Santa Fe, NM – After Being Let Out Early From Jail, Teenage Robber Struck Again

Santa Fe, NM – Police believe they’ve unmasked the “ninja bandit” who may have used a hatchet to burglarize a downtown jewelry store last month.

And the 17-year-old boy they are seeking in the heist has a violent past.

Santa Fe Police Sgt. Louis Carlos confirmed that Shalom Katz “is a suspect in the Sept. 20 armed burglary of the (Dell Fox) jewelry store,” and a warrant for his arrest has been issued. Attempts to locate Katz through known friends and family had not yet led to his arrest, according to police.

Dell Fox, owner of the jewelry store, said that she was “absolutely terrified” on Sept. 20 when a man dressed like a ninja — police reports indicate he wore dark clothing, black gloves, a hood and a dark mask with one opening for his eyes — walked into her store, made eye contact, walked to a display case and swung a hatchet over his head, shattering open the quarter-inch thick glass.

“He reached in — he had black biker-like gloves — and just started taking the jewelry,” Fox said. “Then he ran out. It was just terrifying, is all I can say.”

More than $4,000 worth of merchandise was reported stolen.

Two search warrant affidavits filed in state District Court indicate that during the investigation, a Santa Fe police detective recalled a 2008 interview in which Katz “voluntarily stated he would hang out in the downtown area of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and referenced being a ninja or acting like a ninja.”

The Katz interview referenced in the search warrant was connected with a home invasion in which Katz, then 14, and three men — all wearing ski masks and one wielding a baseball bat — broke into a home in the South Capitol neighborhood and attacked a group of people on Dec. 29, 2007, (as was reported at that time here on Vos Iz Neias).

Two victims of that burglary were left seriously injured but survived.

Katz pleaded no contest to aggravated burglary, two counts of armed robbery and conspiracy. He was given a two-year commitment to the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department, but that sentence was suspended and Katz was allowed in June 2008 to enter the Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center in Albuquerque.

“You don’t have any more options,” state District Judge Michael Vigil told the 14-year-old at the 2008 sentencing. “If you don’t get your act together, you will be locked up until your 21st birthday. … I will lock you up so quick.”

One victim’s father, Bob Ortega, pleaded with the court that day to handle Katz’s case as an adult and send him to prison.

When reached last night and told of the new allegations, Ortega said the news was disturbing but not surprising.

“I’ll say again today what I said when he was sentenced,” Ortega said Wednesday. “They need to sentence him as an adult. He should have been treated as an adult back then, and this community would be safer.”

Katz’s juvenile court records show at least two allegations from prosecutors of probation violations since February. The search warrant filed in the jewelry heist case states Katz “was arrested for shoplifting a hatchet and other items March 17, 2010, from the Sears store located at 4250 Cerrillos Road.”

Court record show two homes — the Katz residence in the 500 block of Franklin Avenue and the home of a friend police believed Katz may have been staying with — show investigators retrieved two hatchets, a black hooded cloth, dark clothing, several pairs of shoes, two cellular telephones and other items.

No jewelry was found.

Police ask anyone with information on Katz’s whereabouts to call Detective Robert Vasquez at 955-5038.