A Toyota dealership employee in New Mexico is accused of causing $100,000 worth of damage to the store during a late-night break-in. The vandalism appears to have been an act of revenge by the 20-year-old and a friend who had recently been fired by the store.
Surveillance video captured at Larry H. Miller American Toyota shows the pair spending half an hour destroying 60 computer monitors and five large-screen TVs, damaging power tools and spray-painting male genitalia on a woman’s desk, Albuquerque police said. The thieves also attempted to steal 15 Apple iPads, a samurai sword and sports collectibles from a manager, as well as personal belongings from other employees.
Police said they were called to the dealership around 1 a.m. on Aug. 5 by a security detail who said two people wearing black ski masks were inside the showroom putting items into a backpack.
Officers said they found a man running from the store, but he denied stealing anything. Daniel Candelaria claimed he was just a vigilant passerby who put on a ski mask “to confront the thief,” the Albuquerque Journal reported. Candelaria told officers he worked at the store, was wearing black clothes “to sweat” during a run and cut his hand trying to take back the items the thief was trying to steal.
But since police were unable to speak to anyone at the dealership, they let him go until further investigation was carried out.
Store managers later identified the two men in the video as Candelaria, who had worked in the service department for just a few months, and a friend of his whom they had recently fired for allegedly groping a co-worker. “It turns out that the female employee’s desk was the only desk vandalized,” the criminal complaint says.
Candelaria was arrested on a warrant and charged with aggravated robbery, larceny over $20,000 and other crimes. The investigation is ongoing.