Quay County Sun - Serving the High Plains

Police in Kentucky arrested the former owner and operator of the now-closed Tucumcari Donuts after he was accused of stealing $26,000 worth of doughnut-making and restaurant equipment from the business.

Officers booked Chhaya Yun, 35, of Tucumcari on March 31 into the Scott County Detention Center in Georgetown, Kentucky, on a Quay County warrant of felony larceny. Yun, also known as Alex Yun, is awaiting extradition.

Yun’s larceny complaint is a second-degree felony that could lead up to nine years in prison and a $10,000 fine. No attorney was listed for Yun in online court records.

Tucumcari Police Detective Reyes Gonzales said he received a call Feb. 4 from Bunneary Kim of Friona, Texas, owner of the Tucumcari Donuts building and the equipment inside.

“The owner stated the previous renter left without notification and took all the equipment in the building,” Gonzales wrote in an email. “We were able to track him to Santa Rosa, where he had opened another donut shop. I was in the process of getting a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Mr. Yun for larceny, but he left Santa Rosa without notice just as he did in Tucumcari.”

Gonzales said no other suspects are being sought in the case.

Tucumcari Donuts, at 600 E. Tucumcari Blvd., closed abruptly Jan. 2. Yun and his brother resurfaced later that month in downtown Santa Rosa to open Blue Hole Donut Shoppe, but that one also closed a few weeks later. The Santa Rosa building’s owner, Kenneth Flores, wasn’t aware the business had closed until the local newspaper contacted him about it.

Georgetown Police Detective Lewis Crump said in a telephone interview that Yun had rented a storage unit in Georgetown in early March to store the equipment. Crump said the storage rental facility’s manager grew suspicious when Yun double-locked his unit against facility policy. Crump said the manager also noticed on a jail-tracker app that Yun matched the description of a fugitive from New Mexico.

The Facebook page for the Georgetown Police Department had a little fun with the arrest and recovery of the equipment, stating: “What can we say, we have a special place in our hearts for donuts … so, hands off our donuts (and donut making equipment)!” It ended with the hashtag of “#handsoffourpowerrings”.

The Facebook page for Tucumcari Police Department got in on the act, stating: “Honestly, we have cried tears of joy. Looooooove our power rings …”

Georgetown police posted several pictures of the equipment stolen, including rolling pins, racks, pastry storage units, an industrial-sized mixer and a cash register.

“It’s one of the stranger things we have found in a storage unit,” Georgetown Police Sgt. Darin Allgood told a reporter at the News-Graphic in Georgetown. “They had taken everything out of the restaurant: the refrigerator, microwave, rollers, mixing pots, cash register. Even the open sign.”