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Welcome to Desert Journal Online, established in May 2001 in New Mexico. Our website offers our true crime book, Satan's Den Exposed - The David Parker Ray Story, and poetry and photo collections, Bombshell Liberation and Interference, and provides free access to our featured videos, columns, photos and news archives.

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Headline News From May 10, 2002 Issue

CLICK  PHOTO TO ENLARGE

  An inmate of the Sierra County Detention Facility was shot to death at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after he took a female jailer hostage and cut her with a knife-like object, County Sheriff Terry Byers said.

County’s inmates to be held at private jail in Gallup 

  Sierra County Commissioners in an emergency meeting Tuesday directed the county’s attorneys to develop a contract with private prison operator Management and Training Corporation to house all of the county’s prisoners in MTC’s Gallup facility, County Manager Adam Polley said Wednesday.

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE

  The events of Sept. 11, 2001, are deeply embedded in every American’s heart and soul, and in the case of 16-year-old Rebecca Fe Hogue of Truth or Consequences, the images of the horrendous terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, sparked inspiration.

Seizure of 85 NM meth labs since October  
shows troubling extent of drug problem 

  U.S. Senator Pete Domenici last Friday said his determination to have federal law enforcement help New Mexico combat methamphetamine production and distribution has been fortified by verification that clandestine labs are operating all over the state.

T or C man arrested for kidnapping ‘girlfriend’

  A Truth or Consequences man was arrested after he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend last Sunday from a bar and tormented her at their mobile home at Charles and Foch streets.

FIESTA 2002
A RED, WHITE & BLUE AFFAIR
FIesta Snapshots by Bill Johnson

Crime scene tape blocks access to the Sierra County Jail Tuesday night after a state police officer shot and killed a prisoner inside the facility's control room where the inmate held a female guard hostage with a knife-like object and wounded her. The Desert Journal was the only press present at Sheriff Terry Byers' briefing at 9:15 p.m., 45 minutes after the jail shooting occurred.
DJ Photo by Bill Johnson

Prisoner killed in county jail

Inmate, wanted for Colorado robbery,

wounds hostage guard with sharp object

By Bill Johnson of the Desert Journal

An inmate of the Sierra County Detention Facility was shot to death at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after he took a female jailer hostage and cut her with a knife-like object, County Sheriff Terry Byers said.

Authorities have identified the killed inmate as Gerardo "Mike" Munoz, 22, of Thornton, CO, who was arrested Sunday in Sierra County on an extradition warrant out of Colorado for an armed robbery charge.

Guards were returning Munoz to his cell from the jail's break room where he had been attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Byers said. Munoz in the process grabbed Detention Officer Marilyn Crawford and took her hostage with the blunt knife-like object, the sheriff said. The weapon later was identified to be a sharpened plastic handle from a toilet bowl brush.

The inmate then took Crawford from the break room to the jail's control room when another detention officer, Sgt. Apodaca, called for police assistance.

State police officer Freddy De La O was first to arrive at the scene and he and Sgt. Apodaca confronted the inmate in the control room. Meanwhile, the inmate held the "knife" to Crawford’s upper torso and wielded it, cutting her on the upper arm and body, Sheriff Byers said.

Both officers’ efforts to get Munoz to drop the weapon and free Crawford failed and Officer De La O then shot the inmate, killing him, Sheriff Byers said at a press conference at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday. Only one shot was fired, state police said Thursday.

Sheriff Byers said Crawford was taken to Sierra Vista Hospital for treatment of what appeared to be only superficial wounds.

Byers said the investigation of the fatal shooting was being turned over to the New Mexico State Police Criminal Investigation Division at the time of the briefing.

Sheriff's deputies sealed off the entire perimeter of the parking lot surrounding the detention facility, which is housed in the Sierra County Courthouse Complex at Truth or Consequences' only stoplight at Date and Third streets.

State police arrested Munoz May 5 on a fugitive complaint at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 25 three miles north of Truth or Consequences.

Munoz was wanted on the extradition warrant for aggravated armed robbery and theft between $500 and $15,000 for an incident that occurred April 19 at the Cork N' Cap Liquor Store in Fort Lupton, Colorado, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Liquor store owner Lee Heung was working the front counter when a Hispanic male wearing a long dark jacket, sunglasses and gloves entered and told Heung to ignore a customer at the drive-up window. The man then pointed a chrome-silver revolver at Heung and demanded the money in the cash register and under its drawer, according to the affidavit.

