The woman initially charged with harboring a felon, after she was spotted driving around with a man wanted on a warrant, at the time for murder, took a plea deal for a misdemeanor.
Leticia Doherty, also known as Leticia Atencio, 42, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in January, receiving 182 days of probation and 20 hours of community service. That plea was a step down from the charge she initially faced of harboring a felon.
Rio Arriba Deputy Nicholas Diaz wrote in court documents that a criminal informant told them Lucas Gomez-Lopez, also known as Pajaro, had been using Doherty’s red Toyota Camry. When he spotted her driving on Nov. 2, 2024, he followed her, questioned, then arrested her for harboring a felon.
“Leticia told me that the day Lucas killed that man, it was because she asked Lucas to go with her to that house in Chimayo,” Diaz wrote. “Leticia told me that Lucas was just a friend of hers that she used as a middle man to get her drugs. She told me that Lucas knew a lot of people and knew how to get her what she wanted, that’s how she came across him.”
She told Diaz that she felt guilty after the shooting and let Gomez-Lopez use her car, she would lend him money, do whatever he needed.
“Leticia told me she saw a different man, and that she saw the good in Lucas, which is why she agreed to help him at times,” Diaz wrote.
While Gomez-Lopez was initially charged with murder for fatally shooting a man in Cuarteles in August 2024, prosecutors dropped the charge down to shooting at a vehicle resulting in death in exchange for him waiving a preliminary hearing.
If convicted, Gomez-Lopez, 36, would face a maximum of 15 years, the same penalty as second degree murder. He is being held without bail following a dangerousness hearing.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office investigators accused Gomez-Lopez, a Mexican national, of shooting Marcelino Herrera, 41, in Cuarteles on Aug. 18.
In court documents, some witnesses outlined what appeared to be a case of self defense, telling investigators that the pair was involved in some kind of conflict following a drug deal and one witness told investigators that Herrera put a gun in his back pocket, got in his truck and drove toward Gomez-Lopez, Detective Orlando Lopez wrote in court documents.
Doherty was additionally charged with tampering with evidence for hiding the vehicle involved in the shooting, a charge prosecutors dropped.
Arthur Quintana, 46, of Española, was charged with tampering with evidence for throwing Herrera’s gun into the bushes following the shooting and before medics arrived. Prosecutors dismissed that case.
Managing Editor Jennifer Garcia contributed to this story.