The day after businesses in the Uptown area reported being burglarized, Sedona police arrested a suspect after finding some of the merchandise allegedly stolen.
According to Cmdr. Marlayne Hatler, police arrested 58-year-old David Allen Becklehimer, a transient, at around 11 a.m. on Monday, July 11, on three counts of burglary and one count of criminal damage.
Becklehimer became a suspect the day prior when police were called to trespass an individual from a residence on Hart Road where personal property was being stored in a storage shed.
“The items had previously been piled in the landscaping and after leaving a note for the person to move their things, the property owner located the property inside a storage shed on his property,” Hatler said. “When the officers began to inventory the property they recognized the personal property as that belonging to a local transient, David Becklehimer, and then recognized some of the property as being stolen during two recent burglaries.”
In the morning hours of Sunday, July 10, a burglary was discovered at Red Rock Impressions in Uptown, where a back door had been pried open and the cash receipts totaling more than $1,500 had been taken. Also that morning was a report of a burglary at the Victorian Cowgirl, on State Route 179, where entry had been made through the skylight. Belts, purses and jewelry had been taken from this store valued at $1,400.
Hatler said that on July 3, the Center of the New Age had reported two trailers burglarized. Padlocks had been cut off the doors and property taken from inside each unit. Property from the Center for the New Age and from the Victorian Cowgirl were recovered at the Hart Road location. A police report states that Becklehimer made entry at Victorian Cowgirl through a skylight.
Officers located Becklehimer in the Bashas’ shopping center and placed him under arrest. He was linked to the burglaries at the Center for the New Age and the Victorian Cowgirl and was charged with three counts burglary and criminal damage. Becklehimer was transported and booked into the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff. Hatler said at this time Becklehimer is not a suspect in any other recent burglaries in the Sedona area.
Anyone with information about this suspect or other recent burglaries in the area should call the Sedona Police Department at 282-3100.