LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) – You may have heard of packages being stolen from someone’s porch. But have you heard of someone taking a package while naked?
That’s what surveillance video shows happened in broad daylight, Monday in the Las Maravillas neighborhood of Los Lunas, New Mexico. Around 4:00 p.m., a Ring doorbell camera captured an unclothed man running across a yard. A police report says that man allegedly drove a vehicle into a park, chased people in the neighborhood, then took a package from a home — all in his birthday suit.
“There were several calling persons who had reported that a male subject had ‘barreled’ into the park in a vehicle and proceeded to chase people, swim in the sewage pond and walk between houses,” a report from Deputy C. Meo II with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office says. “There was apparently a report of indecent exposure.”
KRQE News 13 spoke with one person living in the neighborhood who didn’t want to be identified. They said they didn’t recognize the naked man, but they weren’t particularly surprised that this happened in the neighborhood.
“A lot of things do happen around here,” the neighbor told KRQE News 13. “We’re going to see if we can get our own security. I’m not talking about cameras and videos and all that. I’m talking about actually patrolling the area to make sure that people that are not supposed to be here are not here.”
Valencia County Sheriff’s Office Detective Ben Lankasky told KRQE News 13 that they received several calls about the disturbance. When deputies arrived and tried to make contact with the naked man, he reportedly jumped over a fence before he was detained without incident.
When they did catch the man, “no search of his person was necessary,” according to the incident report. He was holding a cardboard box with a $15 bracelet kit in it, which he allegedly took from a nearby house.
Deputies identified the man as Ryan Romero. He “spoke gibberish for the most part” according to the report. When asked why he was nude, police say Romero told the officer a story about a sex act. Deputies say Romero doesn’t live in the neighborhood.
According to a police report, deputies believe Romero appeared to be on drugs. When asked about the alleged stolen package, Romero’s accused of telling the deputy, “I thought I’d find something,” the report says. The deputies transported Romero to a hospital. He’s facing charges of indecent exposure and larceny.