Sandoval deputy nearly run over

Alleged mail thieves charged in incident

PLACITAS — Authorities have arrested two suspected mail thieves after one of them nearly ran over a Sandoval County sheriff’s deputy.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Keith Elder says the incident started around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday when deputy Robert Torres spotted a vehicle with Washington state license plates near a cluster of mailboxes on Vista Montana Loop and N.M. 165 in Placitas.

“Due to the recent mailbox thefts, Torres stopped his patrol vehicle and walked to the mailboxes to check on the activity,” Elder said in a sheriff’s office news release.

A woman was sitting in the Chevrolet Malibu and a man was trying to open the boxes with a screwdriver and wrench.

“Deputy Torres told the female to take the keys out of ignition and get out of the car,” Elder said.

But the woman started the car and sped off, forcing the deputy to jump out of the way and pull the other suspect, identified as 24-year-old Paul A. Garcia, with him.

Town of Bernalillo officers located the car on U.S. 550 and pursued it until it crashed at the intersection of Camino Don Thomas and Calle Don Francisco, taking the woman into custody. She was identified as 21-year-old Elexus J. Groves of Albuquerque.

Elder says charges are pending against Groves and Garcia, also of Albuquerque, who also had a misdemeanor warrant out for his arrest.