Top Stories of 2021

In the last 12 months, the News-Bulletin has chronicled the ups and downs of Valencia County. This year was marked by many significant events in Valencia County — fires and flooding, murders and convictions, political controversy and accusations and much more.

We dug through the archives to come up with the top stories for 2021.

Los Lunas Board of Education permanently suspended

Shortly after Los Lunas Schools released students for their summer break on May 26, the New Mexico Public Education Department notified the five-member Los Lunas School Board — Eloy Giron, Frank Otero, Steven Otero, Bryan Smith and P. David Vickers — of their indefinite suspension.

Among other reasons, PED said the suspension was due to “credible evidence certain board members have persistently violated procurement and public access laws, the state Public School Code, and professional ethical standards.”

#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 20%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Prior to the board suspension, New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colón sent a letter to the board addressing “significant concerns” he had regarding the board’s annual audit which found violations of the Open Meetings Act, state and district procurement code, Inspection of Public Records act and the Governmental Conduct Act.

At the end of July, the education department held its first public hearings for the suspended board. After two days of the hearing over two months, the suspension of the board became permanent.

In the meantime, five Valencia County residents were appointed by the department to conduct the business of the Los Lunas Schools — Sonya C’Moya, Tina Garcia, Ragon Espinoza, Jessie Lewis and Bruce Bennett.

In mid-September, former Los Lunas Schools superintendent Dana Sanders settled her lawsuit against the suspended board for $600,000 in lost wages and other damages.

Sanders originally filed the lawsuit in November 2020, alleging Smith, Giron and Steven Otero — each named directly in the lawsuit — engaged in improper employment practices and retaliation against the former superintendent for her refusal to use her position to fulfill certain members’ “personal desires and/or vendettas” against district employees.

Following the 2021 local elections, Bruce Bennett was elected to a District 5 spot on the board, formerly held by Steven Otero, and Vickers was reelected to his District 3 position. They will be sworn in on Jan. 4.

(Page 1/10; story continues on next page)

Belen floods — again

Monsoon season once again ravaged the Hub City as between 2.95 and 3.2 inches of rain fell in a matter of two hours the night of Tuesday, July 6, causing flooding throughout Belen.

The excessive amount of rain that poured down in such a short amount of time caused a breach of the Highline Canal at Delgado Avenue, sending water into Belen and damaging roads, residents and businesses.

The downpour began around 8:40 p.m., and as the storm continued, emergency services such as police and fire personnel were out, blocking roads where there were significant water flows. There were reports of several stalled vehicles on roadways, causing crews to rescue people from their vehicles.

At about 9:30 p.m., July 6, the city received reports that the Highline Canal at Delgado Avenue (near Belen High School) had been breached, sending tons of water into the city.

A new breach was discovered Wednesday morning along the New Belen Ditch on Mesa Road, about a quarter mile from the city’s northern boundary in the county. This contributed to continuing water flows in the areas of Impala and Aragon.

On Wednesday, many businesses and public facilities, such as the Belen Municipal Court and Magistrate Court were closed due to the flood.

The New Belen Ditch, which runs along Mesa Road, was topped but not breached. The overflow into Our Lady of Belen Memorial Gardens cemetery caused extensive damage to grave sites and toppled markers.

The city has been planning for flood mitigation since flooding in 2017. It received $1.7 million in 2019 from state capital outlay funding, and another grant from Homeland Security for restoration of a pond. There are also plans for a needed pond on Aragon Road, which historically has problems during the monsoon season.

After years of discussion, representatives from several local agencies met in October to begin plans to create a flood authority.

CEO and chief engineer for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District Mike Hamman advised two things be done to prepare for forming a flood authority — create a flood master plan and do a rate study to determine the minimum amount of taxation needed to build and maintain flood control infrastructure.

Hamman estimated the cost of the two studies would be about $1.5 million. A flood control agency is created by the New Mexico Legislature and typically requires a plan as well as a defined area for taxation to support infrastructure.

(Page 2/10; story continues on next page)

Super 8 shutdown

A problem hotel property in Belen was closed down after it was deemed a nuisance by city fire and police officials. What began as a routine inspection by the fire marshal led to the discovery of more than 100 violations and the shuttering of the Super 8 Hotel.

Charles Cox, the deputy chief of operations with the Belen Fire Department, said there were multiple electrical problems at the hotel, but instead of addressing them, the hotel staff has made things worse. For example, they ran extension cords through the walls for lights in several rooms.

