Deputy arrested, charged with aggravated DWI
Man jailed in 2014 for domestic violence
SANTA FE — A Rio Arriba County deputy, who previously had been jailed while with the sheriff’s office, was arrested for drunken driving Tuesday night after someone called police and said he threw a miniature liquor bottle at them in the Española Lowe’s parking lot.
Deputy Joseph Aquino, 42, was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI and driving with an open alcohol container after he refused to undergo field sobriety tests from the Española Police Department. Sheriff’s office Capt. Randy Sanches said Aquino was placed on paid leave indefinitely while the department conducts an internal investigation.
Aquino is not allowed to possess a gun as part of his court-ordered conditions of release, so Sanches said he’ll be on desk assignment as long as the order is in place.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Española Magistrate Court, an EPD officer arrived at the Lowe’s parking lot around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday and could immediately smell alcohol coming from Aquino’s car. Aquino, who said he had not been drinking, told the officer that he got a text that his son would be jumped at 11 p.m. and he was at Lowe’s to see what happened.
Aquino eventually admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol and was driving while refusing to take sobriety tests. An officer later found an open beer container in his car — apparently his personal vehicle — and placed him under arrest, according to the complaint. A dispatcher told the officer that a caller said Aquino drove up to them while drunk, started harassing them and “threw an empty miniature bottle at them.”
Aquino was released from jail Wednesday after paying 10 percent of a $5,000 bond, court records indicate. He is not allowed to possess firearms or dangerous weapons, may not return to the scene of the incident and may not drink alcohol. The judge wrote by hand on the order setting conditions of release that Aquino is not a flight risk, “But has a history with the courts. Bond is a must.”
In September 2014, Aquino was charged with domestic violence and battery on a household member after being with the sheriff’s office for about a year. A sheriff’s office spokesman said at the time that it was for an incident with a woman who was believed to be his wife or domestic partner. He had his gun and badge confiscated, and was placed on administrative duty for an internal investigation after that incident.
Aquino was charged with battery on a household member in 2009, but the count was later dropped by prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to a 2000 aggravated DUI in Santa Fe Magistrate Court, according to online records. Two bench warrants were issued in that case in 2001 because Aquino twice failed to register for DWI school.
A man who answered a phone listed for Aquino in court documents hung up on a reporter Thursday afternoon.