Former parks worker faces felony charges in equipment theft case

A former city parks worker told Santa Fe police he stole landscaping equipment late last year in order to pay off a drug debt, according to documents released Wednesday.

A Santa Fe County grand jury recently indicted Anthony B. Garcia, 31, on felony burglary and larceny charges, about a year after authorities say he took three leaf blowers and a weed trimmer from a city storage area.

He also faces a petty misdemeanor charge of criminal damage to property. A police report said a surveillance camera recorded him using a power saw and other tools to try to break into a shed at Frenchy’s Field Park last November.

Garcia had been employed as a temporary worker from August through November 2016, the city Human Resources Department said Wednesday.

Police reports say he confessed to the crimes to investigators during a voluntary inter- view in December.

Garcia told police he was scared off from the attempted break-in when a police patrol car drove by, according to a report, which also says Garcia told an officer he later viewed his attempted burglary on surveillance video, which he had access to at work because he was a city employee.

Garcia told police he was among city employees who moved tools from Frenchy’s Field Park to a Siler Road building a day after the attempted break-in. The police report indicates city supervisors wanted the tools moved to prevent another burglary attempt at the damaged shed.

Garcia confessed that he later stole the tools from the second location, the report says.

The New Mexican was unable to reach Garcia for comment late Wednesday, and online court records show no pleas entered to the charges. City spokesman Matt Ross did not respond to questions about the matter Wednesday evening.