APD: Teen's crimes included near-murder

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque police nabbed a dangerous teen they say was on a fast track to becoming a murderer.

One after another, the crimes attributed to Joel Meeks kept getting more violent.

His latest alleged victim was left hog-tied to drown in a bathtub quickly filling up with water.

The search for Meeks, 19, became investigator's top priority, and on Thursday night they nabbed him.

"There's a lot of frightening things that this man is charged with," Albuquerque Police Department Officer Tasia Martinez told KRQE News 13.

Detectives say the string of crimes linked to Meeks started in December when he pulled a gun on an employee at an Albuquerque smoke shop demanding cash.

Police say the next day he upped the violence holding up a convenience store and firing a shot before he left.

The clerk fired back but missed.

A month later police say Meeks, armed with a shotgun and with another suspect, robbed a random man at gun point.

The crime that nearly became a murder happened three days later and started as a home-invasion robbery last weekend.

It's all spelled out in a criminal complaint and begins when the victim answered a knock on his door.

When he answered it two men--one with a gun-- rushed in taking credit cards and demanding the PIN to his debit card and the keys to his car.

All the while the man was hog-tied with a pillow case over his head and gagged with a blanket.

Then he was put in a bathtub, the drain plugged and the water left running.

"He and his accomplices could have just taken the money, taken the items they wished to steal and fled, but they took it that extra step," Martinez said.

The home-invasion victim told police he was able to unplug the drain and get out of the tub, and that was when the two men attacked him with a knife.

Eventually they took off, and the victim ran to a neighbor's house for help.

Detectives say a truck used in one of the crimes has been linked to Meeks.