A suspect vaulted over the customer service counter at a Northwest El Paso Bass Pro Shops in late August, made off with two high-value Garmin handheld GPS devices, and entered the passenger seat of a waiting pickup truck as it pulled away. El Paso police are now asking the public for help tracking him down.
The theft happened on August 29 at the Bass Pro Shops located at 6450 N. Desert Blvd., according to Crime Stoppers of El Paso, as reported by KFOX. The suspect was seen inside the store before jumping the counter, grabbing the two devices, and running out to a dark gray or blue heavy-duty dually-style pickup truck, where he climbed into the passenger seat as the vehicle pulled away.
Texas Theft Penalties Depend on Property Value
Garmin's handheld outdoor GPS units, including models like the GPSMAP 67 and Montana 700 series, typically retail anywhere from $400 to more than $800 apiece, according to Garmin. The applicable theft classification depends on the value of the property. Under Texas Penal Code Section 31.03, theft of property valued between $750 and $2,500 is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail and fines as high as $4,000, while theft of $2,500 or more escalates to a state jail felony, per Barnett Howard & Williams PLLC and McCarty-Larson PLLC. The charge could climb further if the suspect has prior theft convictions, since Texas law allows misdemeanor theft to be enhanced to a higher classification for anyone with two or more such convictions on their record.
Texas law also allows prosecutors to aggregate stolen property values across multiple theft incidents under Penal Code Section 31.09. That rule could give prosecutors more tools if investigators ever connect this theft to a broader pattern.
The Store Theft
The incident involved merchandise taken from inside the store.
Crime Stoppers Seeks Tips, Offers Reward
Crime Stoppers of El Paso is asking anyone with information about the suspect or the case to come forward. Tipsters can call 915-566-8477 or submit information online at cselpaso.org, and the organization has specifically requested that tips come through those channels rather than social media. All tips remain anonymous, and tipsters could receive a cash reward if their information leads to an arrest.
Crime Stoppers of El Paso operates as a community-funded nonprofit working alongside the El Paso Police Department and local news outlets to collect anonymous leads and distribute reward money, according to the Texas Office of the Governor. The program has a substantial track record in the city: Crime Stoppers of El Paso has reported generating thousands of arrests and paying out more than $1.2 million in rewards to tipsters over the years, with funding that includes private donations, as Hoodline previously reported.
This is not the only recent commercial theft El Paso police have flagged through their Crime of the Week program. An August break-in at a Gateway East store also involved a suspect vaulting a customer service counter to steal merchandise, a pattern Hoodline covered in its reporting on the OXXO burglary. Whether the two incidents are connected remains unknown, and investigators have not said whether the driver of the dually pickup was an active participant in the Bass Pro Shops theft or merely behind the wheel. No arrests have been announced in the case.
