Taos police charge suspect in Subway armed robbery

Judge releases arrested man on unsecured bond

Taos Police have charged 33-year-old Ronnie Mondragon of Ranchos de Taos as the man who appeared on surveillance footage wielding a tire iron and demanding cash from a frightened employee starting her shift at Subway restaurant in Taos in late August.

Mondragon was charged with armed robbery following a traffic stop Sept. 3, when Taos Police Officer Elise Iringan learned the 33-year-old was driving with a revoked license and was also being investigated as a person of interest in the Aug. 30 armed robbery.

During the stop, Iringan also found that the vehicle Mondragon drove, a white Chevrolet pick-up truck, and two articles of clothing, a bandana in Mondragon’s back pocket and a dark-colored cap, were connected to the robbery, and would ultimately serve as evidence in the investigation.

Three Taos Police officers responded to the report of the robbery after 7 a.m. Aug. 30.

A female employee present during the robbery was “visibly shaken,” officers noted.

She told the officers she had been coming out of the bathroom at the sandwich shop after opening for business when she saw a man wearing a bandana over his face and holding a tire iron near the westside entrance.

The man followed her to the counter and demanded she open the register, telling her to “hurry up,” the employee recalled.

The suspect grabbed a little more than $50 in cash and then asked the employee to open the restaurant’s safe.

When she told him she didn’t know the code to open it, the suspect fled, walked across the parking lot outside and entered a nearby field, the employee said.

While en route to the call, one of the responding officers noted the white pickup truck heading northbound. They recognized it as matching a recent “be on the lookout alert” connected to Mondragon, who had allegedly stolen the truck from his mother.

While reviewing surveillance video of the robbery, officers later noted the suspect’s clothing, specifically his hat and the bandana he wore, as well as a distinctive tattoo of a “V” and an “S” linked together on his neck.

Following Mondragon’s arrest Sept. 3, the white truck was impounded. A search warrant led to the recovery of the suspicious cap, bandana and a tire iron officers believe are connected to the robbery. The items served as probable cause to charge Mondragon.

Following an arraignment before Taos Magistrate Judge Jeff Shannon Sept. 11, Mondragon was released on a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond in spite of the judge’s finding that the Ranchos de Taos man had violated conditions of release on two other pending Taos District Court cases and indicated he might be a danger to the community.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 in the armed robbery case.