Photo: Stock Image
As if having computer problems isn’t enough to create high levels of stress for anyone, the thought of leaving a computer for repair at a local business where tech wizards are standing by to bring hard drives back to life only to have that instrument go missing might be enough to make someone run down the street calling for a cop.
In some ways, that’s exactly what happened at Computer Solutions, a Santa Maria repair shop when customers’ property began to go missing. According to Santa Maria Police Department spokesman Detective Eduardo Servin, “repeated reports of customer property gone missing” brought the SMPD Detective Bureau and Property Crimes Unit personnel into an investigation of the store’s business operations and its trusted employees.
Because Matthew Shoemake, a 39-year-old resident of Santa Maria was “one of the repair shop’s only employees,” he naturally became “a possible suspect.” As detectives focused on Shoemake, the Property Crimes Unit obtained a search warrant for a storage locker rented by Shoemake, which led to the discovery of computers and computer components, including hard drives and laptops, with an estimated value of $20,000.
With that evidence in hand, detectives took Shoemake into custody. He was transported to Santa Maria Jail, where he was charged with felony embezzlement and grand theft.
