Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Martin Carrasco was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on charges of theft and misconduct involving weapons.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – A crime of opportunity was one convicted felon Martin Carrasco should have passed as it ended up adding more felony charges to his record.
Carrasco was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on charges of theft and misconduct involving weapons after he allegedly took a woman’s purse that she head left on the ATM in the Giant gas station at 105 E. U.S. Highway 70. The purse contained a Smith & Wesson 9-MM pistol with ammunition.
The victim reported that she accidentally left her purse behind after using the ATM and she didn’t realize it until she got home. When she returned to the store, the purse was nowhere to be found.
The store’s clerk advised that a Hispanic male had retrieved the purse from the ATM. She said the man looked inside the purse and said he knew the owner. He then left with the purse and returned a few minutes later and purchased some beer and a cigar. The entire scenario was captured on the store’s surveillance system.
When the clerk described the man she also said she recognized him from a previous news article in which Carrasco was arrested due to an incident regarding a knife and a family member. A report regarding that incident was published in the Gila Herald on Jan. 3 and can be read here.
The officer realized the description matched Carrasco, whom the police have had various dealings.
Officers then responded to Carrasco’s mother’s address and located Carrasco and detained him. Carrasco then allowed the officers to retrieve the gun and purse, which appeared to have been rummaged through, according to a police report. The gun was on top of a refrigerator and the purse was in the residence’s living room. Clothes Carrasco was seen wearing in the surveillance video were also found nearby.
Carrasco allegedly told the officers that he noticed the purse and when he looked inside and saw the gun he got excited. He said he took the purse home and then returned to buy the beer and cigar, according to the report. When asked if he realized he was a prohibited possessor of a firearm due to his past felonies, Carrasco said he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to possess a firearm.
Carrasco was then booked into the jail for theft and misconduct involving weapons.
