Serving Eastern New Mexico and West Texas
Tonjia Rolan: CMI photo Electrician Cade Beverage, 36, hard at work investigating an electrical problem at a local business. Cade Beverage of Farwell can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. The electrician and father of three boys enjoys cooking for his family and hosting family gatherings. Beverage and his wife, […]
Freedom New Mexico It appears more than one Curry County jail employee has been fired and others have been either demoted, suspended or hit with salary reductions. The information was part of a brief press release issued Friday by County Manager Lance Pyle. Pyle declined to identify employees affected, citing personnel policy. He also declined […]
File photo Curry County officials are hoping a laundry list of policy changes coupled with surprise inspections by the county manager and others will eliminate escapes at the problem-plagued jail. Robin Fornoff Curry County officials are hoping a laundry list of policy changes coupled with surprise inspections by the county manager and others will eliminate […]
CNJ file photo The Clovis News Journal requested records related to the Nov. 13 escape at the Curry County jail. Here are reports provided:
File photo The Curry County jail had another troubled year in 2010, with an escape attempt and other issues. CNJ staff Escape attempts, mistaken releases and top brass walking off the job and forcing the sheriff to step in highlighted the year for an already troubled Curry County jail. Voters also overwhelmingly rejected two tax […]
An inmate facing escape charges is accused of stabbing a detention officer with a ball point pen Wednesday at Curry County jail. Undersheriff Wesley Waller said deputies were summoned to the jail about 10 p.m. and determined inmate Brandon Wagner, 24, assaulted Lt. Christina Chavez and Officer Zack Boone with a pen. Waller said Chavez […]
CNJ staff The Curry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an attempted escape from the jail Thursday. Investigators were called to the jail around 5 p.m. after a lieutenant at the facility noticed unusual inmate activity in one of the pods, Undersheriff Wesley Waller wrote in an e-mail Monday. Waller said the lieutenant went to investigate […]
Sharna Johnson A Curry County detention officer who took two inmates outside the jail to have lunch earlier this week is under administrative investigation, Administrator Keith Norwood said Thursday. Norwood said he stumbled onto the trio Tuesday as they sat on the east side of the detention center, eating their jail-prepared meals. One of the […]
CNJ photo A surveillance video released by the Curry County Sheriff shows four inmates rampaging through the jail on Feb. 21. Jail officials estimate the inmates did $15,000 worth of damage. By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer A surveillance video released by the Curry County Sheriff shows four inmates rampaging through the jail, taking turns […]
Magallanes By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer A Parmer County inmate police say escaped while taking out the trash Thursday morning was recaptured about an hour later near the jail in Farwell. Sheriff Randy Geries said 17-year-old Jesus Magallanes had less than two months left on his sentence for misdemeanor charges but now faces up […]
CNJ file photo Four inmates smashed holes through the cinder block walls in their cells during a Feb. 21 escape attempt. By Sharna Johnson: CNJ Staff Writer Four inmates trying to escape from jail Feb. 21 tore a metal desk from a wall, then used the desk to smash holes through the concrete block walls […]
File photo Four inmates who attempted to escape from the jail early Sunday morning were found inside two observation rooms used by detention officers to monitor activity in inmate Pods, according to a police report. By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer Four inmates attempting to escape from the Curry County Detention Center were found wandering […]
CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks A Curry County Sheriff’s squad car sits outside the jail Monday after the interim jail manager and most of his command resigned following a weekend escape attempt by four inmates. The sheriff took command and is running the jail. CNJ staff A spokesman said Monday that Curry County Sheriff Matt […]
File photo Following the escape, officials rushed to correct deficiencies at the jail. Workers can be seen doing repairs in this photo of one of the pods at the jail. By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer Two huge mistakes just weeks before the one-year anniversary of a major escape that focused national attention on Clovis […]
nth Judicial District Attorney Matthew Chandler announced that a Clovis man that assisted two inmates escape during the 2008 Curry County jailbreak was sentenced today to 15 years in prison.
Courtesy photo Velma Valdez A Clovis couple is charged with helping two escapees, including a convicted child-killer, in the August jail escape. Velma Valdez, 44, and Abundio Valdez, 34, are charged with two counts each of harboring a felon. Abundio Valdez is also charged with two additional counts of assisting in an escape. District Attorney […]
By Sharna Johnson: Freedom New Mexico An initially quiet year was fraught with high profile criminal cases in the last quarter. Law enforcement scrambled to recapture eight escaped inmates and the prior year’s homicide rate doubled in the space of weeks. With the exception of a summertime rash of home invasions, things were relatively calm […]
CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks Javier Zapata, one of the Curry County Detention Center escapees, is arraigned Thursday in district court. Zapata is facing more than four years imprisonment for charges stemming from the escape attempt. By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer Two of four captured Clovis escapees were arraigned Thursday in district court. Javier […]
By Sharna Johnson: CNJ staff writer District Attorney Matt Chandler said there are still some unanswered questions about last month’s escape at the Curry County jail after reviewing a state police investigative report. Members of the region’s Major Crimes Unit are reinterviewing inmates and detention officers, he said. Chandler said approximately 10 interviews were conducted […]
