Woman held in Realtor robbery

FBI says waitress posed as buyer, then threatened victim

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican

4/14/2008 - 4/15/08

A 24-year-old Albuquerque woman accused of posing as a wealthy would-be home buyer before robbing a Santa Fe real-estate agent was arraigned Monday before a federal magistrate.

Sarah S. Ochoa remains in custody after pleading not guilty to a federal charge of interference with commerce by threat or violence.

Norm Cairns, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Monday that no bond was set for Ochoa by U.S. Magistrate Don Svet. But Cairns said there may be conditions of release or set later on, depending on whether a defense attorney pursues issues of mental competency.

Caroline "Cammie" Nichols, an Albuquerque lawyer retained to represent Ochoa, said she does not plan to raise the issue of Ochoa's mental competency, but said Ochoa has close ties to the community and no criminal record.

The attorney also said Ochoa's "family and friends were shocked by these allegations." Nichols said Ochoa has family in Albuquerque, though she was raised in California.

The lawyer also said Ochoa, who had attended The University of New Mexico, had worked maintaining Web sites and had a position at the Santa Fe office of the Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dalstrom, Schoenburg & Fry law firm, where Nichols now works, before she began waitressing at the Tamaya Resort & Spa at Santa Ana Pueblo.

The FBI began interviewing Ochoa at the Tamaya Resort only three days after the December incident, but did not arrest her until early Friday outside a residence in the 3300 block of Monroe NE in Albuquerque.

Marilyn Foss, who works for Sotheby's International Realty, told authorities she was abducted at gunpoint Dec. 3 by a woman who forced her to withdraw money from her savings account at Los Alamos National Bank, 301 Griffin St.

The woman had identified herself as Nata Ramien, a Lebanese citizen seeking to buy a home in Santa Fe for her daughter who had just graduated from Yale medical school and was to begin her residency in neurosurgery Santa Fe. The woman, who said her husband, Hasheim, was in the oil business, said "money was no object," according to initial police reports.

On Monday, Foss said she does not want to comment further until she knows what will happen to Ochoa. Foss complimented the FBI and the person who led the FBI to Ochoa after recognizing a tattoo of a pair of lips on the webbing of Ochoa's left hand.

"It can happen to anyone at anytime," Foss said. "The criminal element is more pervasive in our society and locally than we know or that most of us are aware of, but it is definitely there and can come at you out of the blue."

An affidavit by FBI Special Agent Matthew Floyd filed in U.S. District Court stated the following:

A woman later identified as Ochoa began contacting real-estate agents in Santa Fe in late November, using the alias Nata Ramien. From a pay phone at a Walgreen's in Rio Rancho, she arranged to meet Foss on the morning of Dec. 3 in front of Santa Fe's Main Library, telling her she would be wearing a light violet burka.

After meeting there, Foss and the woman drove to Tesuque to see one property, then went to another property on Calle San Martin in Santa Fe. While in the basement of the second residence, Foss saw that the woman was holding a black handgun. Foss tried to fight off the woman, grabbing her hair and pulling out some strands, but the woman pinned Foss to the floor, put the barrel of the gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

"Hasheim wants me to kill you, but I don't want to!" she reportedly told Foss. "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to your bank and you are going to get $500,000. I'm going to strap a bomb to you."

The woman forced Foss to drive her to the bank and went inside with her, telling her she wanted the money in $20 bills. Foss told the teller she wanted to withdraw all $8,000 in her account, half in $20 bills and half in $100 bills. Foss also wrote the word bomb on a plastic desk protector on the teller's desk. The teller "appeared oblivious," so Foss added the word help with an arrow pointing to where the woman was standing.

When the teller started to count the money, the woman told the teller, "You don't have to count that. We trust you." The teller put the cash in a bag and gave it to Foss. As Foss and the woman left the bank, Foss gave the woman the bag and told her she was not going with her. As the woman went downstairs to the lower-level parking lot, Foss went back into the bank and reported what had happened. The woman got away.

The FBI was notified Dec. 5 that a woman known as Mercedez working at the Tamaya Resort had a similar tattoo to the one described by Foss. On Dec. 6, the FBI interviewed the woman and learned her name was Sarah Ochoa. She denied she had anything to do with the crime but could not provide an alibi of her whereabouts Dec. 3 and declined to provide a sample of her hair for a DNA analysis.

On Dec. 11, Foss identified Ochoa's photograph. Calls to Foss and other real-estate agents were traced to Ochoa's cell phone. An e-mail address used by "Nata Ramien" was traced to the Rio Rancho Public Library. Ochoa's credit and debit cards were also traced to purchases of items used in the robbery, including a "soft air pistol" that is believed to be the one used to threaten Foss and fabric, needles and thread believed to have been used for the burka the robber wore.

Ochoa also bought several money orders at the Wal-Mart in Rio Rancho on Dec. 4 and used them to pay on her credit card balance and to the Sandoval County Treasurer. She also deposited $2,400 in cash to her bank account at the Bank of America in Rio Rancho.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.