After Heung gave the armed robber about $720 cash, the suspect left the store and fled on foot across the parking lot. An employee of the liquor store, Dennis Sanchez, told police he saw the incident from the cooler at the rear of the store, and he identified Munoz as the suspect of the armed robbery in a photographic line-up on April 20.

Police said in the affidavit that Munoz also appears to be the armed robber caught on the liquor store's surveillance videotape.

Police authorities in Colorado said they're also investigating Munoz's possible involvement in other recent robberies in that state, including four in the City of Brighton and one each in Hudson, Keenesburg and Gilcrest.

Of the seven robberies, four occurred in liquor stores and most them were committed by a Hispanic male wearing a long dark jacket, sunglasses and gloves and who was carrying a chrome-silver handgun.

The Colorado arrest warrant affidavit said the Brighton Police Department received positive identification of Munoz in one of their robbery investigations.

Besides living in Thornton, CO, Munoz also had resided in Fort Lupton, CO, until last week when he apparently trekked south to New Mexico, according to the affidavit. His bail bond had been set at $50,000 cash surety.

"We were going to do an extradition hearing for Munoz today (to return him to the custody of the State of Colorado)," Sierra County Magistrate Judge Tom Pestak said Wednesday morning.

<<<   >>>

Sierra County’s inmates may find themselves in lockup at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center in Gallup. Since January 2000, McKinley County contracts MTC to run the multi-custody, 300-inmate capacity facility. MTC provides all aspects of the facility’s operations, including security and food and medical services.

County’s inmates to be held

at privately run jail in Gallup

Judge Sweazea orders county jail to accept

municipalities’ prisoners

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

<<<   >>>

Young poet Rebecca Hogue, junior at Hot Springs High School, receives notice that her poem “9-11” has been accepted for publication in a poetry anthology reserved for the works of top youth poets who entered the Creative Communications poetry contest. She is still awaiting word whether she won any of the top cash prizes.

Photo by Bill Johnson

9-11 inspires young poet

By Bill Johnson of the Desert Journal

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, are deeply embedded in every American’s heart and soul, and in the case of 16-year-old Rebecca Fe Hogue of Truth or Consequences, the images of the horrendous terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, sparked inspiration.

Poetry for the Hot Springs High School junior provides her an outlet – a release of great emotion that expresses itself with words of wisdom, comfort and hope.

“I was inspired to write my poem ‘9-11’ the night of Sept. 11. I saw the footage of all the debris and in the midst of all the dust and rubble, the American flag was still hanging and blowing in the wind,” Rebecca said. (See poem below).

Asked what specific thing inspired her to take to the pen and write “9-11,” she replied, “It’s just like I wrote in the poem. It’s still there!”

Thousands dead, families, friends and countrymen crying and the battered, war-torn ol’ flag still flaps its wings in the smoke and unsettled dust…

This week Rebecca received notification that her poem has been accepted by Creative Communication Inc. for publication in its anthology, A Celebration of Young Poets, and for a possible prize as her poem is being reviewed for a cash award.

“Only the best poems are selected for this honor. This is not a contest where every entry is invited to be published. The judges are still reviewing the poems to award over $2,000 in prizes to the top poets,” said Thomas K. Worthen, Ph.D. and Editor of Creative Communications in Logan, UT, in a letter to Rebecca’s sponsor, Jeannie Freeman, a teacher at HSHS.

Hogue’s poem was among thousands of entries submitted by young poets to the contest.

The daughter of Pete and Linda Padilla and Curtis Hogue, Rebecca said she plans to continue writing poetry. “It’s kind of a release,” she said.

She was named First Runner-up in the 2002 Miss Fiesta Contest held last April and she has been involved in varsity volleyball and the student council at school.

She is employed at Bullock’s Grocery Store where she bags and carries out groceries.

“Ambitious, kind and creative,” are the three words she uses to describe herself – all ingredients for success as a writer or poet.

“My plans for the future are to go to college at either the University of Arizona or the University of California at Berkeley and become an obstetrician because I am fascinated with the miracle of life,” she said.

