Milan man arrested on warrant

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — A 38-year-old Milan man was arrested, booked and posted bond Friday after a Cibola County Deputy Sheriff nabbed him inside the Grants city limits on a district court bench warrant stemming from a July assault incident.

Judge Camille M. Olguin of the 13th Judicial District Court in Grants had signed the arrest warrant on Nov. 8 for Jose Soto because he failed to appear at his arraignment five days earlier, according to court records.

Deputy Sheriff James Peters responded to a tip officers from the Grants City Police Department apparently were not available and city offices were closed Tuesday and caught Soto at Oscar's, an east side auto wrecking yard.

Soto was booked into the Cibola County Detention Center the same day on the $5,000 surety bond required by Olguin's warrant, meaning he had to put up $500 to get out, and was released the same day. The bond imposed by Judge Olguin was less than his initial $50,000 bond, which Presiding Magistrate Jackie Fisher had imposed in Cibola County Magistrate Court back in July.

Initially Cibola County Sheriff's Office deputies had charged in their criminal complaint filed in Magistrate Court that on July 11, Soto committed two counts of child abuse, battery on a household member and criminal damage of less than $1,000.

Judge Fisher appointed Daniel Salazar of Albuquerque as Soto's public defender during the defendant's first appearance the next day. But the allegations against Soto had increased to six, with a second battery and an assault charge added to the criminal complaint.

All those allegations were superseded on Aug. 10 when the 13th Judicial District's Grand Jury for Cibola County issued six true bills charging Soto with two counts of 3rd-degree felony child abuse, 3rd-degree aggravated battery, misdemeanor battery on a household member, misdemeanor criminal property damage and petty misdemeanor battery.

Since Soto was charged by a grand jury indictment, he was scheduled to go before Judge Olguin for arraignment, with no preliminary hearing allowed after the arraignment and before trial.

The initial incident on July 11 involved Soto going to the home of Laura Elliott-Davis. There he confronted Ieacis Davis, Robert Davis and Laura Elliott-Davis. At her mobile home, the CCSO said he broke a glass door on a movie cabinet along with damaging the ceiling of her mobile home, as well as allegedly assaulting the three. The child abuse charges stem from two girls being in the home at the time of the alleged assaults.

A conviction and full sentence for a 3rd-degree felony carries a maximum punishment of three years in state prison and/or a $5,000 fine. A misdemeanor carries a maximum punishment of 364 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine and a petty misdemeanor six months in jail and/or a $500 fine.

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