Our Mayor Thinks
We Can Stop Crime.
Should We Get Capes?
Volume 58, Number 3
Española, New Mexico 87532
Thursday, October 16, 2014
42 pages, 4 sections 50 cents
Española Listed as 'Most Dangerous City'
According to an online survey, the Valley
ranks highest in the state for violent crime
By Ardee Napolitano
SUN Staff Writer
Besides being the lowrider
capital of the world, Española
has earned a new title — most
dangerous city in New Mexico,
according to the most recent
available crime statistics by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
North Carolina-based home
security company, Home Security Shield, compiled an online
list of the most dangerous cities
in the state and published it Oct.
7. The compilation, which
ranked the top 10 most dangerous cities, based the determination on the number of violent
crimes per capita of each city,
as stated by the Bureau’s 2012
statistics.
Home Security Shield ranked
all New Mexican cities with a
population of more than 5,000,
to come up with the list.
Española, a city of a little
more than 10,000, experienced
270 cases of reported violent
crime in 2012, according to the
Bureau’s numbers. That boils
down to 26.14 incidents per
1,000 people.
Violent crime comprises
murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery
and aggravated assault, as defined by the Bureau. There are
an average 3.86 violent crime
incidents per 1,000 people in
the United States, the Bureau’s
website states.
Española Chief of Public
Safety Richard Gallegos, said
the high violent crime rate is
caused, in part, by the high
number of visitors from surrounding communities.
“I’ve been here for several
years,” he said. “First of all, we
don’t just deal with people from
the Valley. We have people
coming from rural communities. Statistics show, on our end,
persons of interest we’ve identified. I think that adds to our
numbers.”
Española snagged the list’s
top spot from second-place Gallup, which had 18.73 violent
crime incidents per 1,000 people in 2012. Gallup has a population of 22,300.
Neighboring Taos took fifth
place, with 9.79 incidents per
1,000 people and Albuquerque,
New Mexico’s largest city, took
See 'Española' on page A4
(SUNfoto by Wheeler Cowperthwaite)
Española Police Officer Eric Gallant delivers a short lecture Tuesday to three men and a woman about
their alleged heroin use. Gallant issued non-traffic citations for the possession of drug paraphernalia to
Jeffrey J. Atencio, 22, and Cynthia Campos-Escarcega, 21, after he pulled over the red Mustang in the
Rio Grande SUN parking lot.
Woman's Charges Will Not Be Dropped Jemez Co-op
Kayla Coriz will
face prosecution in
connection with
April rape
By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
and Barron Jones
SUN Staff Writers
The young woman accused of
helping her boyfriend and his
friend entrap and rape an
18-year-old Pojoaque woman at
a house off of McCurdy Road in
April will not have the charges
against her dismissed.
District Judge Mary Marlowe
Sommer denied Kayla Coriz’s
lawyer’s motion Oct. 8, to have
the charges against her dismissed because prosecutors allegedly broke the grand jury
rules and did not present all the
evidence that could prove she
did not commit the crimes of
which she is accused.
A grand jury indicted Coriz,
19, on June 4, on charges of
rape, kidnapping and conspiracy
to commit rape and conspiracy
to kidnap.
Coriz’s lawyer, Doug Couleur, said in court, the evidence
(SUNfoto by Wheeler Cowperthwaite)
Kayla Coriz prepares to leave the courtroom Oct. 8, after the judge
denied a motion, by her lawyer Doug Couleur (left), to have the
charges against her dismissed. A grand jury indicted her on charges
of first-degree rape, kidnapping and conspiracy to rape and kidnap.
the prosecutors failed to properly reveal to the grand jury could
have led to Coriz not being indicted in the first place.
In question were four separate statements made by the victim, the victim’s friend and one
of the alleged rapists.
The first was the victim’s
original statement following the
alleged rape, that Coriz had covered the victim’s mouth to stifle
her screams. During the grand
jury hearing, the victim said ei-
ther Irin Martinez, 16, or Jacob
Martinez, 16, covered her mouth
to stifle her screams when they
heard Coriz coming.
“I’m not quite sure if the result would have been different,”
Marlowe said, referring to the
grand jury’s indictment.
Prosecutor Susan Stinson said
she agreed that Coriz was not in
the room when the victim was
allegedly brutally raped. She did
not elicit the conflicting testimony at the time of the 11-hour
grand jury hearing because she
did not realize the change.
