ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police’s arrest of Kellie Shugart has enterprise house owners respiration a sigh of reduction.
Shugart is linked to at the least seventeen burglaries this summer season, and detectives are engaged on extra costs.
Jessica Carothers, the proprietor of Blo Blow Dry Bar and Waxing the Metropolis within the Northeast Heights, stated Shugart focused each of her companies inside two weeks in July.
“It’s scary to stroll right into a enterprise within the morning that’s had home windows eliminated and has been ransacked and burglarized,” stated Carothers. “It positively offers individuals a really unsteady feeling.”
Her surveillance cameras caught Shugart and one other particular person minimize out all the window pane and crawl into the salon. Police famous that approach in a number of different robberies. Surveillance movies from a number of boutique companies additionally confirmed a Silver Subaru and a girl with dyed pink hair.
Shugart is now going through 69 costs, starting from conspiracy to larceny.
“It appears very clear to me that that’s somebody that might stay in custody,” stated Carothers. However she is aware of there’s an opportunity that gained’t occur.
“Simply as a standard sense particular person, I can’t wrap my thoughts round why we’d enable the police to work so laborious to seize a few of these people after which they’re out a few days later,” stated Carothers. “I can not perceive that and I’m pleading with individuals to please assist us determine this out as a result of this can be very discouraging.”
She stated the discouragement is bleeding into Albuquerque’s small enterprise neighborhood, particularly since some consider Shugart hasn’t been working alone.
“I need everybody to have a protected work atmosphere and when individuals are available and take what’s not theirs and it looks as if there’s no repercussions for that, that feels extremely discouraging,” stated Carothers.