New Mexico State Police officers arrested an Española man after running the license plates on a vehicle that came back as stolen.
State Police Agent Jonathan Sanchez wrote in a criminal complaint for Daniel Archuleta’s arrest that he was called in to handle the case on Oct. 3, after Sgt. E. Trujillo ran the plates of a Chevy SUV at State Road 76 and McCurdy Road, which came back as reported stolen through the Edgewood Police Department.
Trujillo turned around and followed the Chevy Traverse and it pulled into a residence, at which point agents and Trujillo “conducted a high-risk traffic stop,” meaning, they ordered the three car occupants out at gunpoint.
The driver, Archuleta, 47, told Sanchez that he picked up two people in La Mesilla and they were all headed to a scrapyard to sell scrap inside the car, Sanchez wrote.
When he asked how long Archuleta had the car, the man allegedly responded he got it earlier in the day from a friend in Chimayó. He did not know his “friend’s” name.
“Daniel said his friend told him he could use the car if he could start it,” Sanchez wrote.
The other two occupants said Archuleta picked them up from their house so they could sell scrap they had been collecting.
Sanchez charged Archuleta with receiving a stolen vehicle, a fourth degree felony, with a maximum sentence of 18 months.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo bound the case over to district court following a preliminary hearing on Oct. 15.
Archuleta is now wanted on a bench warrant in that case and another, after he allegedly failed to appear for his court hearings.
Burglary Case
In a separate case from January, a grand jury indicted Archuleta on one count each of aggravated burglary, larceny between $2,500 and $20,000, theft of a credit card, unlawful taking of a vehicle, criminal damage to property and three counts of larceny of a firearm.
He is also wanted on a warrant in that case, issued Oct. 24, for allegedly failing to comply with pre-trial services, as he never reported to them to have an ankle monitor installed, after he was released on house arrest.
Probation officers reviewed the notes from the hearing and found that they were supposed to contact his mother to verify his address before he was released, but that specification never made it into any documents, according to the violation report.
“(It) appears he was released from custody without verification of residence,” according to the report. “This information is also not indicated in the Order of Release prepared by Counsel.”
In that case, where a grand jury indicted him on Oct. 16, it started as a traffic stop for an unreadable plate, led to his arrest on a bench warrant and then, officers found the vehicle he was driving was registered to a medic they work with who told them he hadn’t reported it stolen because he didn’t know it had been taken, according to court documents.
When deputies went to the medic’s house, they found it had been broken into and multiple rifles were missing.