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Friday, Mar 29th

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Weekly Crime Blotter

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BATTERED AND BOOKED

6/19, GALLUP

Gallup Police Officers Chaz Troncoso and D. Johnson were dispatched to Dani Dr., Apt. D-30, regarding a possible drunken fight among household members. Upon their arrival, a woman with a scratch on her face, blood on her shirt, and a baby in her arms came outside. The woman pointed out a male, Ardale Chiquito, 27, and claimed he attacked her.

According to the police report, Chiquito is the father of her eldest son and her ex-boyfriend. While at her house, he began to argue with her, so she told him to go to bed. The victim went into a separate bedroom to be with her four-month-old child (not the child of Chiquito), and Chiquito attempted to get into the room, while she fought to keep the door closed.

The victim called 911 on her cell-phone, it states that Chiquito broke into the room and attacked her. The baby began to scream; the victim grabbed the baby and ran out of the house, followed by Chiquito.

According to the report, the victim had bruises, a scratch, and blood on her body. Chiquito claimed the victim instigated the fight. He was booked for battery against a household member and abuse of a child.

BASKET CASE

6/19, GALLUP

According to a report by GDP Officer Troncoso, at 2:52 am, he joined another officer at 422 Zane Drive in reference to a possible domestic dispute. Officer Troncoso met with Nicole R. Anderson, 23, and her father outside.

Anderson said she was involved in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend while drinking at their house at 900 S. Boardman Dr., D-40, a residence where officers had responded to a domestic call earlier in the morning.

According to Anderson, her boyfriend became aggressive and she armed herself with a bat. Her boyfriend called his sister and a family friend to pick him up. Anderson said the sister and the friend came to fight her, and that her boyfriend put her in a chokehold. But according to the sister and the friend, Anderson had wielded a knife, and her boyfriend put her in a chokehold to subdue her.

They took Anderson’s child and left. The friend said the knife was put in a basket.

Troncoso reported that Anderson agreed to let the officers search for the knife at the Boardman location; and, indeed, Troncoso found the knife in the basket. Anderson was arrested for aggravated assault.

INDECENT PROPOSAL

6/19, GALLUP

A manager to the new Panda Express restaurant on US Route 491 was the victim of a car burglary near the business.

The short-lived saga began when MCSO Deputy Arnold Noriega spotted a man leaning against a wall outside of the restaurant. In front of him was a white passenger car occupied by the manager, who was waving at him to come over. According to the deputy’s report, the man fled on foot toward Golden Corral restaurant, then jumped a fence and headed eastbound.

Noriega was unable to apprehend the suspect, so he headed back to speak with the manager, who said she was walking to her vehicle, which was parked on the east side of the building when she saw the male sitting in the driver’s seat. She reportedly told him to get out of her car.

“The male advised her that he would give her all her things if she would perform oral sex for him,” the report stated. The manager declined the offer, and the perpetrator made off with $400 cash and her driver’s license.

Noriega asked the manager if the restaurant has video surveillance, to which she replied yes, but that “she is sick of the police at her restaurant because it is bad for business.”

She declined to participate in the investigation any further.

KICK FOR KICK?

6/18, GALLUP

GPD Officer Daniel Brown arrived on scene at 1710 E Aztec Ave. to assist Officer Dominic Molina at a DWI traffic stop. On arrival, he noticed Virgil Norton, 20, walking from a stopped silver car. Norton’s eyes were bloodshot; he was raising his voice at a supporting officer, and his words were slurred.

According to the report, Brown believed Norton might attack the supporting officer and attempted to escort the suspect to a CSA van. Norton resisted, and Brown put him on the ground in handcuffs.

Norton refused to calm down and kicked Brown in the chest. He continued to refuse to get in the vehicle, and demanded his glasses. The supporting officer assisted Brown in putting Norton in Brown’s vehicle; the glasses were located and brought to the unit.

On the drive to the jail, Norton asked whether the officer could hit him back, and call it even. “That’s how we do it on the rez,” he said.

While in the sally port of the jail, Norton continued to be aggressive, and again was put on the ground, as it appeared he might grab Brown, according to the report. He was booked on charges of battery and assault upon a peace officer; resisting, evading or obstructing an officer; and disorderly conduct.

