A Chimayó man who had admitted burning down an Española business pleaded guilty July 17 to one count of arson and had the other charges against him dismissed.
Charges of conspiracy and tampering with evidence against Johnathon Ortiz, 19, were dismissed as part of the plea deal he entered into in state District Court in Santa Fe. The charges were related to an Aug. 19, 2008, incident in which Ortiz and Raymond Lopez allegedly burnt down Box Pack Mail shipping and gift store located off of Fairview Lane, then bragged to friends about it.
There was no agreement as to sentencing included in the deal and no hearing on that matter has been set, Assistant District Attorney Tim Hasson said. Under state law, Ortiz could receive up to 9 years in jail for the second-degree felony.
Lopez, 28, of Peñasco, is scheduled to stand trial in December on the same charges Ortiz originally faced. Ortiz will testify against Lopez as part of his plea arrangement, Hasson said.
Española Police Sgt. Rick Martinez first received information from someone who heard second-hand that Ortiz was bragging about setting the fire, which broke out around 1 a.m. The informant eventually agreed to meet with Sgt. Christian Lopez, and told him hat Ortiz said he broke a window to the business, threw gas inside and lit the fire.
Sgt. Lopez went to Ortiz’s family’s house and had them wake him up, as he was sleeping. Ortiz admitted to police he was present during the arson, saying it was his friend Raymond Lopez’s idea. Ortiz said Raymond Lopez used an unknown object to break the window and used a water bottle to throw gas inside. Ortiz admitted he was the one to actually light the fire.
Sgt. Lopez originally said the suspect in the Box Pack Mail fire was believed to have been responsible for two other fires, one at Rancho de Chimayó July 11, 2008, and a barn fire Aug. 15, 2008, in Brazos. However, no one has ever been charged in connection with those incidents.
Ortiz was later examined by a psychologist to assess whether he was competent to stand trial, according to statements made in court. At the plea hearing, Ortiz’s lawyer Tom Clark said he suffers from anxiety and is taking antidepressants.
Ortiz has been out of jail on electronic monitoring since January, but was released from electronic monitoring July 17 on the condition that he continue taking his medication and continue visiting a counselor.
“I just felt like he was guilty all along,” Box Pack Mail owner Art Pruett said Tuesday. “Pleading guilty didn’t change anything as far as I’m concerned. I still feel the same way towards him, which is pretty rotten.”
Box Pack Mail co-owner Carole Pruett said that because restitution will be part of Ortiz’s sentencing agreement, she understands it might not be in her and her husband’s best interest for Ortiz to serve a long prison sentence. After the store’s original building in a Fairview Lane strip mall was burned to the ground, the Pruetts moved the business to a warehouse on Riverview Lane off Railroad Avenue.
“We’ve built up the business over 20 years and it was taken away from us,” Carole Pruett said. “Our customers, our business, the regularity of our business has been totally stopped and interrupted and there’s only an extent to which you can get it back.”