As of Aug. 18, Española animal control officer Evaristo Lopez wasn’t facing any charges for allegedly pushing one of his two 17-year-old girlfriend July 24 after she caught him at another girlfriend’s home showing off a dead bear.
Lopez, 48, was originally charged with misdemeanor assault against a household member and battery on a household member and felony child abuse. The child abuse was for the sexual relationship Lopez was allegedly having with the younger girlfriend.
Assistant District Attorney Tim Hasson said because the sexual relationship is not illegal — the age of consent in this case is 16 — he dismissed the child abuse charge. With the felony dismissed, the other two charges were dismissed and need to be refiled as a misdemeanor case, he said.
Although an online court database states the charges were dismissed July 27, the same day they were filed, Lopez was released from jail only after bond was posted, not because of a dismissal, and no dismissal form appeared in the court file in early August. There is also no record in the court database that the bond was ever released to Lopez’s family as is typical for a dismissal.
Española Police Sgt. Christian Lopez said new charges will be filed against Lopez after he forwards the results of his investigation to the District Attorney’s office.
Meanwhile, Lopez made a report Aug. 16 that someone stole a chain saw from his property.
Rio Arriba County Sheriff J.B. Turner said Lopez initially blamed his nephew for removing the machine from his property, but after both he and Turner questioned the nephew, Lopez was satisfied he didn’t steal it.
Turner said while he was taking the larceny report Lopez brought up the subject of his bear fiasco. That is the story of how the same day Lopez was arrested, he bought a dead bear that had been accidentally killed by a state Game and Fish officer, who was trying to remove it from an Española property.
“He showed me his receipt for (the bear),” Turner said. “He goes, ‘Look, it’s mine, I can ride it around whenever I want.’”