Staff Reports

ALBUQUERQUE — A Los Lunas man who shot a New Mexico State Police officer during a high-speed chase was sentenced to nine years in federal prison on July 9 for illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to publicly available court records, on Feb. 11, 2022, New Mexico State Police Lt. Jeremy Vaughan was on duty at a gas station in Edgewood, New Mexico when he was dispatched to an area where a woman reportedly needed help.

As Vaughan approached a vehicle Caleb Elledge was in, 26-year-old Elledge fled, ramming the officer’s vehicle.

A pursuit ensued, ending when Vaughan performed a pursuit intervention technique. Elledge then fired at Vaughan...

A man from Yatahey with previous drug charges is facing more jail time after he was caught by police with a gun and fentanyl.

On July 3, around 2:45 pm, Gallup Police Officer Gilbert Gonzales was near the Golden Corral at 510 N. 11th St. after he received a report that a man and a woman were fighting in the area.  But instead of finding a man and woman fighting, he found two men smoking fentanyl on the side of the building. One of the men was Donald Crain.

Gonzales noticed that the men had some aluminum foil, which is used to smoke fentanyl. When the officer stepped out of the vehicle Crain, 28, tried to put the foil in his pockets. Gonzales told him to take his hands out of his...

A Thoreau man is facing multiple charges after he damaged a woman’s property and physically threatened her.

On July 5, around 5:45 pm, Gallup Police Officer Paul Davis Jr. was dispatched to the 100 block of Windsong Avenue in Thoreau after a man named Bryan Halwood damaged a house’s window and front door.

When Davis arrived at the scene, he noticed a broken window and a damaged front door. According to his report, he found a small metal object that he believed had been thrown through the window. There was also a scooter outside of the house, and a concrete block. Davis noted that the block was used against the door and allegedly led to the damage there.

The woman who owned the...

A Gallup man has been charged with alleged child abuse of two teenagers.

On June 29, around 3:30 pm, Gallup Police Officer Maurie Rangel was dispatched to the Hillcrest Trailer Park after a woman reported that Robby Yazza had hit his two kids.

When Rangel arrived at the residence he met with the two victims, a teenage boy and girl.

The young man said that Yazza, 44, had begun to argue with him because he believed he was on drugs. The teenager said that he’d never done drugs in his life, and that he was caught off guard by Yazza’s accusation.

The victim said Yazza got into his face and told him to leave and never come back. At some point during the heated argument, Yazza began...