Thief Faking Cartel Death Threats Still Lands In Jail

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]So, you know you broke into Walmart, right?

[00:00:02]>> Cartel wants me dead.

[00:00:03]>> With claims of death threats from the cartel, a suspect hid overnight in a closed Santa Fe Walmart on Christmas Eve, roaming the building and filling shopping carts. When a manager entered the closed store the following day, he found signs that someone was inside. And when police responded, they were shocked at what they found. Cuz if you walk over here, he has a full cart. And then he took one of our OPD carts and filled it all.

[00:00:26]>> Just stay roaming around the areas in case he runs out.

[00:00:30]So, you can see the stuff. She's all like powered up.

[00:00:35]>> Okay, I need you to go out.

[00:00:37]>> Yeah, we have the dog.

[00:00:40]>> The store was too large to clear safely, so officers held the perimeter and called out into the darkened store, unsure of who or what was still moving inside.

[00:00:48]>> This is the Santa Fe Police Department.

[00:00:50]We have Walmart surrounded.

[00:00:53]You need to come out with your hands up and empty-handed. We know you're inside.

[00:01:02]Can I unlock him from the inside?

[00:01:03]>> No, he cannot. He has to have a master key to do it.

[00:01:06]>> From the time you saw him to the time the first officer arrived, what was the time delay? Do you think?

[00:01:11]>> 5 minutes, maybe. 5 10 minutes.

[00:01:13]>> Did you see him leave?

[00:01:14]>> No, he wasn't.

[00:01:16]>> No, I didn't engage with him.

[00:01:18]>> What did he What was he wearing?

[00:01:19]>> He was wearing like a He was wearing a hat. He had a gray beard, kind of a dark green shirt with like kind of a grayish hoodie. After multiple warnings, the suspect failed to respond. Officers moved inside with store management and began a slow sweep using security cameras and a canine unit as they cleared the store aisle by aisle.

[00:01:46]Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Wait. Wait.

[00:01:47]Hold on.

[00:01:51]Good.

[00:01:56]>> We're going to wait for the We're waiting for a drone and then we'll take it with the dog first and then we'll just section by section. There he is right there.

[00:02:06]>> Hold on. Yep.

[00:02:08]We have contact with the male. We're going to be uh trying to approach him.

[00:02:13]Where the >> Let's go this way.

[00:02:17]I'll go with the lethal.

[00:02:23]>> Yeah. So, you stay down this way and we'll go another way around this way. Go slow.

[00:02:29]There he is back there. Hey, he's near the back exit. So, units in the back 48.

[00:02:36]He's back here by crafts.

[00:02:52]Hey, I have an open door back here.

[00:02:56]I have to go first inside lastly, too.

[00:03:02]>> Hey, let me see your hands. Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands.

[00:03:07]>> Let me see your hands. Hold on. Hold on.

[00:03:09]Keep your hands out. Keep your hands out. I'm going to cuff them.

[00:03:11]>> STEPHEN, GET OUT. GET OUT, STEPHEN.

[00:03:14]>> Listen to me. Get Get on your knees. Get on your knees. Get on your knees.

[00:03:17]>> Stephen, back up.

[00:03:18]>> Hold your fire. I can cuff them. Hang on. Keep your hands up. Hands up.

[00:03:21]>> You're in the crossfire.

[00:03:22]>> Stay there.

[00:03:23]>> Come back to us, Stephen. We'll bring him back to us.

[00:03:26]>> Are you sure?

[00:03:27]>> Yeah.

[00:03:27]>> Okay. I want you to stand up slowly.

[00:03:29]Keep your hands up. I want you to walk backwards towards him. Okay. Keep looking at me. Keep looking at me. Okay.

[00:03:36]>> Keep your hands up so you don't get bit.

[00:03:40]Keep coming.

[00:03:42]>> Keep coming. One step to your right.

[00:03:45]Stop. Down to your knees.

[00:03:48]>> Hands on top of your head. Do not move.

[00:03:55]>> Got it.

[00:03:57]>> You see you?

[00:03:57]>> Yeah.

[00:03:58]>> Stand up.

[00:03:59]>> I got stuff in my pockets.

[00:04:00]>> Okay, cool. What do you have >> in these pockets right here?

[00:04:03]>> What do you have?

[00:04:04]>> Knife. Maybe a knife.

[00:04:06]>> No, I don't. I despise it.

[00:04:10]>> Okay. So, nobody else is here with you.

[00:04:12]You're the only one. It's time to be honest, man.

[00:04:15]>> It's just me, bro. If you want to get something done, I should have left, but I got drunk.

[00:04:19]>> Okay.

[00:04:20]>> Yeah. I was going to leave, but I [ __ ] it, man.

