LAS CRUCES - A police chief, a mayor, a village trustee and eight others, including a Mexican citizen, have been indicted for allegedly trafficking firearms in Do-a Ana and Luna counties to Mexico, U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales announced Thursday. Columbus Chief of Police Angelo Vega, Columbus Mayor Eddie Espinoza and Village Trustee Blas Gutierrez are three the 11 defendants charged in the 84-count federal indictment, which was unsealed Thursday afternoon after two-county raids that began in the early hours Thursday. [continues 1162 words]
LAS CRUCES -- The city is immediately ending an anti-drug program aimed at third-graders after it was revealed it was created and bankrolled by the Church of Scientology. The "Drug-Free Marshal" program, started in late November, had only been presented to five schools but was intended to be promoted eventually among all third-graders in the Las Cruces Public Schools. Mayor Ken Miyagishima apologized Saturday and said it was not his intention to promote the religion. The mayor said he was approached this summer by Richard Henley, of Foundation for a Drug-Free World, who showed him a pamphlet adorned with the seals of El Paso, Espanola, the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department and the Horizon City, Texas, and Socorro, Texas, Police Departments and asked if the city would "support eradicating drug use in the community." [continues 653 words]
COLUMBUS - Residents on both sides of the border are nervous after a month of border shootings, disappearances and at least two confirmed murders allegedly sparked by drug-traffickers' turf wars in the Mexican town of Palomas. On Thursday, after reporting his two police officers had disappeared, Palomas Chief of Police Emilio Perez fled to Columbus requesting political asylum. Perez's flight came just days after Columbus Mayor Eddie Espinoza, in the chair for a root canal, witnessed armed robbers take over Palomas dentist Felipe Salazar's office. [continues 739 words]
