Stolen car found in Grants

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — It is a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time for a woman from Las Vegas, N.M.

Genoveva Paiz, 33, was visiting an individual in Grants.
Grants police, who were watching the apartment where she was visiting, saw her get in and out of a 1993 white Ford pickup, Grants Police Lt. Corey Allen said.

Police were observing visitors to the home because of a complaint about traffic at all times of the day and night and the possibility of drugs being in the apartment, Allen said.

The resident of the apartment Monique Pena, who had been stopped about 12:30 a.m., Jan. 19 in connection with a broken tail light, received a nontraffic citation in connection with possession of drug paraphernalia, Allen said.

At 8:30 a.m., the same day, police conducted a search warrant at 317 North First St., Apt. B, looking for drugs, he aid.

Inside the apartment was a small amount of a crystal like substance that is believed to be methamphetamine and some pipes used for drugs, he said.

Pena was issued another nontraffic citation in connection with possession of drug paraphernalia as a result of the search warrant.

At the apartment, at the time of the search warrant, Paiz had her truck searched.

No drugs were found, but the truck came back reported as stolen out of Las Vegas, Allen said.

“Paiz told police it was her father's truck, and it was, but he reported it stolen,” Allen said. “It was taken without his permission.”

The police complaint of receiving/transportation of a stolen vehicle is a fourth degree felony punished by 18 months in state prison, up to a $5,000 fine, or both, if Paiz is prosecuted and convicted of the charge.

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