Major violations found by the department ranged from multiple exposed wires, and the sprinkler and fire alarms systems hadn’t been tested in more than two years, the building’s fire extinguishers were out of service and the majority of smoke detectors were missing, damaged or disabled, making fire protection nearly nonexistent in the hotel. The fire doors were also damaged and altered.

Belen Police Chief James Harris called the hotel “a den of criminal activity,” noting in addition to drug activity and prostitution the department recovered stolen property and vehicles there.

(Page 3/10; story continues on next page)

Joe’s Pharmacy closes after opioid miscount

Peralta staple, Joe’s Pharmacy, ceased filling prescriptions in June 2021 after the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy accepted the surrender of its pharmacy licenses in a settlement agreement.

After a 2018 federal Drug Enforcement Agency investigation, the board found pharmacy owner Leon Otero and pharmacist-in-charge Shirley Jojola accountable for “substantial deficiencies” in the pharmacy’s operations, including more than 20,000 unaccounted for doses of various opioids.

As part of the settlement, Jojola agreed to transfer her pharmacist-in-charge duties to another properly licensed and qualified pharmacist when the board accepted the agreement on May 25.

Jojola is never allowed to work as pharmacist-in-charge again or consulting pharmacist in the state, and will serve a five-year probationary period on her pharmacist’s license.

While the pharmacy portion of the business remains shutters, the front portion of the store stayed in-operation.

(Page 4/10; story continues on next page)

Remains of Rita Jaramillo found; ex-boyfriend pleads

The family of a missing El Cerro woman was finally able to put their loved one to rest after the man who killed her led law enforcement officers to her remains.

Arthur Lovato, 61, led New Mexico State Police agents to an area near Interstate 25 and U.S. 60 in Socorro County, on Oct. 26, where they located the remains of Rita Jaramillo, 49, of El Cerro, who was last heard from in September 2018.

Lovato agreed to take law enforcement officers to the location of Jaramillo’s body in exchange for a plea agreement. On Oct. 26, Lovato entered a guilty plea to a voluntary manslaughter charge.

The plea agreement calls for a sentence of six years, with Lovato receiving credit for the time he’s been in custody at the Valencia County Detention Center since May 2019.

The remainder of the sentence is to be suspended, and Lovato won’t serve any probationary time, according to the plea agreement, so long as he led officers to the location of Jaramillo and the remains were positively identified as her.

At a Dec. 22 sentencing hearing, District Court Judge Cindy Mercer released Lovato from custody. The plea agreement with the district attorney’s office allowed Lovato to go free after he led law enforcement to Jaramillo’s body.

(Page 5/10; story continues on next page)

Cemetery Fire

A fire that burned more than 300 acres of bosque in southern Valencia County kept county, state and federal fire agencies up around the clock in early June.

The Cemetery Fire — so called for a pet cemetery near the fire’s origin — started shortly after noon on Saturday, June 12, on the east side of the Rio Grande just north of N.M. 346, then jumped to the west side.

Winds picked up that evening adding to the difficulty of getting the fire under control. While the fire devastated about 319 acres of wildland habitat, no homes were lost to the blaze despite being in close proximity to residential areas.

After an extensive investigation, the origin and cause report on the Cemetery Fire concluded the fire was human caused, but due to the lack of evidence at the scene and conflicting hypothesis, the precise cause was undetermined.

(Page 6/10; story continues on next page)

Joseph Hobbs

An act of random violence ended the life of an 11-year-old boy on March 6, leaving a community grieving.

Joseph Hobbs was shot and killed at a Monterey Park home he was visiting with his mother, Reva Armijo, and brother, Joshua, that Saturday.

Three suspects were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting — Alexandria Tabora, 40; her son, Santos Mateo Garcia, 21; and Erik Carrillo-Garcia, 24.

On Thursday, March 18, all three suspects were each indicted by a Valencia County grand jury on one count of first-degree murder.

Tabora was also indicted on aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Garcia is also facing two counts of aggravated assault and one of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. The grand jury also indicted Carillo-Garcia on charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a felon.

According to the criminal complaint, on the morning of Saturday, March 6, the three suspects, along with another boy, went to the house on Carmel Drive in Monterey Park.

The boy knocked on the door and told the man living there Tabora wanted to talk to him. Later that day, the man saw the same car driving slowly in front of his property then stop at his gate.

The man told investigators Tabora was driving, while Carrillo-Garcia was in the front passenger seat and Garcia was sitting behind him.

When he approached the car and looked inside, Garcia said, “What are you looking at, you son of a bitch?”

The man told detectives he walked away, then heard gun shots and bullets go by his head.

He told deputies he knew Garcia and Carrillo-Garcia were shooting but did not explain how he knew that, the criminal complaint says.

