Woman found guilty of kidnapping

PORTALES — A Portales woman last week was found guilty of kidnapping, burglary and aggravated battery.

Esperanza Tarango, 24, could face up to 26 years in prison at sentencing, according to a news release from District Attorney Andrea Reeb.

The Portales jury heard three days of testimony and deliberated 3 1/2 hours before returning their verdict.

According to the news release;

• In October of 2018, Roosevelt County sheriff’s deputies were called to Roosevelt General Hospital where Albert Pino was being treated for injuries to his face and chest, as well as burns on his back.

• Pino told deputies he was taken in a vehicle by two males and a female to a location in the country. They bound Pino’s wrists and beat him with a hatchet type instrument and burned him on his back with an unknown implement. They also shot him in the chest with a BB or pellet gun and fired a handgun into the ground beside him.

• Pino said they were demanding to know where a certain “bag” was. Pino was then taken back to his home.

Co-defendants Morgan Howl and Anthony Gomez both testified at the trial. According to the release, both have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and were sentenced to five years in prison.