Quandalacy is nabbed in Gallup

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A Gallup man who allegedly made a threatening phone call to the Navajo Nation Department of Justice was arrested Thursday evening at his home on Stagecoach Road without incident.

Lt. Rick White of the Gallup Police Department said Friday that Navajo DOJ requested assistance Thursday from the McKinley County District Attorney’s Office in reference to threats of violence that had been directed against Department of Justice employees Tuesday in Window Rock.

District Attorney Karl Gillson immediately initiated an investigation and Thursday afternoon an arrest warrant was issued for Jarvis Quandalacy, 46, a Navajo Nation DOJ employee, according to White.

Members of the Gallup Police Department along with the District Attorney’s office and Middle Rio Grande Valley Drug Task Force, consisting of the Gallup Police Department and McKinley County Sheriff’s Department, arrested Quandalacy around 7:15 p.m. at his home in Gallup without incident. A shotgun was found at the residence.

Quandalacy was arraigned Friday morning in McKinley County Magistrate Court on one count of using a telephone to threaten. His bond was set at $5,000 cash by Judge Henrietta Soland. He remains in custody at McKinley County Adult Detention Center.

“Apparently the cell phone call was made from here in Gallup, so that’s how our agency got involved,” Sgt. Erin Todalena-Pablo of Gallup Police said.

“We did work with our narcotics agency also, who assisted our detectives in this arrest here. There was no incident at all. I guess they were preparing for the worst because of the severity of the threats that were made and they took all of the precautions, but in the end, it worked out great.”

Counting detectives and narcotics agents, she estimated there were 15 officers at the scene. The Emergency Response Team was placed on standby but was not called out.