A vehicle parked in a handicapped spot at the Ohkay Casino despite not having a handicap placard caught the attention of an Ohkay Owingeh Police officer and resulted in a Hernandez man’s arrest on May 25.
Daniel Martinez, 40, of Hernandez faces one count of trafficking (by possession with intent to distribute) and one count of possession of a controlled substance after the 2013 gray Buick LaCrosse he was driving caught the attention of Ohkay Owingeh Police Officer Aguino. The officer said Martinez walked up to the parked vehicle and said it was his. Aguino was going to issue a traffic citation, so he asked Martinez for identification. When his information was run, dispatch said he had an active warrant out of Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court for his arrest.
Because Martinez had an active warrant and was not a tribal member, Aguino requested assistance and Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Diaz responded. When he arrived, he recognized Martinez and confirmed the warrant with dispatch. Once the warrant was confirmed, Diaz handcuffed Martinez with his handcuffs and requested a tow truck for the Buick, the deputy wrote in his criminal complaint against Martinez. He also searched Martinez and found a wallet with $1,350 in it, in denominations of $20, $50 and $100 bills.
Diaz put Martinez in the back of his patrol vehicle and rolled down the windows, but before he could start the tow inventory on the Buick, the man flagged him down and admitted there was dope in the car, the deputy wrote.
“I asked Daniel if he gave me consent to search for it, and he willingly consented to the search of his vehicle,” Diaz wrote. “Due to the windows being rolled down, Daniel could revoke his consent at any point by shouting for us to stop. Daniel even told me what the ‘dope’ was without me asking and told me where it was located.”
After being read the Miranda Warning by Diaz, Martinez agreed to speak with him and admitted to having crack and heroin inside his green backpack, as well as two Kel-Tech guns in the backpack, the deputy wrote.
Aguino helped Diaz with the tow inventory and began taking bags out of the vehicle and searching them on the hood of the car. He found several items of drug paraphernalia such as butane torch lighters, small pipes to inhale drugs and aluminum foil that was cut into small pieces. In the backpacks, the officer found several digital scales, two clear containers with what appeared to be crack cocaine and two loaded guns with magazines in them.
“Daniel told me the firearms originally belonged to his deceased girlfriend, but told me he was the new owner of them,” Diaz wrote.
The deputy checked to make sure Martinez didn’t have any felony convictions within the last 10 years, which would have made him a felon in a possession of a firearm and would likely have resulted in additional charges. Despite having several guilty convictions, none of them were felony cases, Diaz wrote.
The items were collected and tagged into evidence, the Buick was towed and Martinez was taken to the hospital for a medical clearance so he could be booked into jail. However, because of a medical issue, clearance was not granted and instead, Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Joseph Madrid was alerted and he released Martinez from custody on his own recognizance and instead ordered him to turn himself into the court within one week, Diaz wrote.
Diaz photographed all the evidence at the Sheriff’s Office and weighed and tested the suspected drugs.
“The white crystal-like substance weighed 9.3 grams, and tested presumptive positive for cocaine,” Diaz wrote. “The multi-color crystal-like substance weighed 10.7 grams, and tested presumptive positive for cocaine as well. A total of $1351.00 was collected and submitted into evidence, along with a black wallet containing several miscellaneous cards (EBT, ID, insurance). Two digital scales were collected and submitted that had a white powdery substance on their surface. An additional digital scale of a different type was collected and submitted into evidence.”
Previous case
Martinez was charged on April 17 with trafficking heroin and child abuse after searching his house for drugs, armed with a search warrant.
Once they started searching the house, they found a blender on Daniel Martinez’s dresser, “coated in what appeared to be a pink powdery substance” which was also seen on a tray on the dresser. Deputies also seized two .22-caliber pistols in a book bag on the floor in his bedroom and two bolt-action rifles, RASO Deputy Marcus Martinez wrote.
“Multiple cups were observed to have white powdery substances,” the deputy wrote. “I believe the substances would be used to mix/cut with narcotics for increased profit during transactions.”
They also found a bag of white Norco pills, a combination of the opiate hydrocodone and acetaminophen, weighing 95 grams, and a “baseball size bag” of drugs that later field tested as positive as an opioid, he wrote.
A day later, Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Joseph Madrid released him on his personal recognizance.
Wheeler Cowperthwaite contributed to this report.