Attorney files petition to remove Roosevelt sheriff

PORTALES — A Portales attorney filed a petition Friday in the Roosevelt County Court Clerk’s office to remove Roosevelt County Sheriff Malin Parker from office via jury trial.

The petition from Eric Dixon states five arrest affidavits were signed by Parker that included the following statement: “This informant has in the past proved to give reliable credible information that lead to the recovery of thousands of dollars in stolen property and gave information that lead to two felony arrests.”

Parker declined to comment.

The affidavits, according to the petition, were filed April 14 for Roosevelt County residents Cody Banister, Antonio Salguero, Irisema Hernandez, Armando Pena and Chance Plummer, all arrested on counts of trafficking methamphetamine.

“He put false information in the affidavits. Anybody else that would be doing this would be charged for perjury,” said Dixon. “He (the informant) hadn’t provided any information in the past. No arrests were made. No property was recovered. He’s the sheriff and he gets special privileges, and that is totally 100 percent wrong. The law applies to everyone.”

The petition was filed after Fifth Judicial District Attorney Dianna Luce of Hobbs announced Thursday she would not file criminal charges against Parker on the matter.

“We all know it was a false statement. We knew no arrests were made,” said Luce, “but we had to prove he (Parker) knew it was false at the time. There was not sufficient evidence to prove that.”

According to the petition, Parker said in a Sept. 22 interview no arrests were made based on information provided by the informant, after claiming in an interview on Aug. 26 that the informant gave “information that led to arrests and recovery of property.”

The petition also states the informant said in a Sept. 9 interview he did not work with Parker on previous cases and had known Parker since high school.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb declined comment on the petition because she had not seen it as of Saturday, but said she agreed with the conclusions Luce and the New Mexico State Police made on the investigation.

“The issue is,” Reeb said, “you have to have criminal intent. Maybe he (Parker) should have checked his facts, but I believe it amounted to more of an oversight. Without seeing the petition, I read her (Luce) letter and the reports that came back to me (from the investigation). From my read of everything I don’t see criminal intent. It wasn’t a decision I needed to make. It was a decision somebody unbiased needed to make.”