Man faces seven felony charges

A Tucumcari man faces seven felony charges after he and four juveniles were accused of breaking into a house, trying to steal items and slashing the tire of a van parked there.

Adrian Rivas, 20, was booked into the Quay County Detention Center on Jan. 27 on complaints of residential burglary, conspiracy to commit residential burglary, larceny (over $500 but less than $2,500), injuring or tampering with a motor vehicle (cutting and marking) and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The burglary count is a third-degree felony that can lead to up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The other counts except for the tampering charge are fourth-degree felonies that can lead up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Four juveniles under 18 years old were listed in the criminal complaint. Their names were not in the document, but it listed their initials as G.S., J.C., I.C. and A.C. District Attorney Timothy Rose stated in an email last week the four were not detained and have been referred to juvenile delinquency procedures.

According to a complaint filed by Tucumcari Police Sgt. Shaun Slate, officers were called the night of Jan. 24 to the 900 block of East Hancock Avenue for a burglary in progress. The resident who called the 911 emergency dispatch center said he had locked himself in the bathroom of the home while the burglars were inside.

Officers found the home’s back door open. Two officers soon chased down on foot a juvenile in an alley behind the residence.

When officers returned, they went through the house with woman who helped identify what was missing. A backpack, later identified as Rivas’, that didn’t belong to the home contained a large plastic jug containing loose change, two glass Mason jars containing medical marijuana, one iPhone charger, one small jar of medical marijuana wax, a multi-colored plastic tray and two lighters.

The kitchen and one bedroom had been ransacked. Outside the residence at the base of the stairs were an Xbox game console, an external battery bank, wired audio headsets and another Mason jar containing loose change. Officers also found an unoccupied Oldsmobile sedan that belonged to Rivas’ family in the alley.

The woman said two security cameras had been installed in the house — one on the roof and the other in the living room. She provided officers an SD card from one of the cameras and identified one of the captured juveniles.

The juvenile and his mother were interviewed at the police station. The boy said the burglary was planned, and it was Rivas who organized it and picked up the other three juveniles in the Oldsmobile before the break-in. He said Rivas parked the vehicle in the alley. Rivas and one of the juveniles stabbed a rear tire of the woman’s parked Honda van with a pocketknife.

Rivas broke into the home by wedging a metal object in the doorjamb, and he and the four juveniles went inside. A short time later, four of them heard something outside and ran out the front of the residence. The fourth juvenile ran out the back toward the Oldsmobile.

Officers requested a tow truck for the Oldsmobile because it had been involved in crime.

Magistrate judge Timothy O’Quinn found probable cause for the charges. Rivas pleaded not guilty to the tampering charge but issued no plea on the more serious counts.

Rivas was released Wednesday on a $50,000 unsecured appearance bond and is forbidden from having contact with the alleged victims or return to the location of the burglary, according to online court documents. He cannot possess firearms of dangerous weapons, cannot consume alcohol or illegal drugs, cannot leave Quay County without permission from the court and must submit to drug or alcohol testing

No defense attorney was listed for Rivas.