Woman's cry for help ends in her arrest

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Michelle Miller’s cry for help at a neighbor’s house, about an alleged domestic violence situation, has resulted in the registered nurse being arrested on six prescription drug forgery charges and one count of fraudulently attempting to obtain a controlled substance. Each of the seven counts is a fourth degree felony.
Miller, 39, has a 1305 Del Norte, Grants address, but has been working and living in Gallup at unknown locations, Grants Police Sgt. John Castaneda said.
A warrant for Miller’s arrest had been issued by the Cibola County Magistrate Court in July 2007 and police had been seeking Miller on that warrant since then, Castaneda said.

Cry for help

Miller ran to a neighbor’s house on Del Norte on July 14, screaming that Bradley Hickson had beaten her and tried to kill her with a gun. She had a swollen right eye when police arrived, according to a police report filed in Magistrate Court.
She told police when they arrived that Hickson shot a gun and he was still inside the house. He walked outside and was arrested shortly after the incident, according to Magistrate Court records.

Hickson was arrested on the following charges: Aggravated battery against a household member, a third degree felony; and battery against a household member, a misdemeanor.
Castaneda said a bullet hole was found inside the house but no gun.

He also said police when officers ran her information through a law enforcement database, the warrant showed up, resulting in her arrest.

Miller had tried to get prescriptions filled at the Wal-Mart in Grants. Randy Mattila, a pharmacist there, contacted case management stating he thought Miller was calling in prescriptions and picking up narcotics for her patients that she was doing home care for, according to Magistrate Court records.

Narcotics

A case worker checked on a local family about a prescription that Miller called in, and discovered that the prescription, which was for Lortab, a schedule III narcotic, had not been prescribed by the patient’s doctor and the patient was not using any, and had not used that narcotic preciously, court records state.

Police Sgt. James Spidle investigating the case found that Miller had indeed called in prescriptions for narcotics, several times prior to this situation, always using a different doctor and on occasion with another medication that was not a narcotic. The doctors involved denied giving her the prescriptions, court records state.

Hickson bonded out of the Cibola County Jail on July 15, on a $10,000 cash surety bond, requiring only 10 percent of the bond amount for release, Lt. Dave Sisneros said.
Miller is still in custody as of late Monday night, on a $50,000 cash surety bond, Sisneros said.
Miller faces nine years in state prison, a fine up to $35,000, or both, if prosecuted and convicted of all charges. She faces a preliminary hearing on July 29 in Magistrate Court unless her case is bound over the he 13th Judicial District grand jury.

Hickson faces one day short of four years in state prison, a fine of up to $6,000, or both if prosecuted and convicted of his single felony. He had a preliminary hearing scheduled for today, also in Magistrate Court.
— To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560 .