ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque Police have arrested a man accused of vandalizing city buses, causing approximately $80,000 worth of damage to the city’s fleet.
Tom Jimenez, 76, of Albuquerque, has been charged with 15 felony counts of criminal damage to property and is currently being held on a no-bond warrant. Jimenez allegedly damaged 15 different buses with pellets between October 2025 and February 2026.
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APD got a break in its months-long investigation by using Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) to link Jimenez’s vehicle at specific intersections seconds before or after a bus was struck. On Feb. 4, ALPR and bus footage recorded the suspect’s vehicle passing a bus, performing a U-turn to get behind it, and then pulling alongside to target the driver’s side, APD said.
According to court documents, Jimenez appeared to stick his hand out the driver’s side window of his vehicle while passing buses, and shortly after, a metallic impact was heard, and in multiple cases, a window on the bus was broken. In two reported instances, a small metallic ball was located at the scene…