Doña Ana County Sheriff’s detectives have uncovered a complicated web of burglaries that allegedly link back to one woman who detectives say habitually stole property to sell and/or exchange for drugs. The woman is now charged with 32 felony and misdemeanor complaints, including alleged theft of a rented pickup truck, fraudulent use of a credit card, possession of stolen prescription drugs, possession of burglary tools, residential burglary, larceny, and an auto burglary that was linked to a stolen specialized wheelchair-stroller that belonged to a six-year-old Las Cruces girl with a disability.
Amanda Aberle, 26, was arrested in Pima County, AZ on June 1, 2015 on a felony warrant out of Otero County. Prior to her arrest, sheriff’s detectives had named Aberle as a possible suspect in an ongoing investigation related to auto burglary, residential burglary and credit card fraud that first began after a suspicious 2015 red Nissan Frontier pickup truck was found stuck on a rural Doña Ana County road in May.
On May 26, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Ft. Fillmore Road off N.M. 478. A neighbor in the area had reported that the truck appeared to have been driven through a fence and had reportedly been abandoned. The truck was also reportedly connected to a 2007 Vortex bumper-hitch travel trailer that had been previously reported as stolen from an RV lot on Carver Road. The pickup truck, according to detectives, had been rented from Avis Car Rental in El Paso by Aberle, who allegedly used a stolen credit card to rent the truck.
Detectives also said an ATV had reportedly been in the back of the travel trailer, but was missing at the time deputies responded to the call on Ft. Fillmore. Tracks consistent with ATV tires were seen leaving the scene of the area where the truck and trailer had been stuck.
An initial search of the truck resulted in the discovery of a wallet that contained a medical card with Aberle’s name on it, her social security card, and another credit card that detectives allege Aberle had also stolen from an address off Superstition in Las Cruces.
The truck also contained several bottles of prescription pills that were linked to a home in the 4000 block of Questa in Las Cruces that had reportedly been burglarized after the homeowner had passed away.
Detectives later learned Aberle had rented a room at a home in the 8900 block of Mission Lane in Las Cruces and had filled it with furniture that was identified as stolen from the house on Questa.
Aberle’s alleged escapades then led detectives to the discovery of a Big Tex industrial trailer that also contained several pieces of alleged stolen property. It was inside the Big Tex trailer that a sheriff’s detective spotted the red Convaid EZ-Rider Mobility Stroller that the detective remembered seeing in an advisory from Las Cruces Police after it had allegedly been stolen from the back of a pickup truck in Las Cruces.
After it was inventoried, the stroller was returned to the six-year-old girl and her mother.
During the investigation, sheriff’s detectives identified a 32-year-old Las Cruces man, Christopher Perea, who had known ties to Aberle. Detectives also learned Perea had a warrant on an unrelated felony charge. Detectives, with the assistance of Las Cruces Police, located Perea in the 2200 block of Calle de Suenos on June 12, 2015. After Perea barricaded himself inside the home, Las Cruces Police responded with the assistance of their SWAT unit and successfully took Perea into custody.
Perea was arrested and remains at the Doña Ana County Detention Center on a $20,000 secured bond.
Prior to Aberle being arrested in Arizona, detectives say she also allegedly stole two vehicles from a Las Cruces car dealer – both in the same day. Aberle was allegedly driving one of the stolen vehicles when she was arrested June 1 in Arizona. The vehicles that were stolen include a red 2010 Chevy Camaro and a black 2012 Volkswagen Passat.
In all, Aberle is charged with 32 counts, the majority of which are felony charges. She will be served while in jail in Pima County, but it is unknown when she will be extradited back to Doña Ana County.
Additional charges against Aberle are also pending, some of which are in Las Cruces city limits. Detectives say several co-conspirators are also facing charges.
Information From Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office.