SEEKING MAN WITH SHOPPING BASKET
Thoreau, April 3
A shoplifter is still at large after stealing items from a local Dollar General.
On April 3 around 12:24 pm, Deputy Ivan Tsethlikai Jr. with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the Thoreau Dollar General at 88 Hwy. 371 because a caller had reported a shoplifting incident.
The store manager Rena Williams told Tsethlikai that an unknown man came into the store, picked up a basket, and started shopping. He asked to see a Samsung Galaxy A01 prepaid cellphone and put it into his basket along with other store items.
When Williams went to another aisle the man walked out of the store with the basket. Williams stated that he stole paper towels, trash bags, and other goods that all came out to about $25. She said he got into a white Nissan Altima with a temporary license plate and headed northbound toward State Highway 371.
Tsethlikai searched the area, but could not find the suspect or the car.
MISSING POWER POLE
Gamerco, March 30
A stolen electric meter led to a power outage on Draco Street in Gamerco.
On March 30 at 8:17 am, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office’s Deputy Clayton Etsitty arrived at the intersection of Crystal Avenue and Chino Loop in Gamerco. He met with Andrew O’Malley, an employee of Xfinity Cable Company. O’Malley said one of the company’s electric meters had been stolen.
O’Malley stated there had been a power outage on Draco Street in Gamerco around 6:30 that morning. He was dispatched to check on Xfinity’s meter box. Once he arrived, he discovered the power pole that controls the electricity for Draco Street was missing. He called his boss to get it replaced and was advised to call the police.
Etsitty asked O’Malley if the meters could be taken off without tools, and he said no.
Etsitty saw there were scratches on the outside of the paneling where the meter should’ve been. O’Malley said the meter can be removed and used at another meter box to provide electricity for a residence. A generator was being used at Draco Street to power the pole.
O’Malley described the meter as a clear plastic Centron model that regulates 1000 kilowatts of electricity. O’Malley gave Etsitty an identifier tag for the meter, but there was no serial number provided.
Etsitty took photos of the meter box. No damages were reported, but he said the meter box has been tampered with before.
The City of Gallup Utilities Department was already aware of the power outage and replaced the meter box. Etsitty told O’Malley he would file a report.
A BRIEF BRAWL
Thoreau, March 30
A Thoreau man got into a fight with his girlfriend’s accused rapist and police responded after the fight ended.
On March 30 around 2:45 pm, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Frank Villa Jr. was dispatched to 21C Rose St. in Thoreau because three men had been fighting. When he got there, two of the men had already left the scene. The caller, who had been in the fight, was the only one still there when Villa arrived.
The Thoreau man said he was in a fight with a man he identified as Randy Watson. The man said he’d been waiting for the school bus to drop off his girlfriend’s brother, when he noticed Watson driving by. He said he did not like the way Watson was looking at him, and that he flipped Watson off.
That’s when Watson parked his truck and got out. A passenger also got out of the truck. But the Thoreau man did not know this other man. The unknown man had a knife.
The Thoreau man said he told the unknown man to back up, and he did back away, but continued holding the knife. The Thoreau man said he told Watson “Let’s fight right now.” He told Villa he threw the first punch. The two men wrestled on the ground for a little bit before the fight ended.
The man said Watson and the unidentified passenger then got into the white pickup truck and left the area.
The Thoreau man claimed that Watson had raped his girlfriend, and that’s why he had wanted to fight him. He said he was fine and that he did not need any medical attention.
STOLEN PHONE
Gallup, March 29
A woman’s iPhone that she’d had for less than a month, was stolen while she was renting a movie from a Red Box in Vanderwagen.
On March 29, around 8:15 am, Deputy Ivan Tsethlikai, Jr. with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the Lowe’s Supermarket and Liquor Store at 120 E. Hwy. 66 in Gallup. Tsethlikai was responding to a call about the stolen iPhone.
When he met with the female victim from Gallup, she told the deputy her iPhone had been stolen at the Family Dollar at 1902 NM-602 in Vanderwagen on March 28 sometime between 4:45 and 5:00 in the afternoon. The Gallup woman stated that she had been getting movies from a Red Box and had placed her iPhone on top of the booth to prevent the Red Box flap from hitting her.
She then left the store parking lot, forgetting her phone. When she remembered where she had left her phone and came back to the booth it was gone.
The victim said she bought the phone on March 1 for about $1,200. She didn’t have insurance for it. She was able to track the phone and the signal was coming from Miya Street in Vanderwagen around 5:30 pm on March 28. Then an hour later she saw it was in Tohatchi.
The woman said there had been several cars in the store parking lot when she laid her phone on top of the booth. The phone had been shut off and she was unable to track it anymore. Tsethlikai filed a report for the missing phone.
HEROIN, METH, AND COCAINE
Gallup, Dec. 11
Heroin, meth, and cocaine were all found under one roof in Gallup one December afternoon in 2019.
On Dec. 11, 2019, around 2:00 pm, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office’s Officer Lionel Desiderio, Officer Neil Yazzie, Officer Matthew Graham, and Sgt. Steven Collins arrived at 107 Morgan Circle in Gallup with a warrant to search the house. When they arrived the officers yelled “Police search warrant” several times before entering the house.
Desiderio met Janice Garcia in the house on the top floor. He led her out of the house. Graham and Gallup Police Department’s Detective Tesheena Williams found Chantala Lola Diaz running towards the back of the house. The officers detained her because she was wanted on three different warrants for possession of a controlled substance, child abandonment, and possession of paraphernalia.
During the search of the house Desiderio found some brown powdery substance on a table near a bed. He took photos of the evidence before collecting it.
When he was searching Diaz’s room, he found several used foils commonly used for smoking heroin, that contained a black burned substance, several plastic baggies, a glass pipe, straws, and a plastic baggie containing some white powdery substance.
Graham field-tested the brown powdery substance and the results showed it was heroin. It came out to over 10 grams.
White methamphetamine was also found on glass shards that were in another one of the bedrooms. Less than a gram of methamphetamine was found.
Another powdery substance was tested, and the results showed it was cocaine. It came out to two grams.
Garcia and Diaz were taken to the Gallup McKinley County Detention Center for booking and processing.
Diaz was bonded by a bondsman on March 15.
