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Arrest sweet for Kingman business owners victimized four times


Tim Babb
Air conditioning business has been burglarized four times in last six months

 2/10/2013 6:01:00 AM

 By Ahron Sherman

 A weeklong burglary investigation came to an end Thursday when 49-year-old Tim Len Babb was arrested by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.

Babb allegedly cut through the fence of All Right Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc. on Jan. 30 and stole roughly $3,500 worth of equipment, said MCSO spokeswoman Trish Carter. The business reported the crime on Jan. 31.

"You get up every day and bust your butt to have a company," said Maria Rollo, the business' co-owner. Then on top of everything it takes to run a business you have to deal with being burglarized, she said.

"It makes you angry,"

she said. "You don't think about (being crime victims) when you start a business."

In the last six months, All Right has been burglarized four times. After the third time, the business installed cameras. Those cameras captured images of Babb, which were ultimately used to identify him and track him down.

Rollo said Deputy Todd Aaron went above and beyond to help solve this crime. His efforts combined with the fact that people must show identification when selling scrap metal led to Babb's arrest.

An Arizona law passed in 2007 requires scrap buyers and recyclers to get photo identification and fingerprints for sales over $25. Another bill that focuses on metal theft is working its way through the State Legislature. One of its key components is the removal of the $25 stipulation.

Deputies visited a couple of local recycling centers and learned that Babb had reportedly recycled several air conditioner parts at one of the centers on Jan. 31.

Deputies contacted Babb, and he told them that a friend gave him permission to take the items. Rollo said her business did no such thing and explained that she had never met Babb in her life.

Around 8 a.m. Thursday, deputies arrested Babb, who admitted to taking items from All Right and recycling them, and booked him into the Mohave County Jail.



Return trips

Babb could be seen on camera lifting 100-pound air conditioners, loading them onto a truck, leaving and then returning and hour or so later to steal more. In all, he made three trips to All Right that night.

He is currently charged with one count of felony burglary, but it's possible the County Attorney's Office will choose to add more charges because of his return trips, Carter said.

Rollo said All Right plans to add more surveillance cameras and lights as well as some motion detectors.


 

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