<<<   >>>

9-11

By Rebecca Hogue

twas a day no one expected

we went to work as told

no one had imagined

the horror the day would hold

four planes with righteous terrorists

crashed into our land

and fright spread among us

and no control was in our hands

two New York buildings

came crashing to the ground

and smoke and chunks of rubble

to our people did surround

footage of the terror

covered all our screens

as we all sat in shock

to listen to the screams

amidst the rubble and the horror

our flag still proudly stood

though imperfect and affected

through the terror it did stand

and all throughout our nation

our people joined hand to hand

who the culprits of this horrible act

we could merely try to predict

but America will retaliate

and the perpetrators we will convict

lives were lost in the thousands

and tears were cried in streams

but this nation will not fall

because of cowardly terrorist schemes

our country has great purpose’

and a plan to stand behind

and we will not forget this day

or leave it far from mind

Seizure of 85 NM meth labs since October

shows troubling extent of drug problem in state

Senator Domenici urges step-up

in federal law enforcement help

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Pete Domenici last Friday said his determination to have federal law enforcement help New Mexico combat methamphetamine production and distribution has been fortified by verification that clandestine labs are operating all over the state.

Domenici has received responses to inquiries he posed to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft during hearings last month to review FY2003 funding requests for the U.S. Department of Justice and its Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Domenici had asked for an assessment of the joint federal, state and local law enforcement operations to combat methamphetamine trafficking in New Mexico.

The Attorney General's response underscores the extent and seriousness of the problem, Domenici said.

The Justice Department reported that the DEA offices in Albuquerque and Las Cruces had helped seize and destroy 85 clandestine methamphetamine labs throughout the state since Oct. 1, 2001.

Beyond the home-based labs, New Mexico is also consistently affected by the transport of Mexican cartel-produced methamphetamine contraband through the state.

"Methamphetamine production and distribution is only one facet of the illegal drug problem in our state, and these numbers are sobering to say the least,” Domenici said.

“These drugs are ruinous to so many individuals and families, and diminish the quality of life in New Mexico," Domenici said.

"I want assurances that we will keep up pressure on these criminal elements. I fully understand the pressure on our federal government to vastly improve homeland security, but we cannot allow the war on illegal drugs to be diminished at the same time. It's all interrelated,” the senator said.

Of the 85 labs destroyed since October, the DEA helped shut down illegal operations in Santa Fe, San Juan and Cibola counties, but identified most of northern New Mexico, the East Mountain area of Bernalillo County, the Los Lunas/Meadow Lakes area of Valencia County as the largest areas for seizure of clandestine meth labs.

In southwestern New Mexico, Truth or Consequences and Sierra County also have had their “per capita” share of busts of meth labs in recent months.

Informed sources familiar with the problem in the area said they believe that at least three dozen “bath tub” labs are operating in T or C alone at any given time. Some sources estimate that the meth trade accounts for up to 30 percent of the local economy.

"Clandestine methamphetamine laboratories are an ongoing law enforcement issue throughout the United States," Ashcroft said in his written responses to Domenici.

"While law enforcement entities throughout New Mexico, including DEA, continue conducting clandestine manufacturing investigations successfully, clandestine manufacturing will be deterred,” Ashcroft said.

“However, while criminal chemists continue to develop and improve their ability to circumvent new laws and regulations, clandestine manufacturing will not be eliminated," he said.

The issue of tracking and stopping Mexican methamphetamine shipments is a concern throughout the state, with the Justice Department indicating that "recent investigations have shown large quantities of methamphetamine in New Mexico are distributed primarily in the areas of Albuquerque and Farmington."

"Disturbingly, undercover investigations indicate that the Mexican Nationals, who are transporting and distributing these large quantities of methamphetamine, have access to a seemingly unlimited supply of methamphetamine.

 Investigations and intelligence gathering by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are continuing in an attempt to further identify and dismantle those individuals and organizations operating in Mexico, Arizona and California, that are supplying New Mexico and other eastern cities," Ashcroft reported.

Domenici serves on the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies.

As he has for years, Domenici has said already he will seek a continuation of a congressional mandate for federal law enforcement agencies to team with New Mexico state, county and local law enforcement to combat methamphetamine, black tar heroin and other drugs.

Domenici said federal-local law enforcement cooperation, funded through the Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, is also important in fighting illegal drug crimes.

He has expressed concern about the administration budget proposal to reduce HIDTA funding nationwide by $20 million next year.

