Woman charged with giving teen booze, drugs

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — An adult woman who allegedly provided drugs to a male teen has been arrested and faces a felony charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The teen was also arrested, in connection with assault on a police officer

Edith Counts, 21, of 414 West Santa Fe Ave. Grants, has a preliminary hearing on April 10 in Cibola County Magistrate Court.

If she is prosecuted and convicted of the fourth degree felony, she could serve up to 18 months in state prison, be fined up to $5,000, or both.

Counts was released from Cibola County Detention Center on Thursday on her own recognizance, with an unsecured personal bond of $10,000.

Counts went to Grants Police Department to talk to detectives in connection with this case and when she arrived on March 24, she was arrested on a magistrate court warrant, said police Lt. Maxine Spidle.

The warrant was issued March 24 after police filed an affidavit for an arrest warrant with the magistrate court detailing the incident where she allegedly gave drugs to a 17-year-old male, Shane Wilson, also of Grants.

Because Wilson was uncooperative, combative and belligerent towards police officers while they were on scene on March 17, he was also arrested and charged in connection with disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer, according to court records.

About 11 p.m., March 17, police responded to a call at 414 W. Santa Fe Ave., in connection with a possible domestic disturbance, court records state.

During the investigation, Wilson screamed at Officer Kevin Dobbs, and Counts spoke with Sgt. Gilbert Gonzales stating Wilson was mad at her because she was talking with other males, court records state.

Police noted in response that Wilson appeared very intoxicated and continued to be belligerent and took an aggressive posture towards Gonzales.

Wilson told police that Counts, who he said was his girlfriend, gave him "tweak," a slang term for methamphetamine and another woman gave him beer to drink, according to court records.

After being read his Miranda rights, Wilson agreed to talk to officers and told them that morning he and Counts and another woman and another male, neither of whom were arrested, had smoked methamphetamine, court records state.

Wilson said he did not know how much of the drug he had consumed but that the group had a "40," slang for $40 worth of the drug, court records stated.

That evening, prior to police arriving, Wilson stated the group went to a party and he consumed a fifth of Captain Morgan and some wine coolers, court records state.

Spidle said the contributing charge stems from the adult giving a teen-ager drugs.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.