The search for the two fugitives wanted for credit card fraud began on Feb. 23 with a phone call from Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Duane Chapman, who is better known as Dog because of his popular cable television program of that name, had called Alex Wooten for help in finding Jeffery Rees, 34, of Honolulu, and Joshua Kingsley, 33, of Waipahu, Hawaii.

Wooten and his wife Hermicia started a branch of the Gerald Madrid Bail Bond Company in Gallup about two years ago, and besides tracking down people who skipped out on bail in the area, Wooten has also done some bounty hunting and helped track fugitives being sought by other bail bondsmen.

Chapman had tracked the two from Las Vegas to...

District Court Judge Robert Aragon ruled in favor of the city of Gallup in the city’s dispute with Gallup Police Chief Phillip Hart over use of community service aides to pick up drunks.

Aragon held a day-long bench trial on the issue Feb. 28 rejecting Hart’s interpretation of state laws dealing with placing intoxicated persons in detox centers like NCI.

Hart has been fighting with the city since last summer over this issue, claiming that state law requires a certified police officer or a doctor to sign someone in to a detox center. He argued that community service aides don’t have that authority.

The city, however, argued that under state law community service aides are...

PHOENIX– Earlson Tso, 39, of Chinle, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes to 108 months’ imprisonment Feb. 26. Tso had previously pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact with a minor.

In June 2016, the victim, a minor and member of the Navajo Nation, reported inappropriately being touched by Tso while sleeping. Tso is also a member of the Navajo Nation.

Navajo Nation Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigations conducted the investigation. The prosecution was handled by Kiyoko Patterson, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

A Chinle man is facing aggravated battery charges after reportedly holding a knife to his girlfriend’s throat in the bushes near a Walmart.

Gallup Patrolman Douglas Hoffman was dispatched to the Walmart area about 3:44 pm Feb. 21 in connection with a report that a domestic dispute involving weapons was currently happening.

When he got to the area, he found a man and woman matching the description given to him walking into the parking lot at Home Depot. When he got in front of the man, identified as Stevenson Gorman, 33, he said the man dropped a large knife to the ground and began walking away from him.

Hoffman said he detained the man and put handcuffs on him. As he did, he noticed...