ALBUQUERQUE – Violent Crime Spree Ends with 27.5-Year Prison Sentence

Thomas Martinez, 26, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was sentenced to 330 months in prison for his conviction on federal carjacking and firearms charges arising out of a one-day violent crime spree on July 22, 2015.

Martinez will be on supervised release for five years after he completes his prison sentence. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari E. Brandenburg, Special Agent in Charge Thomas G. Atteberry of the Phoenix Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Chief Gorden E. Eden, Jr., of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

The U.S. Attorney said that Martinez was prosecuted as part of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets ‘the worst of the worst’ offenders for federal prosecution.

“As a general matter, the initiative targets violent and repeat offenders based on their prior felony convictions. Periodically, we prosecute individuals without prior serious convictions because they are have engaged in extraordinarily violent conduct that seriously jeopardized the community’s safety,” said U.S. Attorney Martinez.

“Martinez was prosecuted under the initiative based on a one-day violent crime spree on July 22, 2015, which endangered the lives of numerous Albuquerque residents and several officers.”

The violent crime spree began when Martinez committed the first carjacking as he attempted to flee from officers who were conducting surveillance near a hotel in northeast Albuquerque. Martinez ran to a sedan occupied by a driver and three children as the driver was entering a ramp onto Interstate 40.

Martinez brandished a firearm at the driver, pushed the driver into the sedan’s passenger seat, and used the sedan to continue his flight from the officers. The children were able to get out of the vehicle before Martinez drove away with the driver. An APD officer who was attempting to prevent the carjacking was dragged by the Chevrolet as Martinez drove away.

As Martinez continued his flight, the driver of the sedan attempted to get Martinez to stop the vehicle, and Martinez responded by discharging the firearm in an attempt to shoot the driver. When Martinez slowed down, the driver was able to jump out of the sedan.

Martinez continued his flight in the sedan and abandoned the vehicle in a neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque. There Martinez forced his way into another vehicle which was occupied by an older man seated in the front passenger seat.

As Martinez began to drive away, another man confronted Martinez, got into the vehicle, and began fighting with him. Martinez was subsequently apprehended by APD officers.

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