Corrales police warn of kidnapping scam, suspected thefts, DWI calls

Corrales police used their latest crime and safety update to flag three problems that can touch the same family in the same week: a scam caller demanding payment for a daughter, a pickup tied to possible thefts in Rio Rancho, and a DUI stop on Corrales Road near La Entrada.

The kidnapping scam call came in about 3 p.m. on April 13. Police said a caller claimed to have a resident’s daughter and demanded payment, but officers later confirmed the daughter was safe. Federal investigators and consumer-protection officials say these family-emergency scams often lean on panic, secrecy and speed, and can now be dressed up with altered photos, social media images and even AI voice cloning. One practical safeguard is a family code word or phrase that can be used to verify whether a real emergency is unfolding.

The theft-related call came just before 9 p.m. on April 16 on Ashley Lane, where officers found an unoccupied pickup in front of a vacant residence. Police then located the registered owner and another person in a nearby field and said the truck may have been involved in several recent thefts in Rio Rancho. Rio Rancho police also responded. The two people identified in the investigation were a 43-year-old Bernalillo man and a 32-year-old Rio Rancho woman; both were questioned and released pending further investigation.

The Ashley Lane case fits a pattern Corrales police have repeatedly highlighted in weekly updates, including thefts involving vacant homes and property near the same area. That matters in a village of about 10,000 people inside Sandoval County, where the broader county population is about 148,800 and a suspect, a vehicle or stolen property can move across city lines quickly. In that kind of metro corridor, an unoccupied truck in front of a vacant house can be more than a nuisance call.

The week ended with a traffic stop that turned into a DWI arrest. At about 9 p.m. on April 18, police stopped a vehicle weaving on Corrales Road near La Entrada. The driver, a 67-year-old Albuquerque man, failed field sobriety tests and a breath test showed he was nearly twice the legal limit. He was booked into the Sandoval County Detention Center for DUI.

New Mexico’s legal blood alcohol limit is 0.08, and state motor vehicle and public safety officials say a conviction can bring license revocation, fines, mandatory education and jail time. For Corrales police, the message in the update was plain: scams depend on fear, theft investigations can cross jurisdiction lines, and impaired driving can end in a booking before a crash ever happens.