Sex offender arrested for failing to register

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — A 41-year-old Pine Hill man who was supposed to register with the local sheriff's office after moving from neighboring McKinley County waited about three months far too long and now faces felony charges for his delay, according to Cibola County Sheriff Manual Lujan.

Things are even more complicated with a new state law, effective in July, which requires newly convicted sex offenders to re-register every three months instead of annually.

Milton Pino came into the Cibola County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 21 to do his annual registration and was arrested, then booked into the neighboring jail on the failure to timely register charge from the previous year. Magistrate Jackie Fisher released him on his own recognizance, thus canceling a $5,000 cash bond from a criminal summons issued Feb. 2 charging failure to register within the required time. He went from Oct. 1 through Jan. 5 before registering in his new county.

Sgt. Harry Hall said the old law, which covers the Pine Hill man, required him to register within 10 days of moving. Hall said conversations with the McKinley County Sheriff's Office revealed that Pino told a detective he was moving into the Ramah area, on the Cibola County side of the line, and had signed the warning documents.

As of Nov. 21, there are 37 known sex offenders on the Cibola County list, three of whom are at large. Hall said Tony Kluesner of Milan is believed to be in Wyoming and Shane E. Argetsinger of Grants is believed to be in Colorado. The whereabouts of Clifford Lloyd Counter Jr. of Grants are unknown, he added.

The list includes three men from Grants and San Rafael who are not on the Web site and their names can not be released unless a person inquiring at the Sheriff's Office knows the address.

Of the remaining 31, six have Grants addresses, four have Pine Hill addresses, four have Acoma addresses, three have San Rafael addresses, three have Paraje addresses, two have Paguate addresses, two have Old Laguna addresses, one has a Laguna address, one has a Ramah address, one has a Milan address, one has a Blue Water Village address, one has a Mountain View address, one has a Fence Lake address and one has a Seama address.

They are:

Grants — Roy C. Barajas, 510 San Jose Dr.; Bobby Gorman, 4 Evans Rd.; Kevin McCullough, 222 East Adams; Ginoe Molina, 1014 N. 2nd St. No. 9; Joey Roybal, 449 Aspen; and Leon Saavedra, 820 Seville Loop.

Pine Hill — Kenneth Bitsilly, No. 19 Yucca Village; Jimmy K. Jake, 10 mi. southwest of the market on BIA Navajo Region Route 129; Milton Pino, No. 25 Yucca Village; and Tennyson Pino, three miles west on BIA Route 144.

Acoma — Mervin Conran Hayah, BIA Albuquerque Route 30, No. 26 District 308; Fredrick B. Miller, 1 mi. south of Interstate 40 Exit 102 on BIA Route 34; Peter J. Neha, four miles south of Exit 102 on BIA Route 21; and Robert Tsethlikai, one-half mile south of I-40 Exit 100.

San Rafael — Lewis E. Becerra, 35 Fort Wingate Rd.; Dennis Lee Black, 195 Otero Rd.; and Richard Carroll Tharp, 33 Casa Blanca Rd..

Paraje — Christopher G. Charlie, Village House 82; Warren L. Kowice, 1/4 mile west in old high school house 86; and Patrick Lionel Sarracino, 243 Laguna Rd.

Paguate — Eric Valentine Martin, 167 Paguate subdivision; and Lloyd Anthony Poncho, Bender Drive.

Old Laguna — Wilfred H. Johnson, 1/2 mile west of old Laguna mart at I-40 Exit 114; and Monroe Frederick Victorino, 15 Old Laguna subdivision.

Laguna — Craig Tsosie, No. 110 Sema at I-40 Exit 104.

Ramah — Albert Branch Hammon, 99 Thunderbird Lane.

Milan — Timothy L. Ponzer, 1626 Westbrook.

Blue Water Village — Michael T. Spencer, 125 North Pine.

Mountain View — Nelson Pino, 1/2 mile south on BIA Route 125.

Fence Lake — Bill Curtis Allen, 1626 N. N.M. Route 36.

Seama — 107 Seama subdivision.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775.