“… when the shooting stopped, he noticed a child on the ground with his mother (Reva Kathleen Armijo) holding him,” the complaint says.

(Page 7/10; story continues on next page)

Triple murder decision

A district court judge accepted plea agreements from three defendants charged in a 2019 triple homicide at an El Cerro home.

On Dec. 15, Brandon Dowdy, Robert Wilson and Anthony Williams, who were 18, 19 and 17, respectively, at the time of the crime, accepted pleas which resulted in sentences with little to no incarceration beyond what they have already served. All three were in custody after being charged in the killings of Darrin Bernal, Nathan Morrison and Joseph Santiago in April 2019.

The three teens were charged with three counts of first-degree murder each in 2019, but 13th Judicial District Attorney Barbara Romo says the case “is another example of incorrect or over charging by a prosecutor who is no longer with the office.” Romo was not the district attorney when the charges were filed.

The plea offered to Dowdy and Wilson were three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The two pleaded guilty to all three counts.

Each count carried a sentence of 18 months for a total of 4 1/2 years, which was suspended. The agreement gave Dowdy and Wilson, both now 21 years old, credit for time served — two years and 10 months — that counts toward the 4 1/2 years of post-incarceration probation. A suspended sentence is a term of imprisonment convicted criminal defendants do not have to serve provided they abide by all terms of their probation.

Williams, now 20, was identified by multiple witnesses as the person who fired the fatal shots. He entered a plea of no contest on three counts of voluntary manslaughter.

Under the law, since he was a juvenile at the time of the crime, Williams can only be confined until he is 21 years old, a benchmark he will hit in 4 1/2 months.

More than half a dozen family members of the three dead men spoke during the sentencing, pleading with Mercer to not accept the pleas, for Williams specifically.

As she looked at the three defendants, Rosanna Martinez, Nathan Morrison’s mother, said she saw no remorse.

“So I can’t forgive you at this time,” Martinez said. “My nights are long without my son, but my mornings are longer, knowing I have to begin my day without him.”

(Page 8/10; story continues on next page)

LLHS Tigers football team wins state championship

The Los Lunas High School Tigers football team made history this year, capturing their first ever state championship. The Tigers are the 2021 5A State Champions after defeating the Artesia Bulldogs by a final score of 40-28 at Willie Chavez Field in Los Lunas.

The Tigers end the 2021 season undefeated, 13-0.

“Couldn’t be anymore proud of them,” Los Lunas head coach Greg Henington said after the game. “It feels amazing.”

Los Lunas quarterback Paul Cieremans ran for three touchdowns and passed for another, while running back Karlos Cieremans ran for two touchdowns to lead the Tigers to victory.

“This is surreal,” Paul Cieremans said after the game. “This is the greatest feeling in my life, so far. This team played hard for four quarters, and it’s just unreal right now.”

(Page 9/10; story continues on next page)

Villalobos sentenced for 2014 Madrid murder

A murder case that seemed to never want to end finally reached its conclusion this spring, when a judge sentenced Brandon Villalobos, 22, to 15 years for the 2014 beating death of 12-year-old Alex Madrid.

Villalobos was 15 at the time of the murder and said Alex was his best friend.

In February 2020, a jury found Villalobos guilty of second-degree murder and guilty of tampering with evidence.

In May, 13th Judicial District Court Judge James Lawrence Sanchez sentenced Villalobos to 15 years in prison for the second-degree conviction, and three years for the tampering with evidence conviction, with the sentences to run consecutively, for a total of 18 years. The total time Villalobos will serve was reduced by the 2,628 days — 7.2 years — he already served before being sentenced.

On the night of Feb. 16, 2014, Madrid and Villalobos, left the Villalobos home on De Colores in Meadow Lake to go for a walk. According to statements by Villalobos, the two were heading to an abandoned mobile home near the Meadow Lake Community Center to vandalize it.

Villalobos initially told detectives while at the mobile home, three men jumped them, one of whom had a gun. Villalobos said he struck one of the men twice with a crowbar he was carrying and the two boys ran. Villalobos said he looked back but didn’t see his friend.

When he returned home that night, Villalobos told his mother, Loretta, what had allegedly occurred. That story was repeated to Madrid’s aunt the next morning when she came looking for him, and to deputies from the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office when they responded to her call for a missing child.

Villalobos went with deputies to the abandoned mobile home, but they found no signs of a scuffle as described by him. When they confronted him, Villalobos led them to Madrid’s body, which was hidden beneath a discarded box spring in an empty field less than half a mile south of his home.

(Page 10/10)