Rape cases raise questions for shelter

Director says facility had no authority to keep underage girls from leaving

Two underage girls walked away from New Day’s Safe Place shelter late at night last week, and, later, reported being raped.

New Day staff had advised them not to leave, but there was nothing else the shelter could have done to prevent the girls from doing so, says the shelter’s director.

“Kids can walk out the front door. We cannot stop them. We are not a locked facility, we are not a treatment facility and we don’t have custody of them,” New Day executive director Steve Johnson told the Journal on Thursday. “What we do is keep them safe while they’re here.”

The community-based nonprofit overnight shelter has operated for 41 years as a safe haven for

runaways and displaced kids ages 12-18. The overnight shelter, just one of New Day’s programs, can accommodate up to 16 kids at a time, though it averages 12-14 on any given night. About 200 kids are provided housing there during an average year, Johnson said.

Two men have since been arrested in connection with the rape case: Shane Sandoval, 21, and Leon Harker, 19. Both remain in the Metropolitan Detention Center, where they were booked on criminal sexual penetration of a minor and other charges.

In 2016, Sandoval was charged with four counts of criminal penetration of one woman, who declined to cooperate with prosecutors. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled. Harker has no adult criminal record in New Mexico, according to a state court website.

The two girls, ages 12 and 16, are both in the custody of the state Children, Youth and Families Department, and both have a history of running away, Johnson said.

The girls met at New Day, he said. The younger girl had just arrived, while the older one had been staying there a couple of weeks.

New Day policy is for kids staying in the shelter to relinquish their cellphones, Johnson said. That prevents them from taking photos of other kids and compromising their privacy. It also heads kids off from sending text messages or calling someone to pick them up in the middle of the night, which could create a safety issue for everyone at the shelter.

“The phones are kept in a lock box and are returned when the kids go off to school, work or on family visits,” Johnson explained.

But the older of the two girls apparently sneaked a cellphone into the shelter and made contact with a man she had met on Facebook.

Just before midnight on Aug. 16, the two girls and a third resident attempted to walk out, but were confronted by the shift supervisor, who cautioned them against leaving. The third girl took that advice, while the 12-year-old and 16-yearold did not.

The supervisor immediately reported the girls as runaways to police and CYFD, Johnson said.

A short time later, an Albuquerque police officer stopped Sandoval’s vehicle, because it did not have a license plate. The two girls were passengers.

When the officer determined the girls were runaways, they were immediately returned to the New Day shelter.

It’s not clear if Sandoval was cited during the traffic stop, but he was allowed to leave.

The two girls were told again that they could stay at the shelter but had to give up the cellphone. They refused, left a second time and contacted Sandoval.

According to a criminal complaint, Sandoval was skittish about driving after the earlier traffic stop, so he sent for an Uber driver to pick the girls up around 2:30 a.m. from a nearby gas station. The Uber driver took them to an apartment building on Tulane NE, identified in the complaint as Sandoval’s residence.

There, the complaint says, Sandoval and Harker provided alcohol to the girls and raped them.

Later that morning, the girls reported the sexual assaults to a New Day outreach worker who persuaded them to meet with law enforcement at a local CYFD office, where the police report was taken, Johnson said.

“The best tool we have is our staff quickly developing meaningful relationships with these young people, so they will listen to their advice and take it when confronted out on the street with bad options,” Johnson said. “Our job is to help them learn how to protect themselves by giving them tools and trusted adult allies.”

CYFD spokesman Henry Varela confirmed that the girls remain in the custody of the Child Protective Services Division, but per state law could not say where they are now being housed.

When asked why Sandoval wasn’t arrested after being caught with the underage girls in his car after midnight, APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said the girls did not say they were being held against their will.

“Keep in mind that there is no law against juveniles running away or any curfew laws. The officer did believe the situation was a little suspicious, which prompted him to check the females’ IDs.”

That’s when he learned they were runaways and had them returned to New Day, he said.

Further, when an officer conducts a traffic stop, a standard check on the driver is run through the Motor Vehicle Department/ National Crime Information computer. That query, Tixier said, reveals a driver’s license status, the presence of any active felony or misdemeanor warrants, and whether the subject is on probation or parole.

The check on Sandoval did not indicate anything was amiss.

“The officer, based on the circumstances at hand, would have no need or cause, to investigate further,” Tixier said.