Cibola County N.M. Corruption (by Cristina Mooney)

My husband and I moved to a rural area of New Mexico in July 2017. We spent 3 months living out of a tent during monsoon season while we worked to set up our property from scratch. Around late July/August 2017 we met John Fiefield while we were filling up our water container. He was a bit aggressive when we met, he interrogated us as to why we were there and where we lived. He seemed like a decent person after we got past the aggressive interrogation and Daniel and I ended up visiting his alpaca farm and property while meeting his animals, dogs, and wife. After having gone down to their property several times, John told us that he made a Facebook post and talked to some of our neighbors he knew, told them where we lived in the subdivision and told them to go down to our property and meet us. That week, Shane Tharp, Amy Tharp, their 2 children, Curtis and his wife drove their cars up to our property and introduced themselves. They were not met with guns drawn or anywhere in sight when they arrived. We ended up developing a decent relationship that quickly got out of hand as far as expectations. 

We assumed that Curtis and his wife would end up being close friends because although he's light skinned with blue eyes he claims to be part-Cherokee, and several people from that group told us they openly smoke marijuana. Curtis helped us to clear out huge rocks from our driveway and dig several locations for our first greenhouse before things started to go sour. Shane and Amy were constantly wanting us to go over to their property and spend the day hanging out and talking, cooking dinner, etc. During this time we were still living out of a tent, trying to secure a proper home before winter, dealing with our solar system not working, no Internet installed to run our business and learning first hand how expensive it is to live this far away from gas stations and grocery stores. Our money was running low and we didn't have the money to be driving to their property every day to hang out and not do any work on our property. We helped Shane and Amy finish their root cellar in less than 8 hours. We filled bags of dirt, stacked them and helped them to fill in the area around the bags. But then they started mentioning that they go over to Curtis' and vice versa, daily, to see if anyone needed help with anything. We explained, even though we didn't have to, about us saving money for the gas and what not. They didn't like that. One day Shane came to us and told us that Curtis needed help but wasn't going to tell us that he wanted us to come ask. Shane even told us that he was.going to go another way home so Curtis couldn't see that he had been out already without talking to him. It was weird. Daniel went over and talked to Curtis and he didn't say anything like that, also didn't have anything that he needed help with that day. 

We met Linda Yates driving on the main road into the subdivision as she was talking to another land owner. We stopped and asked if they were land owners to introduce ourselves and Linda was instantly aggressive and had her hand on her gun. We told her where we lived and answered some questions about ourselves and then she started cursing and gripping about how many people are moving out here and she was the first one here before anyone else. Invited us over and we never went. Amy would try to encourage us to go but we didn't get a welcoming energy from her so we didn't want to go to her property when we didn't completely trust her already. Then one day we went to a Farmers Market in Arizona, and had told Shane and Amy the day before and posted in FB the day of when we were going. When we get back Shane tells my husband that they saw the new location of our 5th wheel and when Daniel asked how he saw it when the chain was up indicating we were home, Shane said they disregarded it and went around to look for where our new spot was. 

Around the end of September is when we stopped talking to John F., His wife, Shane and Amy Tharp, Curtis and Wife.  

We met several neighbors on Crater Road in October as a result of her constant trips down there to complain to them about us "making meth and growing marijuana and bringing tons of people up here with our campground and wearing down the roads." We know all the owners down Crater Road and Mujeres Grand Rd West and Mujeres Valley Road. Her visits to the owners got so intense, excessive and heated with yelling and cursing while Linda had her hand on her gun every time we came up in conversation that she was banned from the 4 of 5 property owners down Crater Rd. We've had neighbors come to us crying over how hateful her comments are and how aggressive she is. Some of the Crater owners told Linda they planned on closing off the road since they had gained permission from Gary Blum (land seller and owner of Santa Rita Land and Cattle Co.) and Linda told him she didn't care and would go around it anyway. Linda Yancey also told one of the Crater neighbors that if the road was blocked off she would just go around. We created some of our deepest bonds on the mountain as a result of people seeing who we are and taking the time to get to know us. 

