Valcita Begay, 34, of Gallup, was arrested May 15 after Gallup Police Department officers were called to the apartments on Elm Circle to do a welfare check on a small female child.
According to the police report, filed by Officer Jessie Diaz, when they first arrived at the apartment, he saw a male carrying out a the child. T
The man, Robby Emerson, 29 of Church Rock, told Diaz that he was the girl’s uncle and that she had called him because she was scared of her mother.
Emerson’s sister arrived and gained access into the apartment that Begay was refusing to let the officer’s in.
Emerson and the child, reportedly told Diaz that she (the child) had been thrown down by Begay and that she was yelling at her prior to their arrival.
Begay, according to Diaz, was “highly intoxicated” to the point that she was not even sure where her 8-year-old daughter was, telling officers that she was with her upstairs neighbor. Begay was arrested for child abandonment and for an outstanding warrant.
According to the supplemental report, filed by Officer Charles Steele, Emerson was also taken into custody due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Statewide Central Intake was called and other family members arrived at the apartment. Officers released the child to the custody of Leander Yazzie, 30, of Gallup.
“On a previous incident, which I handled involving Valcita for being intoxicated with [her child], I released [the child] to go with Leander. Same decision was made tonight,” Steele said in his report.