Enrolled member of the Navajo Nation Quinten Smith, 21, of Mexican Springs, N.M., was charged Oct. 4 in federal court with a killing on the Navajo Nation. He will remain in custody pending trial.

According to a criminal complaint, Smith and others went to the home of the victim, identified as John Doe, on Sept. 24 to confront him. When they arrived, an argument turned physical. During the fight, Smith allegedly stabbed the victim multiple times in the back using a pocketknife. Smith and the others who were with him are believed to have fled the scene.

Doe, also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation,  who lived on the Navajo Nation, was found dead at his home.

If convicted, Smith...

A house that was hit by a fire on May 30, was hit by another fire Oct. 14. The owners of the house at 808 W. Maloney Ave. were already in the process of arranging to have it demolished when the second fire began.

Gallup Acting Fire Marshal Jon Pairett said someone had been taking care of the house since the incident in May. He added that the building was vacant at the time of the October fire.

Pairett found a makeshift stove inside the house. He said it may have been from a transient. The cause of the fire is being labeled as accidental.

Staff Reports

A speeding violation led to a 42 pound drug haul for McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Salazar Oct. 13.

When Salazar stopped a vehicle on I-40 at Mile Marker 20, he noticed the statements given by the driver and the passenger didn’t match. That led him to ask for consent to search the vehicle. The driver said he could search.

He found 42 pounds of methamphetamine and a gun.

“It’s incredible what’s moving down our Interstate at any given time. I’m glad this load of meth didn’t make [it] into the hands of our community or any other community for that matter,” Undersheriff James Maiorano III said.

Three men were arrested. They are: Martin Cabrera-Villa, 31, of...

DON’T FORGET TO LOCK THE CAR
Gallup, Aug. 12

A man couldn’t remember if he locked his car when he went into the Safeway at 980 U.S. Hwy. 491 for 45 minutes. He knew he left his windows down about 6 inches.

When he got back he knew his shaving lotion was gone. His hydrocodone bottle was still there. But it was empty. Eighty capsules were missing.

There were no signs of forced entry. No other information is available.

 



MECHANIC OR THIEF?
Gallup, Aug. 12

A Flagstaff, Ariz. woman let a man she believed to be a mechanic, take her car to perform mechanical work.

She said he never brought it back.

She said the black 2009 Buick Lucerne with tinted windows and a Lions sticker on...