S.F. man charged in raid police say yielded stolen vehicles, guns
A Santa Fe man faces numerous charges in connection with a 2023 raid on a south-side property where police say they found more than $40,000 in stolen vehicles and other goods.
Santa Fe police allege Cesar Ernesto Cera, 43, was living on a 2.5-acre property off Las Cuatro Milpas where officers found stolen vehicles, motorcycles, guns and a camper during a search in November, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.
Cera faces 10 felony counts of possession of stolen vehicles, two counts of receiving or retaining stolen property in excess of $20,000 and four misdemeanor counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.
The Santa Fe County jail’s online log doesn’t indicate Cera has been arrested.
Police said in a November news release Cera had driven away from an officer who was trying to conduct a traffic stop, but several hours later the officer found the vehicle Cera had been driving at the Las Cuatro Milpas property.
Cera was charged with aggravated fleeing from police, reckless driving, receiving or transferring stolen motor vehicles and possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon in the Nov. 29 incident.
The new charges stem from a Nov. 30 search of the property. Police allege in the recent criminal complaint officers recovered seven vehicles, three motorcycles and a camper that had been flagged as stolen in a national database.
Officers also found four guns, three magazines and “various live ammunition,” the complaint states.
Cera was arrested in November and booked in jail but later was released.
At the time, prosecutors asked the state District Court to order Cera detained until his trial, but a judge in late December ruled against the request, writing in an order the state did not provide evidence showing no conditions of release would protect the community from him. Cera was released on house arrest with GPS monitoring.
An arraignment has not yet been scheduled for the new charges against Cera.