On January 13, 2018, Daniel and I were leaving the property and got to the main road from our home road, Mujeres Grande Rd West, and found the main road blocked off with about 6-7 police cars and a canine unit along with the UnderSheriff. Initially they told Daniel that they were here to get to know the owners in the subdivision since they hadn't met everyone yet and wanted everyone to know they're around. Then we found out that they wanted to see our campground specifically because they had received over 100 Crime stopper reports that we were growing hundreds of plant, making meth, and trafficking marijuana from Colorado (we still have our CO plates) and starting a cult. Daniel asked if the name of the person was Linda Yancey and Sargent Wadford just chuckled and looked at us in confirmation. We agreed to allow 2 people onto the property since they did not have a warrant and no crimes have been committed. We extended the invitation to a guided tour of our campground, without the canine, to the Undersheriff and one other person he wanted to accompany him. I asked how they were going to know where our property lines are, being that none of our neighbors have fences and the GPS in this area is constantly inaccurate. They said they would reference the map. 

I had a phone appointment that day and needed to be somewhere that had service so I let the Undersheriff and surrounding deputies know this unvalidated search was going to cost us money. The UnderSheriff got upset and questioned me about how the department was costing us money and when I began to answer him, he started raising his voice over me aggressively and turned his back on me. Mind you, this is all recorded on video and audio. Then proceeded to tell me he didn't care and didn't want to see the property anymore. We told them where Linda Yancey, Shane & Amy Tharp and Curtis and his wife lived since that's who we had met so far and knew they lived up here consistently. After about 15 minutes they returned, removed the chain that we were told we could put up since we own both sides of the easement and the owner on the other side of the end of that easement doesn't use the entrance, has locks and signs on it and has told us that he will not use this entrance and he's fine with us putting the chain up. The police removed it, let themselves down our property and when they were told they were trespassing the UnderSheriff said he didn't care and yelled at Sgt. Wadford and told him to drive to the end of the road anyway, and proceeded to continue down the easement. This easement leads to the end of the subdivision gate that is locked in several different places by the 300 acres farm owner on the other side of the fence, outside of the subdivision. We also have pictures of the road with snow and tire track marks showing the police never went down Mujeres Grande Rd East, the road where Paul Kevin Snider and Peggy Lee Davis own property, or to any other landowners on the main road, Mujeres Ranch Road, that have signs about shooting and burying trespassers right next to their address sign. Immediately after this happened we wrote an email complaint to Cibola County Sheriff's Department that was sent the night of January 13, 2018. When the incident with Paul Snider and Peggy Davis on March 2nd happened we discovered that this email complaint to the department is no longer able to be found in any of the emails they were sent to. We also never received a response to the complaint filed. 

In early February, one of the neighbors from Crater went into the Cibola County Sheriff's Department to inquire about all the false crimestopper reports and to make sure that the department knew those were lies. He was told that the Under-sheriff no longer worked for the department and that's why his multiple calls had not been returned and that we were no longer being investigated. 

On February 25th, Paul Snider and Peggy Davis drove down past our chained area several times. They met Daniel because I was on a conference call. They told him they heard about us from Linda and wanted to meet us for themselves. Peggy, at one point, tells my husband they don't care about us growing weed or smoking because they smoke too and my husband was clear with them that we didn't want to have anything to do with that because of how many lies we're getting  spread about us and that we still needed to renew our medical  licenses. We never said anything to them about marijuana. During this short conversation, Daniel let Paul and Peggy know that we'd been planing to expand on the land we have and purchase the lot at the end of the cul-de-sac and the lots behind us. Paul and Peggy made no mention of looking at land to buy or being interested in any of the properties in that area.

After this happened, we noticed between Feb 26th and March 1st that heavy tire tracks from a large truck were coming down the road after sunset every night. We didn't have a working camera but we were smoothing the dirt on the road to see if new tracks would emerge and every morning there were new truck tire tracks, the easement we were responsible for was being worn down and the tracks were showing large tire tracks dipping off the road dangerously close to the property marker and sign post. On March 2nd we had the incident with Paul and Peggy where we confronted them about driving down the road at night constantly. Initially Paul told us that he was patrolling the area and then when we told him we didn't need any patrolling of the easements that are on our property he started to claim he was looking at land for sale. When we questioned him about looking at land, after dark and driving right past the available lots he started to aggressively and disrespectfully tell us to keep our asses off his property and suggest that he himself not come down the road past our property markers. My husband informed him that wasn't necessary if he was able to have a respectful and civil conversation about anything he might want to discuss that wasn't able to get discussed right then and there due to Paul cursing at us, threatening us and me going off on him for disrespecting us. Paul and Peggy left and nothing more was said. Note, we have all of this on audio recording. This audio recording was later provided to the District Attorney the day after I was arrested (March 17th) and the charges against me were still not dropped at the Preliminary Hearing on April 3rd at Cibola County Magistrate Court. 

