Ian Clemmer, co-owner and operator of Ian’s Garage, sweeps up broken glass early Aug. 24 after a break-in on Gooney Bird Way. Garage co-owner Theresa Clemmer said three cars were stolen overnight.

Ian Clemmer, co-owner and operator of Ian’s Garage, sweeps up broken glass early Aug. 24 after a break-in on Gooney Bird Way. Garage co-owner Theresa Clemmer said three cars were stolen overnight.

Leif Krosby had his silver 2001 BMW 540i sedan for 15 years. It was top of the line when he bought it, he said.

Until last week, Krosby still admired the car for its powerful V8 engine and because it was a “really nice ride.”

The car was stolen from Ian’s Garage on Gooney Bird Way on the city’s southwest side; when it was recovered about 24 hours later north of Rio Rancho, Krosby said, it was wrecked. The thieves had floored it, hit curbs and left it smelling like liquor and filled with trash.

“They just took my car and ruined it,” Krosby said. “I don’t even want the car anymore. ... I’m going to get rid of it.”

Garage co-owner Theresa Clemmer said the thieves who hit the garage took three customers’ cars, including Krosby’s.

A Santa Fe police incident report says the cars were stolen between 7:45 p.m. Aug. 23 — when Ian’s Garage founder and co-owner Ian Clemmer left the shop — and 6:45 a.m. Aug. 24.

Clemmer told police the thieves might have switched off electricity to the shop, allowing them to get past the security system, according to the report.

The security company, LOE Alarm, has battery backups built into its system, Theresa Clemmer said in an interview, but neither the alarms nor the surveillance cameras worked the night of the break-in. Since the incident, she said, the company has been replacing backup batteries, adding and replacing sensors and adding more cameras.

“We’ve been doing business with them for a long time,” she said. “They’re pretty baffled on it, too.”

Clemmer said the garage is spending $4,000 to put up a temporary fence. She said the garage is also waiting on a quote for a permanent fence around the property, she added.

LOE Alarm owner John Gibbs could not be reached for comment.

On the same night Ian’s Garage was broken into, surveillance cameras at the neighboring La Carrera Garage caught two men hopping over a fence at 12:01 a.m., co-owner Amanda Rives said.

Rives’ garage — also on Gooney Bird Way — did not have any vehicles stolen.

While the business’s ADT security system worked, Rives said, Ring cameras she had installed on the garage’s fence did not pick up any sign of an intruder. One of the cameras had been flipped over, she added, but a second camera did not appear to have anything wrong with it.

“They walked right in front of it and it never picked them up,” she said. “... That concerns me for sure. [It] was really strange.”

Evidence records from the Santa Fe Police Department show officers took DNA swabs from a garage door opener button at the Clemmers’ shop and another sample from keys potentially dropped by one of the thieves.

Ian Clemmer said he has been in business for over 12 years and has been at the Gooney Bird Way location since October 2019. Nothing like last week’s incident has ever happened to him, he said.

“I’ve lived here most of my life,” Ian Clemmer said. “It makes me sad to see that crime is on such a rise here in Santa Fe.”

Theresa Clemmer said she and her customers feel violated after the robbery.

Making phone calls to the shop’s clients about the incident was a difficult task, she added.

“It’s just really frustrating trying to have a small business in Santa Fe and providing a professional service to customers we love, and to have to make a phone call like that,” she said. “You feel really violated.”

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

Stay informed of the latest local news by receiving emails as soon as news is posted online.

Receive a list of headlines from the latest edition of The New Mexican in your inbox every morning.

Contests and special offers from The Santa Fe New Mexican and advertising partners.

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.