Sheriff’s office arrests 16 on warrant roundup

Taos County got a lot safer this weekend (May 7 and 8) as the Taos County Sheriff’s office, New Mexico State Police officers, and Adult Probation officers arrested 16 people in a planned warrant roundup, according to a statement from Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe.

The task force consisted of 20 officers and K9 ‘Lucas.’ On top of the 16 arrests, the officers cleared 22 active warrants. Four of those arrested received new charges, which included “possession of narcotics, fleeing, possession of a firearm by a felon, harboring a fugitive,” and others.

The majority of the arrests took place in the greater Taos area, with four arrests in Questa, and one in Peñasco.

Hogrefe said he was pleased with the way the task force operated, with “zero use of force, zero injuries and zero property damage. I could not be more proud of all the [law enforcement officers] that contributed to this very successful operation.”

Hogrefe also wanted to thank NMSP Lieutenant Dominic Lucero, Adult Detention Center director Leroy Vigil “and his staff for working to create housing prior to this operation,” and Taos Central Dispatch director Dominic Martinez for their work checking and confirming the warrants.

Taos County Undersheriff Steve Miera agreed that the operation was a nearly flawless success on several different levels.

“I believe it showed the community that Taos County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico State Police can work extremely well together,” and said he hopes the citizens of Taos can “find confidence in knowing their sheriff’s office and and state police officers can can coordinate together and coordinate successful operations.”

New Mexico State Police Chief Robert Thornton added their office “will continue to partner with our local and county law enforcement agencies to promote public safety. Successful operations like these help take wanted criminals off the streets and make the community a safer place.”

Miera added that with the over 2,500 active outstanding warrants in the Taos County court system, the task force roundups in collaboration with NMSP are something that will likely continue.

“Until we can get that number whittled down, I absolutely look forward to working with Lieutenant Dominic Lucero [with NMSP],” who Miera called “an outstanding individual, outstanding professional, extremely knowledgeable and committed to this community.”

As of Wednesday morning (May 12), seven of those arrested still remained in custody at the Taos County Adult Detention Center on charges ranging from possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a controlled substance to residential burglary.

For the remainder of May and throughout the month of June, Hogrefe said TCSO will be conducting “low tolerance traffic enforcement operations and fugitive roundups.”

Miera added that the summer months tend to bring out the drunk drivers, and they will be working hard to crack down on the problem, which he said has worsened. “Unfortunately, Taos County has suffered an increase in fatal traffic accidents in the last year. So, you know, we have to react to that,” he said.

In particular, he said they will be looking at areas like State Road 68, Blueberry Hill Road and State Road 522, “so we can hopefully get in front of these fatal crashes and start mitigating those.”