Kelsey Tom Francisco, now a former Gallup police officer, was arrested after he reportedly got into a fight with his wife and head-butted her May 7.

Francisco, 25, of Gallup now faces charges of false imprisonment, battery on a household member, and interference with communication.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Dep. Lorenzo Guerrero said he was dispatched to Butler Square about 6:15 pm in reference to a domestic dispute involving a Gallup police officer.

When he got there, he found other Gallup police officers waiting for him, as well as Francisco’s wife, Chanaye, who said she and her husband had been paying bills in the afternoon.

They had arrived at a loan company in town about 2...

Benjamin Theodor Gonzales was arrested May 8 on a felony charge of possession of stolen vehicle and seven misdemeanor charges.

Lt. Billy Padavich praised the Gallup Police Department Drug and Narcotics Task Force and Detective Division for the arrest.

“Last night, he ran into one of our undercover units,” Padavich said. “He was in a stolen vehicle.”

Gonzales is a criminal familiar to the police department and the judicial system.

Narcotics agents were conducting surveillance about 10 pm near Lewann Drive and Alto Place. A known drug user and car thief identified as Gonzales was observed.

The suspect was driving a blue Kia Optima with black wheels. Police received a tip...

Gallup Police Department Capt. Marinda Spencer released the name of the woman who was hit by a car the evening of May 7.

Margina Antonio, 52, of Mentmore, N.M., was struck and killed while walking in the westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 66, between TravelCenters of America and Loves Travel Stop shortly before 9 pm. When officers arrived, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Spencer said police determined that the driver of the black Ford Mustang wasn’t intoxicated. The driver also denied being distracted at the time, speeding, and using a cellphone. It’s not clear whether Antonio was impaired, as toxicology test results are pending.

The driver told police that she wasn’t sure...

ALBUQUERQUE – Twaine Willie, 26, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Farmington, N.M., pleaded guilty May 8 in federal court in Albuquerque to an assault charge.  Willie entered the guilty plea under a plea agreement that recommends that he be sentenced to a prison term within the range of 24 to 30 months followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.

Willie was arrested on Jan. 18 on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a Jicarilla Apache man with a baseball bat on Jan. 3 on the Jicarilla Apache Nation in Rio Arriba County, N.M.  According to the complaint, the victim sustained a compound fracture of his lower right leg as the...