For Immediate Release:
April 4, 2022
Contact: Jerri Mares — (505) 321-4372
ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announces yet another step forward against organized retail crime today with the filing of an indictment against Brianna Garcia. Brianna Garcia was pulled over on March 15, 2022, and arrested in Beckham County, Oklahoma, where she remains in custody pending extradition back to New Mexico. Today’s indictment contains twenty counts, including allegations of shoplifting, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
“My office will continue to target violent criminals trying to evade custody, and this is just one more example of how organized retail crime quickly escalates to violent crime,” said Attorney General Balderas.
Garcia first came to law enforcement and the Attorney General’s attention in January of this year after committing a number of shopliftings across Albuquerque. Those incidents quickly devolved into violence when Garcia was confronted by store associates. Garcia brandished a handgun on several occasions, pointing it at store employees as she made her escape, and even discharging her firearm in the parking lot after walking out of one store. Those acts of violence culminated on February 1, 2022 when Garcia fired a number of shots at the front door of a busy neighborhood Walmart after being confronted over a petty misdemeanor theft.
Although Garcia has been arrested and charged, she is presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial. The case was investigated as part of the emerging Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Task Force. The investigation involved the NM Office of the Attorney General, Albuquerque Police Department (APD), and asset protection personnel from the retail community. It is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Gardner.
A copy of the indictment is linked below.
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