Former commissioner charged with felony

A former city commissioner who sought to regain his old seat last month was arrested Thursday on a felony charge of writing a worthless check of nearly $3,000 for a water and sewer bill for a restaurant he had operated.

Christopher W. Arias, 31, was detained Thursday by a New Mexico State Police patrolman on an arrest warrant after being charged on one count of issuance of a worthless check, according to court documents.

The charge is a fourth-degree felony that can lead up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.

Arias was a District 4 representative on the Tucumcari City Commission from 2018 to September 2023, when he resigned for personal reasons.

Arias applied for his old seat when his replacement, Renee Hayoz, resigned in August to become assistant city manager.

Arias and two other candidates were interviewed by the commission last month. The commission later chose Clayton Thorne to fill the District 4 slot.

According to an affidavit filed by Tucumcari Police Sgt. Lorenzo Emillio for the arrest warrant, city manager Paula Chacon in late August reported an Arias check had been returned to the city due to insufficient funds.

Chacon reported to the officer that in October 2023, Arias owned the now-closed Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge and "was significantly behind" in water-service payments.

Chacon said she had contacted Arias, and he agreed to bring the account current to avoid suspension of water service.

Chacon said Arias came to City Hall with a Pow Wow/DFL Properties business check in the amount of $2,927.13, which would have brought the account into current enough status to avoid service interruption.

DFL Properties had owned the Pow Wow restaurant for about 20 years. According to New Mexico Secretary of State business records, Daniel Mares and Frank Gillard are the principals of DFL.

Days later, the city was informed Arias' check had been returned because of lack of sufficient funds.

"Chacon advised that the City had attempted to notify Arias about the returned check through certified mail," the officer wrote, "however Arias refused to sign for the letter and USPS ultimately returned the certified letters to City Hall."

Arias operated Pow Wow only a few months before closing it.

Nearly a year later, Chacon said she called Arias on Aug. 10 to remind him of the returned check. Chacon said she received an email that day where Arias confirmed the outstanding balance and "that he'd initiated a 'process' to bring accounts to current within 45 days."

Chacon said Arias had made no payments to the account.

Emillio said he obtained documents from Everyone's Federal Credit Union through a search warrant that showed Arias' account "was significantly in overdraft status" before he issued the check to the city in October 2023.

During an interview with the officer, Arias said did not intentionally deprive the city of funds but acknowledged he was left with significant debt when he took over the Pow Wow Restaurant from its previous operator and that those debts had to be resolved to continue operations.

The previous operator, Todd Duplantis, had operated the restaurant and lounge for a little less than 18 months before he closed it in May 2023.

Arias also told the officer that although the check belonged to DFL Properties, he had no involvement with that company's accounts. Arias said the previous operator had advised him to prepare some DFL Properties checks when it pertained to liquor license purchases because the license was under that entity.

Duplantis in a phone interview Sunday said Arias didn't own the Pow Wow restaurant but instead had leased it. Duplantis also said Arias had been instructed to use his personal check account and change the heading to add DFL Properties for liquor license transactions.

Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson issued the arrest warrant for Arias on Oct. 1.

After his arrest, Arias was booked into the Quay County Detention Center on Thursday, according to court and jail records.

Hendrickson later that day released Arias on an unsecured appearance bond of $5,000.

Arias filed a request for the legal services of public defender Anna Aragon, stating he was financially indigent.

Arias was scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 6 and Nov. 20.