Prosecutors are asking a judge to hold an Alcalde man without bail after he allegedly attacked people trying to help a female friend move out of his house, then threatened them with a gun.
Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy John Greene charged David Casias, 42, with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of child abuse for allegedly making the gun threats in front of a child and one count of battery.
Greene wrote in a criminal complaint that he was sent on July 31 to a house on a private drive for reports of a man with no shirt on, who was brandishing a gun. He met with the victims at Dollar General.
Allen Vasquez and Andre Fernandez told Greene that they were helping a friend move when Casias started fighting with their friend, then went into his house, got a silver pistol, pointed it at them and told them to leave, he wrote.
When deputies arrested Casias at his house, he immediately started asking why he was being detained and not the other men, Greene wrote.
“Mr. Casias said he was jumped by a group of males and he fought them off,” Greene wrote. “Mr. Casias said he told the males to leave his property and then walked away from them.”
Gabriel Valerio told Greene he was helping his mom move out of Casias’ house and Casias asked the other two men if they wanted to fight. When they said no, Casias got in Valerio’s face and pushed him. He pushed Casias back, then Casias tried to punch him but missed, Greene wrote.
“Mr. Valerio stated Mr. Casias began fighting with him and punched him,” Greene wrote. “Mr. Valerio stated he grabbed Mr. Casias and they went down to the ground. Mr. Valerio stated he placed Mr. Casias in a headlock to stop him from fighting.”
Valerio told Greene that he then pushed Casias away, then Casias went into his house, got a gun, racked it and pointed it at them and his mother, the deputy wrote.
Past history
In a 76-page motion to have Casias held without bail that is mostly pages of court dockets and documents, prosecutor Kent Wahlquist wrote that Casias has a long and violent criminal history.
He was convicted for shooting a man in 2004, then repeatedly violated his probation, Wahlquist wrote.
He set fire to a person’s house along with a juvenile in 2006, and was convicted of criminal damage to property, Wahlquist wrote.
He went to the hospital for a cut on his arm after he punched through a window during an argument with his father in 2014.
While there, he got into an ambulance and started driving. He got out when ordered, but didn’t put it in park, so the ambulance rolled into a concrete wall, causing damage.
ºAfter being indicted, he pleaded down to attempt to commit unlawful taking of a vehicle, a misdemeanor, according to court documents.
While on probation in another case, he allegedly burglarized the Alcalde Post Office in 2019. That case wasn’t brought until 2022, but involved DNA tests. A safe was dragged out of the post office by a vehicle. Three months after New Mexico State Police investigators filed the case, Wahlquist dismissed it, citing further investigation. Charges were never refiled, according to court documents.
He allegedly got into an argument with his girlfriend and choked and punched her and prevented her from leaving in 2020. That case was eventually dismissed because the victim refused to cooperate, according to court documents.
He allegedly got into an argument with someone over a cement mixer, threatened to kill them, then pointed a gun at the man and his wife in 2023. He was bound over on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutor Stuart De Haan dismissed the case in May of this year because “the defendant has made restitution to the victim,” according to court documents.