In recent years, New Mexico as part of the Southwest Border HIDTA has received $7.5 million overall. Bernalillo, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna and Otero counties share in this funding.

In 1999, Domenici had Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and San Juan counties added to the HIDTA program to help in battling illegal drug problems in those areas.

In FY2002, the CJS Appropriations Bill included $52.9 million for methamphetamine initiatives, including clandestine lab cleanup for mobile enforcement teams to help state and local law enforcement officials to combat methamphetamine production, trafficking and use; and for regional drug enforcement teams.

<<<   >>>

Karen Hargraves, sheriff’s deputy, is congratulated by her boss, Sierra County Sheriff Terry Byers, for successfully completing and graduating from the Department of Public Safety’s Basic Police Officer Training. The intensive training program, which is required of all New Mexico police officers, was held from Jan. 2 to April 25.

T or C man arrested

for kidnapping ‘girlfriend’

Desert Journal Staff Report

A Truth or Consequences man was arrested after he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend last Sunday from a bar and tormented her at their mobile home at Charles and Foch streets.

City police leveled charges of second-degree kidnapping and misdemeanor crimes of aggravated battery against a household member and possession of drug paraphernalia in the Sierra County Magistrate Court against Russell Waide, 37.

Waide is being held in the Sierra County jail with no bond set. An arraignment was to be held today (Friday, May 10) in magistrate court.

City police officer Billy Hayes, who filed the complaint against Waide, and other officers were dispatched to the mobile home where a screaming fight was in progress.

Police heard shouting and a female screaming for the male to get off of her and for someone to help her.

Police then knocked on the front door and the female’s cries got louder for someone to help her, according to Officer Haye’s statement of probable cause.

About a minute later Waide answered the door, wearing only a t-shirt and underwear. After he exited the residence upon officers’ request, police pulled the front door to find a female on her knees crawling toward the door. She wore a blanket wrapped around her upper body and had on only jeans and socks under the blanket.

The female, identified as Velda Seymour, at first was unable to talk to police as she appeared frightened. But Seymour then told Sgt. Jessie Harzewski that she (Harzewski) should have left her to die because that was what was going to happen to her.

When asked whether she was hurt, Seymour held her left arm up to expose blood-caked bruises on her elbow.

“She was also holding her body in an awkward angle and indicated that her head hurt as well,” Haye’s statement said, adding that the sergeant then reached up and felt a large bump on the left side of Seymour’s head.

Seymour also had a bleeding open wound on her lower lip. She told police her shirt was ripped off of her and police found it in three pieces inside the residence.

During an examination at Sierra Vista Hospital, the victim told a nurse that Waide came to the Pine Knot Saloon where she went to spend the evening and forced her out of the bar before making her get on the motorcycle with him. They then went somewhere (she didn’t know where) before they got home and once inside the residence he began throwing her around, called her a “whore,” and said that she had dishonored him.

During this time, Waide allegedly pulled Seymour’s hair, hit her on the head and dragged her on the carpet, while accusing her of dressing like a whore before ripping her blouse off of her, according to the statement of probable cause.

Seymour also told Paula MacRoberts, RN at SVH, that Waide the week prior had dislocated her ankle, saying this was nothing new as he had been tormenting her for the last year of their two-and-a-half-year relationship.

“She described how he would pull her by the hair, and the sergeant could, in fact, feel clumps of loose hair on Ms. Seymour’s head,” the officer’s statement alleged.

Sonny Sampson, who called the emergency dispatch center at the time he saw the motorcycle leave the Pine Knot with a male and female on it, told police he had witnessed Waide drag the female to the motorcycle and force her to get on it.

Sampson then followed the motorcycle to where it stopped at the Alco parking lot on Broadway.

“At that point he saw the female get off the motorcycle crying. He also reported that he saw the male forcibly put the female back on the motorcycle and drive away. Sampson was following the motorcycle and speaking to dispatch on his cell phone in an effort to report the route of the motorcycle,” the affidavit said.

When officers were inside securing the residence for Seymour before she went to the hospital, police found a pipe sitting in plain view in a dish on the kitchen table. The officer could smell a strong odor of marijuana emitting from the pipe, the affidavit alleged, adding that police also found five or six “roaches” or the remains of burnt marijuana cigarettes.

<<<   >>>

FIESTA 2002
A RED, WHITE & BLUE AFFAIR
FIesta Snapshots by Bill Johnson