An Española man was charged with felon in possession of a firearm after Española police found a gun in the car he was in, after being called to arrest the driver on a warrant.
New Mexico State Police Officer Jerome Martinez wrote in a criminal complaint for Matthew Martinez’s arrest that he was dispatched to the Santa Claran Casino on June 9 to help the tribal police with a man who had an active arrest warrant. When he got there, another State Police officer was already at the scene, talking to the driver.
“While conducting a visual inspection of the vehicle from the outside, I observed a firearm in plain view partially tucked underneath the front passenger seat,” he wrote. “I immediately notified Officer Green of the firearm.”
The other officer questioned the driver, who denied it belonged to him, but said there was another man in the car with him, he wrote.
Shortly afterward, Santa Clara Tribal Police marched out Matthew Martinez, 47, he wrote.
“When questioned about where he was sitting, Matthew confirmed he had been seated in the front passenger seat, the same location where the firearm was discovered,” Jerome Martinez wrote. “I informed Matthew that it was known he is a convicted felon and, therefore, prohibited from possessing firearms.”
The gun was loaded, with a full magazine, and on the front passenger seat was a police scanner labeled “GOAT” in red, “a known street name or moniker used by Matthew in association with his gang affiliation,” he wrote.
Santa Clara police then told Jerome Martinez that they reviewed the surveillance footage, which showed Matthew Martinez getting out of the front passenger seat and “just prior to doing so, stuffing an object underneath the seat,” the same place the gun was found, he wrote.
While Matthew Martinez was being searched prior to being put in a patrol car and after being arrested, another officer found what they believed to be heroin and a separate amount of suspected methamphetamine, he wrote.
He was charged with felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo released him on his personal recognizance and ordered him to report to pretrial services, which then asked for a hearing over his alleged non-compliance with the conditions of his release, a report that was never scanned into the court record.
Matthew Martinez then allegedly failed to appear for the conditions of release hearing, resulting in a bench warrant on July 2. He surrendered to the court the same day.
Pretrial services filed another violation report on July 9, alleging that he never reported for an intake session, resulting in a July 23 hearing that he didn’t attend, surrendering on July 25 after a bench warrant was issued.
Hearings on the conditions of his release and a status conference are set for Aug. 20.
He previously pleaded guilty in 2012 to receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance, both felonies. In 2010, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and in 2001, he was convicted of burglary.