Prosecutors dropped a charge of possession of a controlled substance against a Bayard man, Dec. 16, after he completed a treatment program.
New Mexico State Police officers charged Randy Medina, 48, on Feb. 12, 2025 after they arrested him on a warrant issued in his hometown.
He was initially charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and two traffic infractions.
He was bound over to District Court on a single drug possession charge after waiving a preliminary hearing on April 2.
According to the dismissal notice filed by prosecutor Verily Taylor, she dismissed the case because Medina “completed agreed upon drug treatment program.”
Aside from Verily’s nolle proseque dismissing the case, there are no court documents that reference an agreed-upon drug treatment program.
State Police Officer Isaiah Leyba, who arrested Medina, wrote in a criminal complaint that he and his field training officer ran the license plate of a car stopped at a light while in Española and the registered owner, Medina, came back as having a possible warrant. After confirming the warrant’s validity, they searched him and found several blue, oval pills in one pocket, which Leyba opined were fentanyl, along with a pipe with burnt residue, Leyba wrote.
The bench warrant for which Leyba initially arrested Medina, was for a traffic case where he could have paid $190 after agreeing to plead guilty.
The charges were no insurance, failure to register a vehicle and not using a turn signal, from December 2024. The judge in that case issued the bench warrant after Leyba failed to appear at a Feb. 10 arraignment, according to court records.