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Alejando Zaragoza said he was devastated when his car was broken into this week and his prized black-and-gold embellished charro suit and other dance costumes he wears with Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre were stolen. The dance group is a huge part of the 26-year-old Medford father’s identity and has been important to three generations of his family, including his 6-year-old son, who is learning to dance. Using security camera footage, Zaragoza was able to identify a man he believes was the thief, a known “frequent flier” at the Jackson County Jail. The suspect was caught on numerous cameras around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. In addition to the suit, the theft involved sashes, shirts and other costume accessories. “I pretty much watched the video what seemed like 100 times or more to watch how he walked, his tattoos, his socks, shoes. I just felt so helpless that it’s such a hard item to replace,” Zaragoza said. “Monday, we were leaving to go get some tires for my wife, and — what do you know — he was still right down the street from where he stole from me. “My wife tells me, ‘That’s the guy!’ I didn’t even think. I jumped out and was like, ‘Hey, I have a question for you,’ as I was calling 911. It took everything I had not to strangle him and say, ‘Tell me where my stuff is.’ “I told him, ‘You stole from me, and I’m going to get the cops here right now!’” Zaragoza said he could get over stolen items such as a speaker and a graduation gift for his godson, but the charro suit was gifted by a mentor who retired after teaching Zaragoza and countless others to dance. While his dance shoes were spared, he’s now unable to participate in a lineup of summer performances, including Britt concerts and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green Show. Certain costumes are required for dances from specific regions, with his own suit specific to dances from the region of Jalisco. A social media post by Zaragoza, reaching out for community help to find the suit, yielded more than 150 comments from people upset at the loss, offering solutions for replacement and even a few offering to loan their own costumes. Zaragoza said purchasing a replacement version will be expensive and time-consuming, and he would prefer to get his own suit back. Charro suits are tailored to each dancer, and they’re required to fit snugly, with just enough room to dance. According to Jackson County Jail records, the man identified by Zaragosa was being held on $20,000 bail for two counts of possession of methamphetamine, for which he was cited when Zaragoza called police Monday. Emergency records show the suspect was lodged in January on another possession charge and a probation violation for a prior meth case. Candace Turtle, managing director of Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre, said learning of the charro suit being stolen was a huge blow to her dance troupe. “The really sad thing is that I’m sure the person who stole this bag had no use for this charro costume that means so much to Alex, and they had no idea how much it would cost to replace it. It was given to him when he was 14, and he grew into it. That suit holds a lot of years’ worth of memories for a lot of dancers,” she said, noting that estimates to order, replace and tailor a new suit start at $500. “Alex now cannot dance a lot of the dances in which he normally would be the male dance partner. This affects our whole troupe, but mostly I’m just angry this was taken from Alex,” Turtle said. “There’s really just a ripple effect of certain people not caring what they do and affecting others.” While he’s set up a gofundme account to try and raise money for a replacement suit, Zaragoza said he’s skeptical he’ll be able to replace the suit in time to meet all his scheduled performances. And it’s hard to give up hope that his charro suit might be returned. “I remember as a kid, my mom made me dance, and I just hated it. And now I love it,” he said. “As soon as I saw some of the other guys dancing, and especially in that charro suit, I thought, ‘One day, I’m going to dance in a suit like that. When those guys retired, they handed down the suit to me. When I was big enough to fit into it, I was so excited.” He added, “I feel like (the thief) took a part of me, a part of my culture, and even if he was able, that he isn’t going to give it back because he’s going to sell it for some $10 worth of drugs or something. It’s just really hard to accept that it’s gone and that he probably knows where it is.” Anyone with information about the suit or other contents of Zaragoza’s vehicle is asked to call Medford police and reference case #18-12670. A car-wash fundraiser is planned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Food 4 Less, 2230 Biddle Road, in Medford. The fundraiser will benefit Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre, but Turtle said donations designated for Zaragoza can be dropped off. For more information, see www.gofundme.com/folklorico-charro-suit or www.balletfolkra.org . Reach Medford freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected] .