Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
A Tucumcari man was jailed after being accused of breaking into a garage, assaulting a family member and possessing marijuana during an incident March 11.
Joshua Neal, 29, was accused in complaints filed March 12 in Quay County magistrate court of breaking and entering, assault against a household member, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.
Breaking and entering is a fourth-degree felony that can lead to 18 months in prison or a $5,000 fine. The other counts were misdemeanors.
Tucumcari Police Cpl. Abel Cullum wrote in his complaint that dispatchers sent him to the 1600 block of South Seventh Street to investigate a report that Neal threw things at a family member and that he was hiding in the back yard of a nearby house.
Cullum stated he found Neal hiding in a shed the back yard of the house. He arrested him and found from dispatchers Neal had three warrants for his arrest. According to a Quay County Detention Center arrest log, the warrants for Neal were for residential burglary, larceny (over $2,500), breaking and entering, criminal damage to the property of a household member (under $1,000) and two counts of contempt of court.
During a search of Neal, Cullum stated he found a metal pipe with a burned, green leafy substance on one end that smelled like marijuana.
One of the complainants told Tucumcari Police Detective Reyes Gonzales she noticed Neal had broken into her detached garage.
When confronted by her, Neal became upset and threw items at her. She said the thrown items did not hit her. She told Neal she would call police, and Neal ran away.
Neal told Gonzales he had been invited back to the home but a family member “kicked him out” that day. Neal said he had been working on a car parked in the garage. He said he ran away because he felt family members “were after him.”
Neal still was being held at the Quay County Detention Center. According to online court records, no attorney was listed for him.