Deputies respond to domestic argument involving Sen. Pirtle

SANTA FE — Sheriff’s deputies responded to an argument involving state Sen. Cliff Pirtle and his wife Sunday morning after she said she’d caught him with another woman, a law enforcement official said.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Monday that no charges are pending, though prosecutors will review what happened.

“As of right now, it was a verbal argument,” Mendoza said, and it doesn’t appear a crime occurred.

Deputies responded about 10 a.m. Sunday morning to a report of a male and female arguing, and caught up with a vehicle that had left the scene, where they encountered Aysia Pirtle, Cliff’s wife.

Deputies were told that “his wife had located her husband with another woman, at which time a verbal argument ensued,” Mendoza said.

The Journal wasn’t immediately able to reach Pirtle, 37, late Monday.

A Republican from Roswell, Pirtle defeated longtime incumbent Tim Jennings, a Democrat, in 2012 to join the Senate. At the time, he was one of the youngest senators in the 42-member chamber.

At the Roundhouse, Pirtle has been a staunch defender of rural New Mexico and has championed legislation that would keep New Mexico on daylight savings time year-round. The reported argument with his wife came about eight hours after clocks jumped forward this weekend.

The Santa Fe New Mexican first reported the law enforcement response to the couple’s dispute.

Citing body-camera video and law enforcement records, the paper reported that Aysia Pirtle told deputies she suspected her husband of cheating and drove down from Las Vegas, New Mexico, where they were renting a home.

When she arrived at the place her husband is renting in Santa Fe, the newspaper reported, she saw him in bed with another female.

She banged on the door and an argument ensued.

Mendoza said Aysia Pirtle reported pushing her husband on the shoulder. But Sen. Pirtle said nothing physical happened.

Deputies will probably forward what they’ve learned to the district attorney’s office, Mendoza said, but the matter is closed for now, with no charges pending.