Grants man charged with DWI
Child was in car when driver hit fence

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — A Grants man who was returning to the city after allegedly hitting a fence in San Rafael with his vehicle on Saturday was stopped by police and subsequently charged in connection with DWI and child abuse.

Wilfred Molina, 43, of 1288 Cortez, was still in custody in the Cibola County Detention Center Tuesday afternoon, following a hearing before Magistrate Court Judge Jackie Fisher on Monday.

Molina faces a second-degree felony child abuse charge as well as DWI and driving on a suspended license, both misdemeanors. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 17 in Magistrate Court.

Detention Center Lt. Adrianne Jaramillo said Molina has a $10,000 bond, meaning he is required to pay $1,000 or 10 percent of the bond in order to be released.

Molina was driving a white Honda Prelude returning from San Rafael when Grants police were notified that an attempt to locate was issued.

“Either sheriff’s deputies or (New Mexico) state police responded and alerted us in an attempt to find Mr. Molina,” Grants Police Detective Moses Marquez said.

“Mr. Molina was driving intoxicated with a child, which placed that child in a position of potentially being harmed, and that is child abuse,” Marquez said, explaining the felony.

Marquez said when Molina was asked how much had to drink that day, he told Officer Steve Roberts “three beers.”

“It is almost always two or three beers, no matter how much they had to drink,” Marquez said.

“I don’t know if it is a natural response or not, but the No. 1 response, about 99 percent, is people say they have had two beers. The No. 2 response is three beers,” Marquez said.

Molina was tested at the police department following a 20 minute deprivation period, where he was not allowed to smoke, eat or drink anything, and tested at .19 on the Intoxylzer 1800.

That is more than 2 1/4 times more than the state minimum of .08 minimum blood alcohol level, which is legally intoxicated in New Mexico.

Molina was also driving on a suspended license, and Marquez said anyone who knows of a way to prevent individuals from driving who are arrested for DWI, or other traffic related charges and have had their licenses suspended, to call the police department.

“We would like to keep them from driving again and possibly hurting someone,” he said.

When Molina was taking the field sobriety tests near the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and State Route 53 on the west end of Grants, Robert’s police report, filed with Magistrate Court, stated that Molina failed “significantly.”

“He was swaying the whole time I administered the test and had trouble standing and following directions,” Roberts stated.

He reported that Molina’s breath smelled of alcohol, his speech was extremely slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and watery.

Molina faces two days short of 11 years in state prison for the three charges, a fine of up to $12,000, or both, if he is prosecuted and convicted of all three charges.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent
@yahoo.com.