Man pleads not guilty to rape, related charges

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The 48-year-old Pine Hill man accused of the 1st-degree rape, and five other crimes, of a woman in mid-July will remain in the Cibola County Detention Center on a $150,000 bond after pleading not guilty to the eight charges in a grand jury indictment.

Bernard Tracey, if he can post bond, had his conditions of release tightened by 13th Judicial District Court Judge Camille M. Olguin during his arraignment Friday.

She retained all the conditions imposed by Cibola County Magistrate Court, then added that he needed to provide a physical street address in Cibola County, could not leave the county without her advance written permission, can not take any non-prescription drugs, must contact Public Defender Daniel Salazar's office at least once every other week, cannot have anyone under the age of 18 live at his physical address and must sign a waiver of extradition from tribal lands.

Olguin also explicitly explained to him that he is to have zero contact with the victim and any witnesses, either directly or indirectly. She warned him not to have friends or acquaintances try to contact the victim, either directly or indirectly.

The judge also scheduled his pretrial conference for April 2 and his jury trial for April 23.

Senior Trial Prosecutor Kristina Faught-Hollar pointed out to the judge that Tracey has two failure to appear cases from McKinley County Magistrate Court from 1998 and 2000 as another reason for denying bail.

She also said the victim is so terrified of the defendant that "she basically has gone underground, hiding out from him. She telephones us about once a week to let us know she is still OK."

Salazar asked for release of his client on his own recognizance, adding, "Any bail is no bail," indicating Tracey could not pay that much. As a surety bond, he would have to put up $15,000. When the prosecutor said one of the failure to appear warrants was for aggravated drunk driving, Salazar added that such a warrant made bond a moot question anyway.

When the judge asked if there were any other warrants for Tracey, Faught-Hollar pointed out his previous conviction for burglary and that he served time in the men's prison at Grants.

In the true bills returned by the 13th Judicial District Grand Jury for Cibola County on Nov. 8, Tracey was charged with three counts of 1st-degree felony criminal sexual penetration, one count of 2nd-degree kidnapping, one count of 3rd-degree felony witness intimidation, one count of 4th-degree felony false imprisonment, and two counts of 4th-degree felony criminal sexual contact with personal injury.

The grand jury refused to indict him on one count of 2nd-degree felony attempted murder in the July 17-18 incident in which he gave the woman a ride, then detoured to Great White Father Road to commit his alleged crimes.

Ramah Navajo police began the case and called in the Cibola County Sheriff's Office on July 25 when it was determined the alleged crimes were committed off the reservation.

Lt. Harry Hall of the CCSO then filed a criminal complaint against Tracey in Magistrate Court on Sept. 14, beginning with the attempted murder which the grand jury rejected.

His probable cause statement filed in Magistrate Court, citing the victim's 4-page typed statement, Hall claimed Tracey choked his victim at least three times into near unconsciousness, threatened several times to kill her and forcibly removed her clothes before raping her at least 11 times.

The maximum punishment for each count, if a person is convicted of a 1st-degree felony, is 18 years in state prison and/or a $15,000 fine; nine years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for a 2nd-degree felony; three years and/or a $5,000 fine for a 3rd-degree felony and 1.5 years and/or a $5,000 fine for a 4th-degree felony.

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