[00:04:22]>> I put I got greedy and put too much stuff over there. So, you know what? I'm going to get >> He said he just saw that one.

[00:04:29]>> He only saw one when he walked into the store.

[00:04:32]Let's >> just take a little stroll.

[00:04:34]>> He was standing right here and I saw him walk off electronics.

[00:04:39]You're leaving, right?

[00:04:41]>> Okay. Sounds good, man.

[00:04:42]>> Me and Oscar will take it.

[00:04:44]>> Oscar and I'll take it.

[00:04:44]>> Look familiar. That guy looks familiar.

[00:04:47]>> That was definitely him, though, that you saw, right?

[00:04:48]>> 100%.

[00:04:49]>> Okay, perfect.

[00:04:50]>> That's the only one that I saw.

[00:04:51]>> Okay, we're we'll still just conduct a quick clear of the building just to make sure. But >> yeah, she wants me to gather all the stuff and the carts and everything and do a training receipt. And you guys want one, too?

[00:05:01]>> Yep. Yeah, we got one.

[00:05:02]>> You guys want to walk before I go grab the stuff?

[00:05:04]>> Yeah. Yeah, we're going to walk through.

[00:05:05]I'll wait. I'll wait over here. See you.

[00:05:08]Oh, I have to mention it. Supposed to be in court Friday, but for the same thing as a dollar store. You >> did the same thing over there.

[00:05:15]>> Yeah.

[00:05:16]>> Okay.

[00:05:18]>> Over there. I was smoking. I don't smoke though.

[00:05:21]>> I quit, man.

[00:05:22]>> You quit. What?

[00:05:27]>> Go fix this window. Okay. I'm fat you down. So, you told me you might have some knives, right?

[00:05:31]>> I might have a knife. I don't think need some serious. Okay.

[00:05:43]Multi-tool. That's it. See what you're thinking of. It's from Walmart from you.

[00:05:46]>> That's from Walmart.

[00:05:47]>> All right.

[00:05:48]>> I'll be honest. They don't know.

[00:05:50]>> I'm a peep. I am the section. Okay.

[00:06:00]>> What about those shoes, man? Walmart?

[00:06:03]>> No.

[00:06:03]>> Are you sure?

[00:06:04]>> Yeah.

[00:06:06]Go ahead and take a seat.

[00:06:12]>> What's your first name, man?

[00:06:15]>> I got my ID tag on my >> Okay, got you. I'm going to read you something first. Okay.

[00:06:19]>> So, I need you to pay attention. You have the right to mind silent. Do you understand each of these rights I've just explained to you?

[00:06:25]>> Yeah.

[00:06:25]>> Having these rights in mind, you wish to answer my questions.

[00:06:29]>> You going to use it against me, right?

[00:06:30]>> Yeah, why not? What the hell? Get it done, faster.

[00:06:33]>> I'll answer anything you want to answer.

[00:06:34]I'll be honest and I'm not going to lie.

[00:06:37]>> So, the question I'm not I'm a thief.

[00:06:39]I'm not a liar.

[00:06:40]>> Okay. So, the qu I'm going to be asking simple questions. Okay.

[00:06:43]>> So, you know you broke into Walmart, right?

[00:06:45]>> I ain't breaking.

[00:06:46]>> No. How'd you get in?

[00:06:47]>> I I hid I hid inside the store until they closed.

[00:06:50]>> When was this?

[00:06:51]>> Last night?

[00:06:52]>> So, you hid here till last night?

[00:06:53]>> Where were you hiding?

[00:06:54]>> I was hiding underneath the one of the clothes racks.

[00:06:57]>> Which one? Like what section?

[00:06:58]>> The men.

[00:06:59]>> Okay. So, you stay here to the whole night?

[00:07:01]>> Yeah.

[00:07:02]>> Okay. And what was the purpose of that?

[00:07:04]>> First it was to get arrested. Then it was to get stuff to go camp out and hide because everybody wants to kill me and there's a hit out on me.

[00:07:10]>> Okay.

[00:07:10]>> The cartel wants me dead.

[00:07:12]>> Okay.

[00:07:12]>> Well, they don't want me dead. They don't kill you no more. You know they do it. They torture you.

[00:07:16]>> So they tell me about that later. Let's right now talk about the reason why I'm here, right?

[00:07:19]>> Well, I was going to gather some together and go go hive.

[00:07:23]>> Okay.

[00:07:23]>> That's what I was going to do. That was the plan. But I got drunk and I said it.

[00:07:26]>> So you were drinking some stuff here in Walmart.

[00:07:28]>> I drank just a bottle of ye half a bottle.

[00:07:31]>> Okay. Just half a bottle. there by Walmart. I didn't finish it.

