New Mexico State Police officers charged a 48-year-old Chimayó man for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and resisting arrest after he allegedly drove his 15-year-old girlfriend away from her juvenile probation hearing and then stalled police who believed that she was in his house.
State Police Officer Nathaniel Garcia arrested Clarence Diaz on April 3, after a juvenile probation officer called dispatchers to say they were getting an arrest warrant for the juvenile following the hearing.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo released Diaz on his own recognizance the day following his arrest and a status hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. May 7.
Garcia wrote in a criminal complaint for Diaz’s arrest that everything started when Juvenile Probation Officer Martha Fernandez called dispatchers to ask for an officer to arrest a 15-year-old girl, identified as C.M., who had just left their office.
The girl’s father, Christopher Martinez, told Garcia that Diaz drove the girl to the juvenile probation office and after the hearing, the girl ran out of the office and to Diaz’s car, yelling, “Go, go, go,” around 11 a.m.
By 2:48 p.m., Fernandez called Garcia and told him the judge signed the warrant for the girl’s arrest, so he went to Diaz’s house in Chimayó, sounded his airhorn and announced himself over his speakers.
Four minutes later, Diaz came out of the house. He knew Diaz was dating the girl from previous interactions, Garcia wrote.
The officer wrote he repeatedly asked Diaz who he was talking to in the house and the man claimed the TV was on and that he was talking to the dog, and also claimed to not know where the girl was.
When asked where the girl was because he was seen driving to and from court, he allegedly said he loaned his car out.
After lots of back-and-forth, Diaz said the girl was probably inside the house. At that point, Garcia arrested Diaz. By then, Diaz’s mother, the owner of the house, arrived and gave officers consent to go in.
They found the 15-year-old girl hiding behind a TV stand in a back room. Garcia arrested the girl.
At the State Police office, he called the prosecutor on call, who told him he has enough probable cause to charge Diaz with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for allegedly “delaying the investigation and preventing officers from promptly ensuring her safety” and that he “facilitated her escape” after the court hearing.