Three accused of selling pot
Alleged music store burglars busted

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Three area residents have been arrested for allegedly selling drugs outside the DCI Plasma Center and two others have been charged with breaking into a Gallup music store.

The drugs cases, investigated by the Gallup Police Department and the Region One Narcotics Task Force, started with a tip that people were dealing drugs outside the plasma center, possibly targeting people who had received money for donating their blood.

Police spokesman Captain John Allen said police used undercover officers to make several buys during the past week. As a result, three men have been arrested and charged with distribution of marijuana.

Andrew Begay, 29, of Gallup was arrested on Monday. Sixteen-year-old Jacob Antone of Gamerco was arrested on Wednesday and Jason Laughing, 22, of Gallup, was arrested on Thursday.

The arrests were made without incident, except that one of them Allen was unsure exactly which one briefly tried to run away.

Allen said the police department has received "tremendous support" from the staff at DCI. "If they see anything that looks suspicious, they give us a call," he said.

This was a swift investigation, Allen said, which shows that in some cases the police are able to take make arrests quickly after a tip is given. "There are other times where it may take longer up to a year to do an investigation before we can make an arrest," he said.

In the case of the break-in of a local music store, it took more than a week and a second break-in to make the arrest,

Police first reported a break-in at West Winds Music behind Zecca Plaza almost two weeks ago. Two guitars were stolen after someone broke a window using a rock and reached in and grabbed them.

Police had no leads until Wednesday night when someone used a rock and broke the window again, stealing two guitars.

This time, one of the two who were responsible cut themselves on the glass reaching in to get the guitars and police were able to track them down at the Gallup Indian Medical Center where one was being treated for a laceration.

Arrested were Cleif Begay, 19, and Darrell Willie, 33, both of Church Rock.

Allen said the two hid the first two guitars near Allsup's on Aztec and the second two behind the Gallup Public Library.

Both were charged with two counts of commercial burglary, conspiracy and tampering with evidence, the last because of the hiding of the guitars.