[00:07:34]>> Did you at least eat some food?

[00:07:35]>> Yeah, bro.

[00:07:36]>> What' you eat?

[00:07:36]>> I ate some [ __ ] sushi, co.

[00:07:40]>> Okay. So, what time do you think you got here in Walmart last night?

[00:07:43]>> Last night when they closed.

[00:07:44]>> What time was that? The other thing?

[00:07:46]>> Oh, they closed early about 6:00.

[00:07:47]>> So, you were here at 6:00 and you stayed the whole night?

[00:07:50]>> Yeah, but I was asleep most night.

[00:07:51]>> Okay. And so, and Okay, got you. Okay.

[00:07:53]So, 6:00 you stayed here. What about the gun rack? Were you trying to stay anything from gun racks today?

[00:07:57]>> No, just knives.

[00:07:58]>> Were you trying to stay in?

[00:07:59]>> I I'll mess with guns. Did you break anything inside?

[00:08:02]>> I I I broke a glass on the knives, though.

[00:08:05]>> Okay.

[00:08:05]>> I didn't really mean to do it. I was trying to pry it open, bro.

[00:08:08]>> So, you accidentally broke the glass while you were trying to break in.

[00:08:12]>> I was trying to bend it cuz the other one I >> What were you trying to get?

[00:08:14]>> None.

[00:08:15]>> It's nice.

[00:08:15]>> I don't I don't mess with guns. I don't don't like them.

[00:08:18]>> Okay.

[00:08:18]>> With Rulo secured, officers used a drone to search the store for anything unusual. As they continued clearing the building, they began finding shopping carts packed with merchandise throughout the aisles.

[00:08:33]>> He has a bunch of carts full of stuff over here. Alcohol.

[00:08:37]>> Oh, this is too.

[00:08:38]>> I wonder if this is dough bags.

[00:08:39]>> No, he had this was all covered with the blankets.

[00:08:42]>> This is a >> Yeah, >> he said that he had one of these and three and >> three carts.

[00:08:48]>> Oh, those were four.

[00:08:49]>> We found three carts already. Oh, this would be four. Five, six, six cards.

[00:08:54]Because over there he has like a bunch of like stuff in front and like sleeping bag, not borrowed alcohol.

[00:08:59]>> Yeah.

[00:08:59]>> Stuff in the store >> overnight Christmas movie alone.

[00:09:10]>> Oh yeah. Home Alone too.

[00:09:14]>> And he ripped a nasty.

[00:09:15]>> Was it you?

[00:09:16]>> Oh, it was him.

[00:09:17]>> I started laughing.

[00:09:20]>> I was like, >> stomach dropped. Huh? It's like trying to hold my breath, but you have that nash like >> natural reaction.

[00:09:27]>> Nash reaction to take a deep breath.

[00:09:31]>> When you when did they close yesterday?

[00:09:33]>> Six.

[00:09:34]>> Six.

[00:09:34]>> Damn.

[00:09:36]>> You're almost here for 24 hours.

[00:09:38]>> Yeah.

[00:09:38]>> What was the excuse? They locked me in.

[00:09:39]>> No, he said that he was in here and then he wanted to hide. So, he hid under like a clothes rack and just cover himself in clothes and he said he could walk by for like 2 hours with no one ever. Lights went off. He said, "Cool. Free rain." We eat some food. Had to get some knives.

[00:09:55]Coke that. Drink a half a bottle of >> alcohol. It's on this side.

[00:10:02]>> Go hide out. Got some stuff.

[00:10:06]>> Yeah. I see all this is where he was.

[00:10:08]>> He was sleeping behind all that. He has a little tent or a little sleeping bag hole spread out over there. Too much camping stuff. He's never been camping before. Have to go lightweight.

[00:10:16]>> Got another one.

[00:10:17]>> Yeah, there's two.

[00:10:19]>> Yeah. Well, he needs more. Five. Five.

[00:10:22]>> Perfect.

[00:10:22]>> And the ones outside the candy or is that his?

[00:10:25]>> I don't know how the he was going to transport all this. He was not thinking very clearly.

[00:10:32]>> Wait, who are you? Not a cop.

[00:10:38]>> Who are you?

[00:10:39]>> Meanwhile, officers gathered additional information from Rodulfo that helped explain what took place inside the store overnight.

[00:10:45]>> Remember those two cars we just looking at?

[00:10:48]>> Yeah. He said those two cars, he's the one who fill them out and he's going to steal those. So if you I can get you to give me a receipt for those.

[00:10:54]>> What about the other stuff?

[00:10:55]>> The other ones, too. Everything all together.

[00:10:57]>> They said they're still choosing to see who's going to come over, but somebody's coming over.