The second statement at issue
was made by a woman identified
only by the first name Monique,
who allegedly said, during interviews, the victim had a drinking
problem and took prescription
medications her mother kept
locked in a cabinet.
The third statement at issue
was made by Irin Martinez when
he spoke to police. He said he
left the room the victim was allegedly being raped in and
bumped into Coriz, who asked
him what he was doing. This
statement contradicted Coriz’s
entire three-hour statement to
police, Stinson said.
The fourth statement was
See 'Woman' on page A4
Hires Manager
By Barron Jones
SUN Staff Writer
The Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative Board of
Trustees named a new general
manager, replacing the man
who came out of retirement to
lead the Co-op.
Alcalde’s Joseph Sanchez
was named the new general
manager Oct. 6 and will replace
Ernesto Gonzales, who held the
position for the past 14 months.
Board members settled on
Sanchez after sifting through an
original onslaught of 46 candidates according to Board President John Tapia. Gonzales was
one of those candidates, but he
removed his name from the list
during the annual picnic.
Gonzales said he dropped
out of the running so he could
spend time with family.
Tapia said the process went
quickly once the Co-op narrowed the search.
“We had a total of 46 candidates and we took it down to
19,” Tapia said. “Based on the
rankings, we identified six finalists, but one had taken a job
and that left five finalists.”
Tapia said the Co-op extended Gonzales’s contract to
help with the transition. The
goal was to have the position
filled before Gonzales’s contract expired at the end of August.
He said Gonzales will stay
on until Sanchez assumes responsibility for the Co-op’s
day-to-day operations.
“I am sure he will be around
to help Mr. Sanchez’s transition,” Tapia said.
Tapia said the new general
manager will have his work cut
out for him because he will inherit several issues, including
the task of modernizing the Coop.
“One of the biggest things is
moving the Co-op forward in
this modern world,” Tapia said.
“The biggest thing is ensuring
the Co-op is structured to meet
our needs and demands.”
Although Tapia wouldn’t reveal the exact dollar amount of
the new general manager’s
See 'Manager' on page A2
Mayor Sets Sights Grant Aims to Curb Youth Drug Use
On Another City
Manager Candidate
By Ardee Napolitano
SUN Staff Writer
Could fifth time
be a charm?
By Ardee Napolitano
SUN Staff Writer
For the fifth time in five
months, city officials are crossing their fingers that the latest
city manager appointment will
stick.
After Assistant Santa Fe
County Manager Tony Flores,
the fourth appointee to the position, ultimately declined the
city’s job offer, city councilors
ratified 7-0, at a Tuesday meeting, Mayor Alice Lucero’s appointment of Kelly Duran as
city manager. Councilor Dennis
Salazar was absent.
Duran, who currently serves
as the executive director of the
Española Valley Chamber of
Commerce, said he feels grateful for the opportunity and has
already accepted Lucero’s offer.
“I’m excited, I’m honored
and I’m even humbled,” he
said. “I was somewhat caught
off guard. Through all my proSee 'Four' on page A3
City officials received a
$100,000 grant from a New
Mexico organization to keep
more students away from drugs.
After identifying Española as
one of the areas most plagued by
substance abuse problems in the
state, Las Cruces-based High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
awarded the one-year grant to the
city to support the planned Project Rio Arriba County Empowerment program.
The organization will also
provide the city an additional
$14,000. The grant will expire in
June 2015.
Mayor Alice Lucero said she
started coordinating with organization representatives for funding during the summer. She said
the project is the first of its kind
(SUNfoto by Ardee Napolitano)
Marcella Maestas was hired by Mayor Alice Lucero to manage the
Project Rio Arriba County Empowerment program, a drug prevention
and career development initiative that targets students in the Española Valley. Maestas, a graduate of Española Valley High School,
started the job Sept. 29 and will earn an annual salary of $42,000.
in the state.
“This came upon us pretty
fast,” she said. “This means so
much to me because it means
they (organization) are really
committed to the effort. I believe
it is being done in other areas
back East, but never in New
Mexico.”
According to the details of the
grant, officials will help local
students find job opportunities
through the project, to help keep
them away from drugs.
Three students will compete
for each position offered by a local business through an application process, during which they
will receive career support.
Students will work without
pay for one month. At the end of
that period, the business will be
obligated to hire at least one of
the candidates for a position that
See 'Employee' on page A4