A day after the FBI offered $5,000 for information on the whereabouts of a former Ohkay Owingeh and Pojoaque tribal police officer wanted for absconding from his pretrial release, they arrested him in Ohkay Owingeh.
Justin Aguino is facing a trial on federal charges of obstruction of justice and false statements less than a month after he was arrested after absconding in 2024.
According to court documents, Aguino stopped communicating with his pretrial services officer in August 2024, after the officer tried to talk to him about an Isleta Tribal Court warrant for failure to appear for a child support hearing.
Aguino was arrested on Nov. 26 and was ordered held without bail on Monday (12/1). The judge also set a jury selection hearing for Dec. 18.
While his case is set for trial later this month, his attorney filed to have herself removed from the case while he was on the lam and a new attorney was appointed.
According to the arrest warrant return, he was arrested on Nov. 26 by FBI Special Agent RaeAnn Jojola on the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. The warrant for his arrest was issued on Sept. 16, 2024.
According to the FBI’s press release, he was working as an officer with the Ohkay Owingeh Tribal Police in 2020 when he “impeded” a federal grand jury investigation “by disclosing information about an ongoing investigation being conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration to an individual outside of the investigation.”
Subsequently on May 24, 2022, when he was working for the Pojoaque tribal police department, FBI agents confronted him with the allegations.
“Aguino falsely stated that he had not disclosed information to anyone outside of the investigation,” the release said.
A year later, on June 13, 2023, a grand jury indicted him on the two charges.
Prosecutors asked for a hearing in March 2024 for Aguino to reject a proffered plea deal and to check that the deal had been given to him by his attorney, to prevent a later claim that he did not receive proper advice from his attorney, according to court documents.
Failure to
Communicate
Federal probation officer Joann Griego wrote in a petition for an arrest warrant that Aguino stopped communicating with her office on Aug. 26, 2024. Griego found the bench warrant out of Isleta Pueblo for his failure to appear for a child support hearing on Aug. 30. Trial had been set for November 2024.
“The undersigned officer has made several attempts in contacting the defendant to complete a home visit and to discuss the status of this warrant with the defendant,” Griego wrote. “The defendant’s phone appears to not be in service, and he has failed to remain in communication with this officer.”
Less than a month after the warrant for his arrest was issued, both sides submitted their voir dire proposals (questions a judge asks prospective jurors), followed by proposed jury instruction, as the case was moving toward a trial.
Aguino’s attorney, Britany Schaffer filed a motion on June 10, which was later granted, to remove herself as his attorney. She wrote that he stopped talking to her around the same time he stopped responding to calls from Griego and subsequently, she took a job out of state.