Arrest warrant issued for former restaurateur

An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Tucumcari restaurateur and city commissioner accused of taking more than $50,000 in kitchen equipment encumbered by a loan from the closed Pow Wow restaurant.

Todd Duplantis, 56, is charged with one count of disposing of encumbered property, a second-degree felony that could lead up to nine years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson issued the no-bond warrant on Oct. 1, the same day the charge was filed.

Duplantis had not been detained at press time.

During a phone interview earlier this month with the Quay County Sun about another Pow Wow matter, he said he was working at a restaurant in Texas.

Duplantis also once owned or operated Kix on 66, Cornerstone's First Edition and Vaquero Asador restaurants in Tucumcari, Stone's Pizza Grill and Mama T's Road to Ruin in Logan and Stone's Sports Grill and Bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He also served on the Tucumcari City Commission, including as mayor pro tem, from 2017 to 2021. He made an unsuccessful run for Quay County commissioner in 2020.

According to an affidavit filed by Tucumcari Police Sgt. Lorenzo Emillio, Police Chief Patti Lopez received a report that Duplantis, a previous operator of the Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge, had unlawfully removed kitchen equipment encumbered in his financing of the restaurant. Lopez assigned Emillio to the case.

Lopez gave Emillio documentation from DFL Properties principal Jerry Mares involving the sale of the business, equipment and real estate to Duplantis. Mares also is the Tucumcari's municipal judge.

Emillio interviewed Mares in July. Mares said DFL entered into a business negotiation with Duplantis and his wife Jackie.

Mares said the sale price of the Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge was almost $1 million.

Mares said Duplantis was unable make his cash investment of about $350,000 and that Avatar Recoveries of Albuquerque entered as a financier for Duplantis, loaning him about $650,000.

Mares said DFL agreed to finance the remaining $350,000 and take a negotiated payment from Duplantis in addition to his monthly payments to Avatar. Mares said documents placed all parties on notice that the kitchen equipment was part of the financing deal and therefore was encumbered.

Mares told the officer after several months of Duplantis taking over operations of the Pow Wow, he was unable to continue.

With permission from Avatar, Duplantis submitted the business to then-city commissioner Christopher Arias, who agreed to make payments to the financier.

Mares said Arias also was unable to remain in business at the Pow Wow and closed it.

The Pow Wow has remained closed since then, for about a year.

Earlier this month, Arias was charged with one felony count of writing a worthless check. He is accused of writing a check of $2,927.13 with insufficient funds to satisfy a balance of water bills to the restaurant.

Mares told Emillio that DFL was a second lienholder to the kitchen equipment and that Avatar was the first lienholder.

Shortly after Arias closed the Pow Wow, Mares said he conducted a walk-through of the premises and found it "in disarray, unsanitary and most of the equipment was gone without the consent of Avatar or DFL Properties."

Mares said he reviewed the restaurant's surveillance camera footage and saw Duplantis' brother Troy removing kitchen equipment with the help of an unidentified woman.

Mares said he received a phone call from a man in Arkansas who advised him he had the Pow Wow's equipment. The man said he came into possession of the equipment after purchasing it from Duplantis during a failed attempt to open a restaurant in Arkansas.

The man said he paid $28,000 to Duplantis for the equipment. When Mares told the man the equipment still was encumbered, he offered to return it to Tucumcari if Mares agreed to pay him back.

Emillio interviewed Troy Duplantis, who said Todd Duplantis in early 2024 asked him to clean and dismantle pieces of kitchen equipment for $250. Todd hold him the equipment would be loaded into a truck and taken to Arkansas for a new business there.

"Troy advised that he questioned Todd about whether he was allowed to move the encumbered kitchen equipment, to which Todd informed him 'I have a loan on it so it's mine,'" the affidavit stated.

Mares provided Emillio a list of items he knew were missing from the Pow Wow, with an estimated total value of $53,050. Troy Duplantis confirmed each of the items were loaded by him and another person to be taken to Arkansas at Todd Duplantis' request. The items included stoves, ovens, steam tables and prep tables.

According to the affidavit, Tucumcari code enforcement officer Maria Carmen Gonzalez last month sent correspondence to Todd and Jackie Duplantis regarding alleged code violations regarding the Pow Wow.

Jackie wrote back that she and Todd no longer were in control of the premises and that it had been turned back to Avatar in February 2024.

"This correspondence indicates the property was turned back over to Avatar after the kitchen equipment had been unlawfully removed and further acknowledges that Todd and Jackie Duplantis were aware of their debt to Avatar was still in effect at the time the equipment was removed," Emillio wrote.

The affidavit stated Todd Duplantis "commonly resides out of state and only returns to Quay County occasionally."

Tucumcari Police Chief Patti Lopez said Thursday because Duplantis has been charged with a second-degree felony, it's likely Texas law-enforcement officials will extradite him to New Mexico if they arrest him.

A phone message and text from the Quay County Sun to Todd Duplantis requesting comment were not returned.