A Santa Cruz man pleaded down to drug possession charges in a case where he, and four others, were initially charged with kidnapping, after allegedly luring a man to a house in Chimayó and torturing him over drugs.
Felix Lewis, 45, pleaded guilty on Sept. 23 to a single count of possession of a controlled substance. The victim had accused him of rape in addition to kidnapping. The case had been set for trial on Sept. 8.
Charges against the other four defendants were dropped on May 9 after prosecutors confirmed that the victim had died. Charges were dropped against Marcos Romero, 44, of Santa Fe; Maria Romero, 47, Chimayó; Joe Romero, 74, of Chimayó; and Miguel Romero, 40, of Chimayó.
“COMES NOW the State of New Mexico, by and through, Stuart De Haan, Assistant District Attorney, and enters a nolle prosequi in the above-numbered and styled cause, as the alleged victim is deceased and the State cannot proceed to trial,” according nolle prosequi in four of the five cases.
Lewis was the only person charged with rape in the case, after the victim told deputies who rescued him, that Lewis was the one who was responsible and raped him.
According to the plea agreement, Lewis received an 18-month sentence and received credit for time served. He had been held as a danger to the community since the incident on Feb. 26, 2024.
The drug charges appear to stem from Lewis trying to flush them down the toilet when deputies got to the house.
What happened?
Four of the five defendants, including Lewis, were initially arrested on Feb. 26, 2024, after the victim managed to call 911 and whisper that he needed help, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Martinez wrote in court documents.
Marcos Romero initially tried to block deputies from getting into the house. Then Joe and Maria Romero came to the door and said no one else was inside. Deputies heard the victim shout, “help me please,” Martinez wrote.
When they got inside the house, they found the victim, “brutally battered and covered in apparent blood.” He could barely stand, had golf ball-sized lumps on his entire face and cuts on his left eyebrow, while his eyes “were nearly swollen shut,” Martinez wrote.
As Lewis was being led out of the house in handcuffs, the victim yelled that Lewis was the one who did this to him and raped him. At the hospital, he told deputies he was lured to the house to trade vehicle parts for drugs, Martinez wrote.
Deputies shot Lewis with a stun gun as he was trying to flush the toilet. They saw blue pills, white powder and black tar in the toilet, he wrote.
In a March 27 motion to have the victim held in jail so he could be deposed, De Haan wrote that they became aware that he might be dead on March 24, after seeing a social media post, but they were not able to confirm it then with any of the area funeral homes or the Office of the Medical Investigator. A few weeks later, his death was confirmed.
The Office of the Medical Investigator denied having his autopsy report and it remains unclear where or how he died.