Following the instructions of the Cibola County Sheriff's Department, provided to us on January 13, 2018, we filed a Crimestopper report that night. Then on March 16th I was moving my car and looked up to see us being raided by Cibola County Sheriff. 

Cibola County Sheriff's Department, Milan PD, Grants PD, and McKinney County Sheriff's Department arrived on my property with 7 brand new squad cars and a heavy-duty, military vehicle armed with a turret, and instantly held my husband and me down at gun point with automatic weapons. My husband had 4 officers pointing automatic weapons less than 12 inches away from his face even though he had complied with all their commands. During the arrest my shoulder was dislocated even after informing Officer Noriega, of Grants PD, Milan PD and Cibola County Sheriff's Dept., that my shoulders are sensitive and easy to dislocate, my arms were pushed aggressively behind my back. 3 male officers forced me into a vehicle, one of which was Officer Noriega without telling me the charges or what I was being arrested for. Noriega briefly replied at one point, false imprisonment and I asked "When did I ever put anyone in jail?! What is all this about?" After about 30 minutes officers came and flashed the Search Warrant in our faces without allowing us to completely read the warrant, followed by one officer saying "This says we have permission to search that property and that property." while pointing to both sides of Mujeres Grande Road. Our dogs were impounded after we notified the UnderSheriff, who refused to give his name and did not have a name tag on his person, was informed that we could have someone pick up our dogs and our vehicle within 30 minutes. After we were removed from the property, officers used our garden tools and dug holes in our driveway while throwing lit cigarettes in the holes and all over our property, fist bumping and laughing at me as I coughed and coughed in the back seat of the car, with snot running all down my face. I spent 4 days in jail and was released the following Monday. My husband was also arrested that same day after the Under-sheriff saw that another officer allowed him to record the scene with my phone, he became upset and aggressive, grabbed my husband by the arm and yanked him toward another car, told him to shut up and stop recording. Officer John Casteneda is the one who transported my husband to the jail and removed a Buck knife that had been gifted to him during Christmas. Core Civic jail in Grants, NM would not accept the Buck knife even though he was a catch and release, Officer Casteneda offered to hold on to his property and told him to come to the station once he was released to pick it up. 

When he was released that day he immediately went to the station with Theo Booker (who has alsp previously and currently being harassed by Cibola County Sheriff's Dept.), while recording, and was instantly met by an aggressive Detective Chavez. Although the department sign in sheet reflected that he was there to pick up his Buck knife, Det. Chavez instantly made the assumption that he was trying to pick up the firearms that were confiscated earlier that day from my property. When he told Det. Chavez he was there to collect his Buck knife that was taken off him, he said that he had no information about that item being collected. When Daniel informed him that Officer Casteneda took the property off him, Det. Chavez attempted to call Casteneda several times to ask about the location of his property and never received an answer or call back. Then Daniel was told by Det. Chavez, that Casteneda was gone for the weekend and wouldn't be back in the office until the following Wednesday. He was instructed to come back to the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday when Officer Casteneda would be on duty again. 