[00:11:01]>> I could get a name. That's what my market manager wants >> from him. Yeah, I got you. You want a trespass, too? That's what I'm guessing.

[00:11:07]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:11:07]>> Yeah, >> 100%. I mean, you broke one of our glass cases.

[00:11:12]>> Yeah. It's going to be over $5,000.

[00:11:15]>> Okay. Yeah, there's a lot.

[00:11:16]>> So, I'm just going to need everything from that, too. I'm going to need this receipt. So, he was going to steal everything right here, man.

[00:11:36]>> He was ready to camp, man.

[00:11:41]>> What? What?

[00:11:42]>> Axon, you have to list every item.

[00:11:45]You don't have to. Oh, I've been just >> stolen. Recovered. Stolen. Recovery.

[00:11:48]Stolen.

[00:11:49]>> I put misdemean items.

[00:11:52]>> Total >> 100 whatever quantity.

[00:11:54]>> Are you doing it or I'm doing it?

[00:11:55]>> I'm doing it. I'm pulling the case number.

[00:11:58]>> I was going to do it.

[00:11:58]>> He was going to steal that too. I think he said something to cover the blankets of.

[00:12:02]>> He said all these blue stuff was empty.

[00:12:04]>> The cart was empty. Everything was empty.

[00:12:06]>> That's the thing. Like we need somebody to log into the cameras and be able just to show us. He said one of his regional managers checking >> cuz I'm like that's a lot of a lot of stuff. Look at that beetle juice dog.

[00:12:20]>> It's a good move.

[00:12:22]>> Rulo admitted he believed he was going to prison over the incident and brought up previous health conditions while asking to go to the hospital.

[00:12:31]>> What's up?

[00:12:32]>> I have a heart condition. I have a heart.

[00:12:34]>> Heart condition. What do you mean? What kind of heart condition?

[00:12:35]>> I have coronary arter disease bro. Okay. All right. Chest pain cuz I'm all I'm all tripped up cuz I'm going to go probably going to go to prison now.

[00:12:44]>> So you're freaking out. What's going to happen in the future?

[00:12:46]>> That's what's going on.

[00:12:47]>> I'm going to prison.

[00:12:48]>> You're just your thoughts taking over you?

[00:12:51]>> Yeah.

[00:12:51]>> Okay. But yeah, >> I I was I I was in the hospital yesterday for that. That's why I got the band on my hand. Maybe I'll show it to you. It's right here.

[00:12:57]>> Okay.

[00:12:58]>> What time you got out of the hospital?

[00:12:59]>> Last night at about 5:30 5:00.

[00:13:02]>> Which hospital? This one?

[00:13:03]>> J.

[00:13:04]>> Okay. How come you went to the hospital?

[00:13:05]>> I don't think it was a back and chest pain. We took you to ambulance or police?

[00:13:08]>> I'm uh >> Okay.

[00:13:10]>> But I have a chest pain cuz I'm freaking out, bro.

[00:13:13]>> Oh, man. I can't control you freaking out, man. And you can't control yourself.

[00:13:16]>> I need to get checked out. I need >> Okay.

[00:13:18]>> I need a I need a nitrous, man. I need a Okay, >> dude. This guy's trying to tell me that he has a heart condition. He's freaking out cuz he knows he's going to go to prison. No, >> he doesn't.

[00:13:28]>> And they need to go to the hospital. All right, let's take the hospital, man.

[00:13:34]Let's go to those sweats from Walmart, too.

[00:13:51]>> No.

[00:13:51]>> Are you sure?

[00:13:52]>> Yeah.

[00:13:52]>> Cuz you were eating. I don't think you were eating, right? And >> I was eating, but I >> You probably sat on some food.

[00:13:58]>> I just was eating and trying to get some guns.

[00:14:00]>> Trying to get some what?

[00:14:01]>> Guys to go camping. I was out after me, bro. We in this room back there.

[00:14:09]>> I take a seat. Man, >> I don't believe they are, bro.

[00:14:14]That's good.

[00:14:16]>> They tormented me. They don't kill people no more. They torment the ones they torment. The ones they kill, they kill. They >> So again, how many carts do you have for?

[00:14:23]>> Well, there's one over there in the camping area.

[00:14:26]>> There's four right there where I told you, and there's two in the front.

[00:14:30]>> So, >> six?

[00:14:32]>> Yeah. I got a lot of candies, man. You had >> You like candy?

[00:14:36]>> Yeah, man.

[00:14:42]>> Rulo was taken into custody and transported to the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center. He was charged with five counts for burglary, trespass, resisting, attempted theft, and property damage after causing more than $25,000 in damage and losses inside the store.

[00:14:57]Records also showed prior shoplifting incidents in May 2023 and May 2024 along with an active trespass