PHOENIX— Recently, Albert De La Torre (D.O.B. 01/26/1978) was charged with four counts of 3rd Degree Burglary and one count of Attempted 3rd Degree Burglary in connection with a series of ATM burglaries across the West Valley.
“Communication between agencies was the key to linking this defendant to more than just one criminal act and holding him responsible for his multiple crimes,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “Using our Community Based Prosecution model to share information, prosecutors were able to work with investigators and analysts to identify the defendant as the suspect in multiple cases and show a judge why the defendant should be kept in custody.”
Between June 22nd and June 29th, ATM kiosks were removed from their location in three different areas of the West Valley. Law enforcement in each area started their investigations independently of one another using different pieces of evidence to identify Albert De La Torre as a possible burglary suspect. De La Torre was arrested on July 30, 2018 in an unrelated case that is still under investigation. When De La Torre first went before a judge, he was originally facing charges in just one case and De La Torre’s release conditions did not include a bond.
However, before De La Torre could actually be released, a detective investigating one of the ATM burglaries alerted the prosecutor of the additional crimes De La Torre was being investigated for by his police department. Through the prosecutor’s partnerships with other West Valley law enforcement agencies, they learned the defendant was a suspect in investigations by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the Peoria Police Department and the Surprise Police Department for similar crimes in their jurisdictions as well.
The Community Based Prosecution model assigns teams of prosecutors to one of eight geographically assigned areas in the County and allows prosecutors to develop close working relationships with law enforcement and community partners in their assigned area. In this case, MCAO’s Crime Analyst’s worked with the West Valley Community Based Prosecution Bureau to put together more information than was originally presented to the court. De La Torre was seen by another judicial officer and, based on the information gathered from the police, prosecutor, and analyst, the court imposed a bond of $25,000. He remains in custody and as detectives continue to investigate there is a possibility of more charges being filed.