Española police charged an Española man with non-residential burglary after he was reported to be squatting in an empty model trailer at the Española Mobile Homes lot on North Riverside Drive.
Officer Marcos Gallegos arrested and charged Gabriel Vigil, 38, with an address listed on El Llano Road, with a single count of non-residential burglary, a fourth-degree felony, on Oct. 17.
In a statement of probable cause, Gallegos wrote that he was sent to the mobile home dealership for a person who was trespassing. When he got there, Vigil was pointed out, handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol car. Raimundo Dominguez told Gallegos that an employee called him early in the morning and told him there was a man inside one of the trailers and he was refusing to leave.
Dominguez then went to the dealership and into the trailer and told Vigil to leave, but he refused. Then he told Vigil he had already called police and still, Vigil refused to leave. Then Dominguez “grabbed the (sic) Mr. Vigil to remove him but both were pushing each other until finally Mr. Vigil left,” Gallegos wrote
Dominguez then walked Vigil to the exit, where he met with Gallegos. Dominguez interpreted for one of his Spanish-speaking employees, who, according to his translation, told Gallegos the same story he had, Gallegos wrote.
Vigil waived his Miranda rights, including his right to remain silent and said that he saw there was an opening in the fence and he needed a place to “crash out.” The trailer was unlocked so he went inside, the officer wrote.
“I asked Mr. Vigil why he did not leave right away,” Gallegos wrote. “Mr. Vigil stated, he was leaving when they told him to but he was grabbing his stuff.”
Gallegos then charged Vigil for non-residential burglary. Dominguez faced no charges for laying hands on Vigil.
According to state law, commercial burglary requires two elements: The first is the unauthorized entry into a building, often also considered trespassing. The second is the “intent to commit any felony or theft.”
Gallegos wrote that he arrested Vigil because he got onto the property and into the model home. Nothing in Gallegos’s statement of probable cause indicates what basis supports the burglary charge, specifically, the “intent to commit any felony or theft.” All Gallegos wrote was that Vigil went onto the property and got into the trailer.
In a criminal complaint, Gallegos only wrote that he was dispatched to the location in reference to a person in a model trailer.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo released Vigil on his own recognizance on Oct. 20, after determining there was probable cause for the charge, based on Gallegos’s statement of probable cause.
A status conference is set for Nov. 19.