Crime
Sequoyah treatment center employee accused of inappropriate relationship with inmate
An employee of Albuquerque’s Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center has been charged with one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor for a relationship she allegedly had with one of the inmates at the center.
35-year-old Amber Lucero is accused of kissing, holding hands with and touching one of the male inmates over the past year-and-a-half before the inmate was transferred to another facility.
A criminal complaint for Lucero’s arrest says the alleged relationship was brought to the attention of New Mexico State Police by a family member of the inmate’s on June 9.
Police interviewed the inmate, who confirmed his relationship with Lucero began in the latter half of 2014 and has continued since.
The complaint says both the inmate and Lucero confirmed the relationship progressed very gradually over that time period.
It eventually led to the two kissing in a spot at the center unseen by surveillance cameras. The inmate allegedly touched her breasts while they kissed.
The criminal complaint says the relationship never progressed further than that, but that the relationship moved further than it should have.
“It happened because I cared and I treated him like a human being and I overstepped my boundaries in becoming too much of a friend with him and caring too much,” Lucero allegedly told police.
The complaint says the two had maintained contact after the inmate was moved to a different facility in March, and that they would communicate by sending each other letters. Lucero used an alias so as to not raise any flags about their communication, police said.
Lucero’s charge carries a $2,500 cash or surety bond. The inmate is only referred to in the complaint as “N.G.,” though KOB does not name victims of sexual crimes.
Sandoval Co. Sheriff’s Office releases names of 3 suspects in bloody murder
The Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released the names of the three men accused of murdering three people and burying their bodies in a shallow grave on San Felipe Pueblo.
The three men charged in the murders are Alberto Rodriguez, of Los Lunas; Samuel Jimenez-Perez and Omar Flores-Castillo, of Albuquerque. Jimenez-Perez’s address was listed as the Sandoval County Detention Center.
All three are charged with three counts of capital murder, three counts of first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, tampering with evidence to wit, receiving or transferring stolen vehicles and extreme cruelty to animals – all felonies.
Rodriguez and Jimenez-Perez were both arrested June 10. The warrant for Flores-Castillo’s arrest did not note that he had been arrested.
The sheriff’s office identified the victims June 9 as 32-year-old John Santistevan and 48-year-old Geraldine Sena. Lt. Keith Elder, the SCSO spokesman, said that day the third body is likely that of 25-year-old Samuel Sena, but the Office of the Medical Investigator is working to positively identify it as Sena.
Lt. Elder says investigators believe the third body is the younger Sena because all three were reported missing March 17 by various family members. The three bodies were found miles away from anabandoned, blood-soaked pickup truck that was found nearDiamond Tail Ranch Feb. 29 and was linked to their murders.
Sandoval Co. detectives and Homeland Security Investigation have received information the three had connections with people transporting stolen vehicles from Albuquerque to Mexico and were involved in drug trafficking, mail theft and other felonies.
Lt. Elder added that the three were in a pickup truck similar to the bloody one found near the ranch the night before it was found.
Lt. Elder said June 9 the suspects would also face federal charges, but those have yet to be filed.
Man charged for false threat to Albuquerque City Hall building
The man Albuquerque police arrested Monday afternoon amid a false active shooting and hostage situation report crawled through a window in the city hall lobby and started yelling that there was a shooter in the building.
KOB cameras caught 28-year-old Daniel Olguin being led from City Hall in handcuffs Monday afternoon as SWAT teams swept the building.
He faces one charge of breaking and entering and two charges of false imprisonment – all felonies.
According to a criminal complaint for his arrest, Olguin was the initiator of the entire incident.
After officers were dispatched to the building when several people called 911 to report an active shooter, they came upon Olguin on the first floor – where one of the callers was hiding.
An officer wrote in his criminal complaint that he appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and was nervous.
One of the women who called police said they saw Olguin try and enter the lobby through a door, which was locked. So he instead crawled through a small security window at the customer service counter and began shouting that there was a shooter in the building.
The caller and another woman barricaded themselves behind a door and called police. At one point, Olguin came up to the door and asked if the doors were locked. The women would not leave the office, saying they feared for their lives.
After hours of sweeping the 11 floors and basement of the building, police gave the all-clear early Tuesday morning.
