Would-be bank robbers’ plans foiled by police
Group cased several banks, but APD was watching
A group of suspected bank robbers spent days planning their heist.
The men donned disguises and drove around on three separate days this week casing Albuquerque banks, even doing a test getaway drive from one of them, authorities say.
What they didn’t know was that Albuquerque police were tailing them the whole time.
So, when the group actually robbed the U.S. Bank near Academy and Wyoming NE on Wednesday, police were ready.
SWAT teams from the Albuquerque Police Department and New Mexico State Police arrested five men hours after the robbery, and now they all face up to 25 years in pris-
on on federal bank robbery charges.
And this wasn’t their first holdup, police say. At least one of the suspects may have been involved in more than a dozen other heists, and others are believed to have committed other robberies.
FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said Greg Miera, 50, Martin Huertta, 43, Christopher Gallegos, 31, Christian Herrera, 20, and Isaiah Gallegos, 20, are now in federal custody. Martin Huertta is also referred to as Martin Huerta in jail records.
APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said federal authorities told him Miera is suspected in as many as 17 bank robberies since Christmas.
Federal authorities wouldn’t confirm that Thursday, citing the ongoing investigation.
But court records show Miera pleaded guilty to pulling a similar stunt in 2002. He stole more than $2,500 from a Northwest Albuquerque bank and was a suspect in other bank robberies at the time, according to court records. He was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for that crime.
The federal prison sentence apparently didn’t deter him, because this week, authorities say, he was at it again.
On March 2, a source told pol ice that Huertta, Miera and a third man were using stolen vehicles to rob banks, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
The source told police he had been inside Miera’s house on 14th near Griegos NW, and saw a lot of cash and guns.
Two weeks later, police received an anonymous tip saying a father and son who lived next to Miera were also robbing banks.
So police began watching both houses.
On Monday, police watched Huertta, Miera and Christopher Gallegos leave Miera’s neighbor’s house and drive around the city to multiple bank branches.
“They conducted surveillance on the branches, and wore gloves and other concealing garments on their heads,” an agent wrote in the complaint. “On one occasion, they drove rapidly away from a bank branch, consistent with a test run for quickly fleeing a bank.”
Authorities say Christopher Gallegos was easy to identify based on his “distinctive insect-shaped tattoos” on each cheek.
On Tuesday, police watched as the men checked out the U.S. Bank at Wyoming and Academy NE, along with a fourth man, according to the complaint. The next day, the men put their plan into action.
Around 2:40 p.m., authorities say, one of the men went into the bank wearing clothing to hide his face, while three others stayed in the car. He was carrying a plastic bag and a gun, according to the complaint.
“The subject pointed the handgun at all three bank employees, threatened to shoot the bank employees, ordered them not to activate any alarms and demanded that two victim tellers place United States currency into the plastic bag,” the agent wrote in the complaint.
Money in hand, the men fled back to their neighborhood, according to the complaint.
Albuquerque police followed them to Miera’s house, according to the complaint.
Police said he refused to leave, and they set up a perimeter and called in SWAT teams. At some point, Miera ran out of his home, tossing the bag of money into a vacant lot, according to the complaint.
He was arrested at his mother’s house nearby, and agents retrieved the bag of money.
Huertta, Herrera and Isaiah Gallegos were then arrested at Miera’s neighbor’s house, according to the complaint.
Christopher Gallegos was arrested after he and his girlfriend arrived at the scene in a different vehicle.
His girlfriend told authorities he had robbed a bank two months earlier. She said the stolen SUV they arrived in was also used in previous robberies, according to the complaint.
It’s unclear whether Christopher Gallegos will face charges for other robberies. But it’s not his first run-in with the law.
Two New Mexico State Police officers shot him in December 2014 after he led them on a chase and threatened them with a gun in Los Lunas, according to State Police.
On Thursday, all five suspects appeared in federal court on bank robbery, and aiding and abetting charges.
Judge Karen Molzen made sure the men understood the charges they were facing and asked if they were under the influence of any drugs.
During Christopher Gallegos’ hearing, he told her he had taken Percocet and hydrocodone but didn’t say whether he was prescribed those drugs.
Molzen assigned courtappointed attorneys to all five men and ordered that they stay in federal custody until their detention hearings, which are scheduled for Monday.