Prosecutors are seeking to have former North Central Solid Waste Trash Authority employee Peter Velarde held without bail after he was charged with allegedly attacking his ex-wife by ramming her car with his truck on Sept. 1.
Velarde, 39, of Hernandez, was implicated in his colleague’s death while driving a trash truck in 2022. He then filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the North Central Solid Waste Trash Authority in 2023, a case that is still pending.
In July, he was charged with stealing a man’s truck in Española — charges that prosecutors dropped citing the need for “further investigation.”
The petition to have Velarde held without bail pending trial, submitted by prosecutor Kent Wahlquist, doesn’t list specifics, except for the charges against Velarde. The reason prosecutors want him held is a boilerplate sentence in the motion:
“Based on the factors noted above, including the nature of this incident and the Defendant’s criminal history, it is clear that the Defendant will not comply with Court orders and will commit new offenses.”
Wahlquist filed the petition on Sept. 3.
Velarde is charged with battery against a household member, criminal damage to property and felon in possession of a firearm.
‘Instigating a Problem’
In a criminal complaint for Velarde’s arrest, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Diaz wrote that he was sent to County Road 140 for a report of a vehicle collision and allegations of threats with a firearm. The caller was Velarde’s ex-wife. Over the phone, while Diaz drove to the scene, she told him that her ex-husband rammed her vehicle multiple times and he had a gun.
She told Diaz that she was driving on County Road 140 after picking up her son and Velarde rear-ended her multiple times, he wrote.
“She further alleged, that afterwards, Peter pulled alongside her vehicle, shouted profanities, and continued to act aggressively,” Diaz wrote. “(She) stated that she did not pull into her driveway because she feared being trapped by Peter. (She) told me she remained on the line with Dispatch the entire time after he rammed her.”
She told Diaz that Velarde had also previously asked her to buy .380-caliber ammunition for him via Facebook messages and she believed that meant he was armed. During the incident, he stopped his truck, opened his door and reached under his seat, which she assumed to mean he was reaching for a gun, he wrote.
When Velarde realized the woman called 911, he drove to his mother’s house, a short distance away, he wrote.
Diaz ordered Velarde to the ground at gunpoint and arrested him. He initially agreed to a search and deputies found .380-caliber bullets. At some point, he revoked his consent for the search and they stopped. As deputies were on the scene, Velarde’s girlfriend, Melody Honyumptewa, approached and told them that she was with Velarde when the alleged rear-end collision happened, that Velarde was following too closely and “instigating a problem.” After she finished giving deputies her statement, they arrested her on two outstanding warrants and transported her to the Pojoaque police station, he wrote.
Diaz searched the property for an hour and found the loaded pistol in a wood pile near Velarde’s truck. Inside a backpack, they found drug paraphernalia and Velarde told them he is addicted to fentanyl and methamphetamine, that his ex-wife planted the gun and she rammed his truck.
The ex-wife told deputies that he brandished a gun at her ex brother-in-law at an auto parts store and rammed the gate on her property several months prior, an incident for which deputies took a report.
A hearing is set for Sept. 15 in Tierra Amarilla.
Dismissed case
In the dismissed case, Velarde was accused of taking a black Chevrolet Silverado from a home on Calle Chavez. He was found in Santa Fe after meeting up with the truck owner’s sister, who lured him there by saying that he had promised to take her on a date.
Prosecutor Karen Kingen Etcitty dismissed the case on Aug. 20, filling in the bubble on the dismissal form for “because further investigation is needed before proceeding to preliminary hearing.”
Whistleblower Lawsuit
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2023, Velarde alleged that he was fired for cooperating with federal investigators.
He was working a route on the trash truck with Alfred Trujillo, 47, Cordova, on Nov. 22, 2022.
Trujillo died at The University of New Mexico Hospital after his leg was run over by a vehicle while working his trash route in Dixon, although it’s unclear which vehicle ran over him.
Velarde was charged following the incident with tampering with evidence, after he allegedly deleted videos from his phone of the incident, and then that case was dismissed.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, fined the Authority $18,462, following Trujillo’s death.
OSHA’s investigation could not determine if Velarde ran over Trujillo when backing up or if another car ran over him. The case was closed on May 16, 2023, according to documents provided by OSHA.