Ad leads authorities to more gaming devices

Cops and Courts

For the second time in six months, a newspaper advertisement led to the seizure of illegal gaming devices in Clovis, according to a press release from the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.

Undercover Gaming Control Board officials received a tip from a Clovis resident who saw a full-page ad in the Clovis News Journal promoting a truck-stop sale at the National Guard Armory Oct. 29 - Oct. 30. The ad promoted the sale of “skill stop” gaming machines for $159.

Undercover agents located three gaming machines. Agents confronted the person selling the devices, Luis Chacon III of Atascosa, Texas.

Chacon, an employee of the Homier Distributing Company of Hunington, Ind., said the merchandise had been provided by the company and he was unaware selling the gaming machines was a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico.

The case has been referred to the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The above-mentioned information was derived from a press release from the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.

•••

Edgar O. Perales, who escaped from custody while on a medical furlough in July, was arrested Oct. 27 in Clovis, officials with the district attorney’s office said.

Records show Perales, 41, and another inmate were taken to Plains Regional Medical Center from the county jail on July 1. Jail officials said the other inmate escaped from the hospital on July 1 and was apprehended later that day. Perales escaped on July 8.

Perales is being held on a $50,000 cash or surety bond at the Curry County Adult Detention Center and is charged with a variety of crimes including escape from jail, a fourth-degree felony; assault upon a peace officer; possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute; and resisting arrest.

Perales is scheduled to face a jury trial in February, officials with the district attorney’s office said.

His attorney Thomas Harden didn’t return a phone call Friday to his home.

•••

The Texico police chief recently completed a three-day training course in Rochester, N.Y., that is meant to aid law enforcement officials in rural communities, a press release from the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement shows.

During the course Chief John Mares, who has been with the Texico police department five years, learned about tools for terrorism, managing multiple cultures, budgets, grants and media relations, the release shows.

The course, the Rural Executive Management Institute, was exclusively designed for the rural sheriff or police chief, the release stated.

Mares could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cops and Courts is compiled by CNJ news editor Mike Linn. He can be contacted at 763-6991 or:

[email protected]