Couple charged in 3 ABQ robberies, suspected in others
Jul. 24—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police have arrested a couple suspected of robbing and shoplifting from multiple convenience stores and gas stations over the past six months.
Rebecca Atkins, an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman, said Adrian Aragon, 30, and his girlfriend, Alexis Abeyta, 26, are suspected in seven robberies between January and April, including targeting the same southwest area store four times.
Court records show the couple is only charged in three incidents at this point, during which they allegedly stole thousands in cigarettes and merchandise.
Atkins said the pair were arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. They are each charged with robbery, three counts of shoplifting and several conspiracy charges related to robbery and shoplifting.
Attorneys for the couple could not be reached Saturday.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
On Jan. 30, police responded to a shoplifting at a Murphy's Express near Wyoming and Constitution NE and a robbery at a Speedway near Coors and Interstate 40 and, on April 7, at a Circle K near 98th and Sage SW.
Employees told officers a couple walked in, went behind the counter and stole up to $2,000 in cigarettes and other merchandise. At the Speedway, a cashier told police she was pushed out of the way by the suspects.
Police recovered Aragon's fingerprints at two of the scenes and learned the pair fled in a white Hyundai with a black hood in another. On April 8, police found the white Hyundai abandoned on the West Side and learned it was stolen from Abeyta's stepfather.
The stepfather told police Abeyta and Aragon are addicted to drugs and he knows they have robbed several businesses around town — identifying them in surveillance footage from at least one of the robberies.
During the investigation, detectives learned of 14 similar robberies involving a man and a woman but could not confirm Abeyta and Aragon were involved.
The couple were both charged in 2016 with five counts of shoplifting and conspiracy. Abeyta's case was later dismissed. It's unclear what became of the case against Aragon.
