Grenade found during bust was non-functioning

A grenade found during a drug bust last month in a Tucumcari motel room turned out to be non-functioning, prompting prosecutors to drop one charge against the suspect.

The freeing of the suspect last week on electronic monitoring prompted complaints Thursday from several residents in front of the Tucumcari City Commission, which has no jurisdiction in the case.

Raul Diaz-Villalobos, 39, remains charged with trafficking narcotics or methamphetamine near a drug-free school zone and possession of a controlled substance.

The trafficking charge is a first-degree felony that could lead up to 18 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.

However, a fourth-degree felony charge of possession of an explosive or incendiary device was dismissed at the request of prosecutors.

According to an order filed last week by District Judge Donna Mowrer, deputy district attorney Thomas Blakeney said the grenade found in Diaz-Villalobos’ room during a search warrant “turned out to be inert and non-functioning.”

The district attorney’s office subsequently dismissed that count due to a lack of evidence.

Officers from the Quay County sheriff’s department, Region V Task Force and New Mexico State Police on Jan. 23 arrested Diaz-Villalobos at a motel the 800 block of West Tucumcari Boulevard on a municipal warrant. Authorities conducted a welfare check there after receiving a tip of possible drug trafficking.

A Glock pistol, a rifle and 514 grams of fentanyl also were found in Diaz-Villalobos’ room.

Blakeney said a police officer learned that Diaz-Villalobos was not a U.S. citizen and had no ties to the Tucumcari community.

Diaz-Villalobos had no prior offenses or arrests in New Mexico, and nothing showed on a check on him with the National Crime Information Center database.

Villalobos-Diaz’s attorney, public defender Anna Aragon of Las Vegas, said he had lived in the same motel room in Tucumcari for about a year and was in the U.S. on a visa that does not expire for eight years.

Mowrer, presiding as district judge in place of recently retired Albert J. Mitchell Jr., last week denied prosecutors’ motion to keep Diaz-Villalobos in jail while the court case proceeds.

Mowrer said the charges are “troubling” and that a large amount of fentanyl and firearms in the community was “concerning.”

“However, without more, the State has not met the burden to establish that the Defendant is dangerous and that no release conditions are available to protect the community,” she wrote.

She granted Diaz-Villalobos a recognizance bond and that he be released with an electronic ankle monitor at his expense through the county jail.

Among the other release conditions are that Diaz-Villalobos not possess firearms, not consume alcohol, cannabis or illegal drugs, not leave the area without court permission and he maintain weekly contact with his attorney.

During Thursday’s city commission meeting, several residents complained that Villalobos-Diaz should have been kept in jail.

Haley Place, a regular commenter at meetings, said Villalobos-Diaz “had better stay in jail.”

Place said he had a nephew in Arizona who died of a drug overdose.

“We cannot let this happen,” he said.

Rodney Dorr said he’d also lost a cousin in Albuquerque from fentanyl.

He said questioned how a judge from another jurisdiction could release Villalobos-Diaz with an ankle monitor.

“What do we need to do about it?” he said.

“You’re probably preaching to the choir,” Mayor Mike Cherry responded. “But there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Commissioner Jerry Lopez said “our hands are tied” but added: “We need to take that up to Santa Fe,” referring to the New Mexico Legislature.

Helle Dorr said, “We have to defend our children (from drugs). I’d be very concerned if I were a mother or father here.”

Heather Fisher said small villages around Tucumcari also are being affected by illicit drug trade. She said residents need to push the state to toughen its laws.

“The drug highway (Interstate 40) is in my front yard,” she said.