Police charge inmate after DNA links him to 2018 robbery
May 23—A 19-year-old inmate at the Santa Fe County jail was charged Monday in connection with an armed robbery in the city more than four years ago based on DNA evidence.
Isaiah Zamora, who has several criminal counts pending, including vehicle theft and evading law enforcement, faces new counts of armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and shoplifting in a Nov. 4, 2018, robbery at a Family Dollar store, according to online court records.
Officers were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. to the Airport Road store after receiving reports of a man stealing money from the cash register at gunpoint. According to a criminal complaint filed Monday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court, a store surveillance camera showed a man walk through Family Dollar and put on clothing in the store — including a gray hoodie, gloves and blue pajama bottoms, as well as a ski mask — and head toward the checkout counter.
A store manager said the robber stole $727.86.
Officers who canvassed the area found what appeared to be the hoodie and gloves the robber had worn. The gloves, submitted to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety's forensic laboratory Nov. 16, 2018, were used to tie Zamora to the robbery.
While the right glove contained the DNA of three people, the left one was traced to an "unknown male DNA profile," the complaint states. The profile was matched with Zamora on April 18.
Zamora was issued a criminal summons Monday and has a hearing scheduled June 14.
He was most recently booked into jail May 4 after he was arrested by officers looking for a stolen pickup, according to a criminal complaint.
His slew of pending criminal cases dates back to October.