Police in Santa Fe, N.M., say all they did was follow a hot trail of footprints in 8 inches of snow from a crime scene to a suspect, The New Mexican reported.

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Officers responding to a burglar alarm at a Bureau of Land Management building found two broken windows. They also saw a trail of footprints, which they said they followed to Mark Mendoza, 31, sweeping snow off his truck in a parking lot behind a nearby apartment complex.

"Mr. Mendoza stated that he had not done anything wrong before we started to ask any questions," Officer Jimmy Madison wrote in his report, the paper said. Officers also noted that Mendoza's shoes and the bottom of his pants were snow-covered.

Meanwhile, a BLM official arrived and said a laptop computer was missing from beneath one of the broken windows. Officers said they found the computer in Mendoza's closet.

Mendoza was charged with breaking and entering, criminal damage to property, burglary, larceny and tampering with evidence, the newspaper said.