Veguita Residents Aid Sheriff’s Dept. With Three Arrests

By John Larson

VEGUITA - Two men were bound over to District Court on larceny, burglary, and trespassing charges Thursday, July 8, in connection with a break-in in Veguita one week before.
Gregory Christenson, 34, was charged with larceny, burglary and criminal trespassing.
Robert Hinton, 46, was charged with larceny, burglary, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest, breaking and entering, and criminal damage.
According to the criminal complaint, Socorro County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched on Wednesday, June 30, to a residence on Monterey in Veguita on a burglary in progress call.
Chief Deputy Sheriff Shorty Vaiza immediately learned from a witness on his arrival that there were three suspects; two men and one woman.
“People came out of their houses,” Vaiza said. “It was good to see people not afraid to give information that helped us apprehend the suspects.”
One witness said a man was hiding under a pickup and the other two suspects were possibly in a mobile home on the property.
Vaiza said he was able to remove Christenson from under the truck, and learned that he had been seen placing the stolen items into the back of a pickup with the other two assisting him.
The complaint said that when asked, Christenson did not know the name of the property owner, and did not have permission to on the property or to take any items from the property. A check also showed that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Vaiza said he was told by people in the neighborhood that the other two suspects - Hinton and a female - ran off when they saw the Sheriff’s Department vehicle arrive, and that they headed west across other properties.
Vaiza caught up with Hinton and the female suspect on Adobe Road and told them he would have to detain and question them. On hearing that, Hinton took off running from the Adobe property to a residence on Badger Lane.
Hinton “ran up to a door at this residence and kicked the door open, causing damage to the door and door frame,” the complaint said.
The owner of the residence reported that when Hinton saw her, he ran across Badger Lane and into an arroyo. He was apprehended in the arroyo and place under arrest.
A date for arraignment in District Court has not been set.
The case against the female involved was discharged by Judge Jim Naranjo for lack of evidence against her.

Veguita Residents Aid Sheriff’s Dept. With Three Arrests