When we both returned to the office on Wednesday, we were recording with our phones and GoPro camera, we were arrested again. When we asked what we were being arrested for we were told "Trafficking". I was patted down by Officer Noriega after telling him that I was not comfortable being searched by a male officer. Noriega told me "Too bad you don't have a choice" and proceeded to pat me down while I yelled "Rape!" and "Molestation" throughout the office. Officer Kemp, Noriega, and the Under-Sheriff laughed at me and told her to shut up. My husband asked Officer Kemp, while he was being arrested again, if he could call our friend, Mr. Booker, to come and pick up his vehicle and our dogs, and Kemp told him he would allow him to make a phone call. After Daniel was brought into the Sheriff's Dept. break room with me, he asked officers to ensure him and I had cameras on us the entire time for documentation purposes. While he was making sure this request was properly put in place he heard the Under-sheriff telling someone to call the pound to have our dogs impounded again. My husband got his attention and told him he was already promised a call to have Mr. Booker come to the station to pick up the vehicle. The Under-sheriff told my husband we could have a phone call when we got to the jail when Office Kemp confirmed what he told my husband to the Under-sheriff he became upset and ceased looking for the one female officer they have available throughout Grants PD, Milan PD and Cibola County Sheriff's Dept and told officers "Fuck it! Just book her for more charges for anything she has on her. And get on the phone and call Colorado!" As we sat there we could hear the Under-sheriff instructing someone to call the court and have them rush the Arrest Warrant they sent over that morning for us because we were in custody. We were held in custody until the Arrest Warrant's came back signed, is what we were told, and then transported to the jail. During the time where we waited for the Arrest Warrant, Officer's Noriega and Kemp attempted to make "general conversation" with us about how we could afford "fancy recording equipment and GoPros", asked us how we could afford to buy what we have, mentioned Mr. Booker's "beautiful dogs", and asked us exactly how much land we have. I mention this because we suspect Officer Kemp as being one of the officer's who harassed our friend, Mr. Booker, several times on his property and never made a report about the drunk neighbor who called dispatch twice to make a false report on him. Showing a pattern of harassment and corruption toward people of color in the County of Cibola. 

On April 3rd we attended the Preliminary Hearing in Cibola County Magistrate Court. As I was called up to the stand with my public defender, after having sat in the courtroom for at least an hour, Judge Diaz singled out my husband sitting at the back of the room with his dreadlocks tied back and covered with Africa prints and red, gold and green colors, and asked him to remove his "hat". My husband informed Judge Diaz that his choice to cover his hair is a matter of spiritual protection and he would like to keep it on. Diaz's response to my husband's serious statement was met by a joke in which the judge stated he'd love to wear something to protect his hair, as he rubbed his hand over his bald head and asked my husband, again, to remove what he had on. My husband removed his cover, even though this is a violation of his right to freedom of religion. After this session was over we had to stick around, 2 hours from our home, because additional charges for the same accusers and the same incident was assigned an entirely new case file and assigned to a whole new judge. When we attended my 2nd court hearing at 1:15 pm our friend, Eric, was present with us to support us. 

On April 4th we ran into a new neighbor who recently purchased land adjacent to our Crater Rd. neighbors while we were assisting our Crater Rd. neighbors with a project on their property. His property is off of Mujeres Ranch Rd. When he started to overhear what we had been going through since we moved here he asked "Do any of these people have a yellow Jeep?" and we confirmed with him that Linda Yancey is the one who owns the yellow Jeep in this subdivision. That's when he let us know that a couple days prior he was followed closely on the road by this Jeep, as he was driving from his property to Crater Rd. He said that when he turned on Crater the Jeep didn't follow him but stayed on the main road and stared down the back of his car. He stopped his car and looked in his mirror and waived his hand out of the window to not have any of his contact reciprocated by whoever was driving the Jeep. He said the Jeep stayed an watched him as he turned into our neighbor's driveway. 

Then on April 6th around 3:40 pm, I received some text messages from my friend Eric. He's a local friend that lives in Quemado, about 40 minutes from our property in Fence Lake, and is the manager of the Largo Cafe and Motel. He was upset and enraged because of Paul Kevin Snider and Peggy Lee Davis' visit to the Large. Eric told me, via text, that at the end of their meal Paul Snider asked Eric if he was "at court the other day." Eric told him that he was and walked away from the table. He said when he returned Mr. Snider had left him an unusually large tip. 

Lastly, on April 11th we received a link to an article written by KRQE 13 News in New Mexico indicating that Cibola County is requesting an additional $150K to assist them with expenses. The link to that article is here:

http://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/cash-strapped-new-mexico-county-asks-city-for-150k-in-aid/1107468497?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KRQE_News_13

The article not only outlines that Cibola County is liquidating 3 million dollars worth of it's assets but it also needs additional money from the city of Grants after writing a check to the Core Civic jail that bounced!