Ex-PRC member faces arrest
Suspect accused of burglary
SANTA FE — A former member of the state Public Regulation Commission who pleaded guilty to embezzling public money has been accused of burglarizing property managed by his mother in downtown Santa Fe.
Santa Fe police have issued an arrest warrant for Jerome Block Jr., who stepped down from the PRC in 2011 as part of a plea deal, for one count of third-degree residential burglary. According to the Friday warrant, Block was caught on surveillance footage entering a condo Nov. 19 and leaving with items belonging to the couple staying there.
SFPD spokesman Greg Gurule said Monday that Block has not been arrested or turned himself in, but said officers have been in telephone contact with him. Gurule couldn’t say whether officers know where Block is.
In 2011, Block pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of a state-issued credit card, embezzlement and misusing public campaign money while he was on the PRC, and was sentenced to probation. Block, whose father also served on the PRC, also admitted an addiction to prescription painkillers. He was elected to the PRC in 2008 and resigned as part of his 2011 plea deal.
According to the Friday arrest warrant, a woman staying at an Otra Vez condo on Galisteo Street and Water Street woke up and saw that her Apple iPad and husband’s wallet were missing from the living room. She reported the theft to the property owner, Patsy Block, who told the woman that an iPad and the wallet had been deposited through the office’s mail slot. The woman told officers that her husband’s $6,700 watch, two gift cards worth $300 each and $380 in cash were missing from the wallet, but all his credit cards were still there.
Patsy Block later watched surveillance footage and saw that her son entered the couple’s condo the night of the theft, according to the warrant.
She told police that Jerome Block, 40, had worked for her for a few years and was familiar with the security guard who gave him a key to enter the gated property. She said her son had been in contact with the male victim about getting his watch back from the person he’d sold it to, but had yet to do it.