Todd McMullan, owner of East Central Tire and Battery, believes broke into his shop twice in 24 hours. He said it’s making him reconsider owning his own business.

“I am tired of it,” McMullan said. “My dad had this shop since 1969, I took it over 10 years ago and every year it gets a little worse… I am to the point where I am ready to get a different job and just shut it down and sell it to somebody who wants to put up with this kind of crap.”

Christopher Miller, owner of All American Garage, said all they want is for this guy to be off the streets.

“This is why everything in this town is the way it is,” Miller said. “Criminals have nothing holding them accountable so everyone does what they want, without repercussions, and guys, like these guys here, and myself, pay the price.”

The business owners started posting their security footage on social media and soon realized that the thief may be the same guy.