A homeless man faces two counts of arson for allegedly setting fires around Gallup earlier this month.

Leo Ray Vermillion, 49, was arrested June 20 for setting a car and two abandoned buildings ablaze. He was charged with one count of improper handling of fire, and arson over $500, but not more than $2,500. Gallup Police Department Det. John Yearly led the investigation.

According to the arrest warrant, Yearly responded to the first fire at 502 S. Second St., near the old post office June 17, where fire and police officials initially suspected, based on evidence, that the fire was deliberately set.

Two days later, on June 20, Yearly responded to the scene of an abandoned white...

NOT YOUR CAR

6/22, Gallup

As McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Inv. Anthony Ashley was driving by Conoco gas station, 2654 E. Highway 66, he noted an employee “who was frantically waving” him down and pointing to a white passenger car.

Ashley immediately pulled up behind the vehicle and flashed his emergency lights. The vehicle, driven by Frederick Butler of Thoreau, N.M., took off from the scene at a high rate of speed.

Butler, 32, weaved recklessly and dangerously as he headed east on State Highway 118, almost striking another vehicle before he slid sideways into a ditch, rolling the car one time at the intersection of Highway 118 and County Road 5.

“I ran to the vehicle...

A Red Rock, N.M. man remains incarcerated at McKinley County Adult Detention Center as of June 29, on charges of armed robbery, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, and two counts of false imprisonment.

Jason Farnham allegedly walked into Allsup’s at 1:24 am on June 24, and pointed a handgun at an employee and demanded money. He demanded that no one leave the store while he collected the cash.

Farnham, 27, who was donning mostly black attire, made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. According to Gallup Police Department Officer Andrew Thayer’s police report, one of the workers recalled feeling “nervous” about Farnham’s appearance, and began to hide cash from...

Jasamine Begay

6/22/17, 2:02 am

3rd DWI, aggravated

Gallup Police Department officer Luke Martin was dispatched to the Shalimar on June 22, in regard to an intoxicated female passed out in her vehicle with the engine running.

After knocking repeatedly on the window to wake up the driver, Officer Martin was finally able to rouse the driver, who appeared startled and confused. When the driver finally sat up, she looked at the officer and then placed the vehicle in reverse, running over a curb.

She then drove forward and entered Historic Highway 66 at a high rate of speed going east. She did have her parking lights on but not her headlights. Officer Martin activated his emergency...