INTER-LOCKED UP

6/18, GALLUP

While traveling eastbound on Hwy 66, near the Boardman Drive intersection, GDP Officer Chris Molina noticed Raymond R. Romero, 23, speeding westbound, failing to stop at a red light. He turned south on Valentina and did not stop at the Valentina/Aztec stop sign. When stopped, Romero told Molina he was going to his mother’s on the north side of town; but given the direction he’d been traveling, he wasn’t really heading to that part of town.

According to the report, Romero could not sit still or look Molina in the eye. Molina asked him to exit the vehicle and placed him under arrest for reckless driving. He failed field sobriety tests. An uninstalled interlock, which his license required him to install in order to drive, was found in his vehicle. He blew a .00 during the breath test. DWI charges are pending.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

6/16, TSE-YA-TOH

MCSO Deputy Josie Bowman was dispatched to Rehoboth McKinley County Hospital in reference to a woman who had been raped. According to the report, the woman said she was raped in a field by a man named “John.”

The victim told Bowman that John picked her up in Albuquerque. She had known him for some time, and he was taking care of her dog. She reportedly asked John if he could take her to see her dog. Instead, he drove her out to a field past Love’s Truck Stop.

“He raped me in his truck in the field area, with music going,” Bowman noted, the victim’s words. “He was driving a blue Dodson with a white camper.”

The woman also described the front of John’s home, and had told Bowman that she knows the location. Bowman didn’t discuss any further details with the victim. MCSO Inv. Anthony Ashley said he’s not sure whether the suspect was apprehended, as the case was turned over to the Navajo Police Department.

DRUNKEN ASSAULT

6/16, MENTMORE

A night of drinking mixed with some hostility landed Christopher Henry of Gallup in the slammer for allegedly assaulting a mom and son in the Mentmore area.

MCSO Deputy Ben Benally was on patrol when the male victim waved him down, saying his mom was stabbed by a man, identified as Henry, who was standing outside of the residence sans shirt. As Benally got out of his patrol unit, Henry briefly jumped into a vehicle, then stepped out and started walking toward the deputy.

“At this time I drew my service firearm to a low ready position and instructed him to get to the ground and he complied …” Benally wrote in his report.

After he detained Henry, Benally interviewed the victims. Apparently, Henry was drinking across the street from the victims’ residence and the son confronted him. Those two got into a fight, and when mom tried to break it up, Henry “attacked her with a key.” As the mom and son walked away, the mom was concerned that Henry was threatening to run them over with his car, so she got a stone and threw it, breaking out the rear window.

The son, feeling the same threatening vibe, threw a stone and broke out the windshield of the car.  Henry, 31, was booked into McKinley County Adult Detention Center for aggravated battery, abuse of a child, and criminal damage to property.

PLAIN IRRESPONSIBLE

6/14, GALLUP

GPD Officer Terrance Peyketewa was dispatched to Giant at 701 US Route 491 regarding a woman sitting at the gas pump for more than an hour, and who was possibly intoxicated.

According to his report, by the time he got there, he was informed that a woman with blonde hair, later identified as Jennifer Salabiye, took the baby that was still in its car seat and headed toward the mall. Some onlookers pointed to Raelynn Toadlena, who was sitting near Smokey’s. She tried to hide from Peyketewa by going behind a car.

Toadlena, 25, reportedly said they were parked at Giant because “her sister went crazy on her and took her child.” Peyketewa said he could smell “the strong odor of intoxicating liquor” emanating from Toadlena.

When he found Salabiye, 23, she was aimlessly roaming the mall parking lot, carrying the baby. He could smell booze on her as well. It was enough to arrest both for abandonment of children.

LEAVE MOM’S STUFF ALONE!

6/2, GALLUP

A mom called the police on her sons to report that at least one of them was destroying her property. According to GPD Officer Michael Graham’s report, when he arrived, the mom was outside and she had to unlock the door to let him in. Graham immediately encountered Marc Yazzie, who he deemed intoxicated, and who tried to pull away from him. He took Marc Yazzie, 30, to the ground and handcuffed him.

At that point, he tried to handcuff the brother, Michael Yazzie, 21, but he began to resist. Next, Marc Yazzie stood up and “was going to try to kick me,” Graham wrote in his report. He was able to grab both men and take them to the ground, but Marc Yazzie kicked him in the chest. Other officers soon arrived on scene to assist Graham.

The mom reported that her flat screened TV and two DVD players sustained damages. Both were charged with criminal damage to property; resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer; and battery upon a peace officer.