Olguin is being held on a $12,500 cash or surety bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Police continue sweep of Albuquerque City Hall after ‘possible hostage situation’
Albuquerque police have locked down the Albuquerque City Hall building due to what the department called a possible hostage situation, and SWAT teams are sweeping the building.
However, police spokesman Tanner Tixier said at a 7:25 news conference that there was “no confirmation” anyone in the building was being held hostage.
The sweep was ongoing as of 10 p.m.
The scene at 4th and Marquette began just before 6 p.m. The Albuquerque Police Department initially called the incident a “possible active shooter” situation.
But police said at 6:30 p.m. that there was “no evidence of an active shooter” and that officers were “trying to confirm if there’s an active hostage situation.”
At 6:45 p.m., APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said there was “no confirmation of an active shooter or that any shots were fired.” He said officers were trying to determine or confirm if there is a hostage situation.
One man has been detained in the incident and is being questioned, according to Tixier. He was seen being led out of City Hall by police by a KOB photographer. Tixier said there was no word yet on his role.
Another man was seen being led out of the parking garage in handcuffs not long after 7 p.m. Police said at a 7:25 p.m. news conference that the man will likely not be charged and was caught in “the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Tixier said it is “very possible” the threat could have been a hoax, saying everyone was on high alert after the terrorism incident in Orlando, Florida.
SWAT officers are sweeping the building floor-by-floor. Several people who had been trapped inside have since been released. Tixier said the sweeps were taking time because of the size of the building, which has 11 floors and a basement.
He said dispatch initially received calls there was a possible active shooter in the building’s basement and on the first and 10th floors.
Several city councilors were trapped on the ninth floor of the building while it was placed on lockdown. All are OK, City Councilor Pat Davis told KOB.
“This one seemed real,” Davis told KOB after he was led out of the building by SWAT officers.
There are numerous officers in the area that have surrounded Albuquerque City Hall. All residents and drivers are asked to avoid the downtown area.
KOB has several reporters and photographers at the scene.
This is a developing news story. Stay posted to KOB.com and KOB Eyewitness News 4 for the latest updates.
Police: Driver with gunshot wound crashed into 2 vehicles
A man driving with a gunshot wound to his arm crashed into two vehicles on Central Ave. near Eubank Friday afternoon.
The crashes happened just before 5:30 p.m. Friday. Police say the driver was transported to UNMH and is expected to be OK.
A passenger in the vehicle the man was driving fled the scene of the crashes and the driver was uncooperative with police when asked when or why he was shot.
Police said they received a call about a shooting at the nearby Deluxe Inn around the same time the man crashed into the vehicles, but have not directly linked the two scenes at this time.
Police said the passenger was not located.
Police: Suspected burglar shot by Rio Rancho homeowner was 15-year-old Albuquerque boy
Rio Rancho police on Friday named the burglary suspect who was shot by a Rio Rancho homeowner early Wednesday morning as a 15-year-old Albuquerque boy.
Rio Rancho police say the boy has been identified as 15-year-old Shaquan Ketcham, of Albuquerque. He remains hospitalized in critical condition as of Friday, police said.
He faces aggravated burglary charges related to the robbery. Police said Friday they had confirmed Ketcham was armed with a handgun during the burglary.
Police say Ketcham was dropped off at Presbyterian Rust Hospital with gunshot wounds to his chest and that officers found evidence from the burglary still on his person.
KOB has learned his father was in jail on a child abuse charge.
Sifting through the young man’s recent family past may give quite a bit of insight into where Ketcham’s head was on Wednesday — the day police say he broke into that house.
KOB has learned Ketcham’s 34-year-old father, Howard Ketcham, was booked on a child abuse charge May 20. The victim of that alleged abuse is unclear, but the older Ketcham was still in jail Wednesday.
In fact, the older Ketcham was formally indicted by a grand jury on an open count of child abuse on Wednesday, likely within hours of the burglary and shooting allegedly involving his son.
According to jail records, the older Ketcham was released from jail Friday morning.
But visits to all five of the older Ketcham’s previously-known addresses in Albuquerque turned up nothing — many neighbors telling KOB the man and his son had moved around southeast Albuquerque neighborhoods.
The homeowner who fired on him may not be out of the woods. Police say it’s still under investigation whether that man did anything to warrant his own charges.
Howard Ketcham’s next court appearance on his child abuse charge hasn’t yet been scheduled, but KOB will be following his case.
Authorities ID bodies found in grave in Sandoval Co.; 3 suspects in custody
Law enforcement and medical investigators have positively identified two of the three bodies found in a shallow grave southeast of the San Felipe Casino just over a week ago, and say they believe they know the identity of the third body.
Sandoval Co. Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Keith Elder on Thursday identified the bodies as those of 32-year-old John Santistevan and 48-year-old Geraldine Sena. Lt. Elder said the third body is likely that of 25-year-old Samuel Sena, but the Office of the Medical Investigator is working to positively identify it as Sena. Continue reading
Judge: Attorneys can’t use James Boyd’s full criminal history at trial
Defense and prosecuting attorneys will not be able to use James Boyd’s full criminal history in a trial later this year for two former Albuquerque police officers charged with his murder, a judge ruled Thursday.
Second Judicial District Court Judge Alisa Hadfield agreed Thursday with a motion filed by prosecutors for the state that jurors should only be able to know what officers were aware of regarding Boyd’s criminal history when they confronted him in the Albuquerque foothills in 2014.
“I don’t think it’s really any disagreement that evidence of specific instances of the victim’s prior violent conduct that the defendants were aware of it may be admitted for the purpose of showing the defendants’ fear of the victim,” said Judge Hadfield. “But that is limited to what they were actually aware of at the time of or prior to the incident.”
Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez are both charged with second-degree murder in Boyd’s shooting death and face a September trial.
Boyd had been arrested at least a dozen times before officers confronted him that day in the foothills for camping on open space land, which is illegal in the city.
Hadfield had previously said that she did not want the extra information to possibly taint the jury pool, something special prosecutor Randi McGinn also argued for.
“It’s not just blaming the victim. It’s something worse,” said McGinn. “It’s saying that no matter if we just shot him justifiably or not, it’s OK because he was mentally ill and he had done some bad things in his life and deserved to die.”
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 12.
Rio Rancho homeowner shoots suspected burglar during break-in
A homeowner in Rio Rancho shot a suspected burglar several times in the chest early Wednesday morning.
The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. in the 1000 block of Luz Del Sol.
The homeowner called Sandoval County Regional Dispatch to say a person who had broken into the home had been shot and had fled the scene.
Rio Rancho police say that moments before the call, another call was received by dispatch from Presbyterian Rust Hospital saying a man had been dropped off at the emergency room with gunshots to his chest.
Police went to the hospital and allegedly found evidence from the burglary still on the suspect’s person.
He was flown to UNM Hospital for his gunshot wounds. He survived the shooting, but police have not been able to identify him yet.
Rio Rancho police say the investigation remains ongoing and that the homeowner is not facing charges at this time.
But the situation begs the question: what would you do in that scenario?
KOB 4 spoke to a concealed-carry instructor who says you have a lot to think about before you pull the trigger.
“Ability is do they have a weapon? Opportunity: can they use that weapon? Imminent jeopardy is imminent jeopardy of death or great bodily harm, and then, preclusion: what did you do to exhaust all other opportunities before using deadly force?” Steven Martinez said. “If you can avoid the situation, get out. If you’re by yourself and you have the back door behind you and you can get out, then get out. If you have your family inside the home, be prepared to do something to protect yourself and your family.”
Martinez also says you never shoot for your property. He says New Mexico doesn’t really have a clear-cut “Stand Your Ground” law. Each incident is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
FBI: Man accused of abducting stepsons captured Sunday; no decision yet on charges
New Mexico State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigations agents found the man accused of abducting his two young stepsonssometime Sunday, the FBI Phoenix office announced Monday.
The FBI did not say where 26-year-old Clinton Johnson was found, but did say it has yet to determine if he will face criminal charges.
Johnson is accused of taking his two stepsons from a campground in Wheatfields Lake, Arizona sometime Saturday. The boys were found on the side of the road just before noon Sunday in Manuelito Canyon, west of Gallup.
The boys were unharmed. Johnson allegedly fled on foot after dropping the boys off.
An Amber Alert for the two boys was first issued in Utah around 1 a.m. Sunday. The New Mexico Amber Alert was sent out around 10 a.m.
The FBI says the investigation into the case continues.