Accused ex-Pecos coach jailed facing rape charges
Baca allegedly violated conditions of his release with games in Taos, other places
A former Pecos High School boys basketball coach accused of raping two female students is back in jail on suspicion of violating the conditions of his pretrial release and removing his GPS monitoring device.
State District Judge Jason Lidyard on Tuesday (June 11) ordered Dominick Baca to remain in custody until his trial after Baca was charged with two dozen violations of his release terms over a fivemonth period as well as tampering with his ankle monitor.
Some of those violations allegedly occurred in Taos. According to transcripts from last week’s hearing, San Miguel District Attorney Thomas Clayton said in court that Baca played in basketball games in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and in Taos. Clayton also said Baca appeared in a photo published by The Taos News of players on a team that won a tournament that raised funds for Taos Special Olympics, and he said videos from the tournament showed Baca without his monitoring device.
Baca is awaiting trial on three counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor by school personnel and two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor by school personnel. He faces a separate trial on charges of violating the conditions of his release, set for July by San Miguel County Magistrate Abigail Aragon.
Baca had been prohibited from leaving Santa Fe and Río Arriba counties without court permission. However, prosecutors last month accused him of traveling to Albuquerque 15 times, including attending the state high school basketball tournament March 16 in The Pit at the University of New Mexico.
An affidavit for his arrest warrant also said Baca is suspected of showing up at Pecos High School, attending a Super Bowl party at a friend’s home in Villanueva in San Miguel County and visiting an uncle in Río Rancho between November and March.
Prosecutors claimed Baca also removed his GPS device four other times and was seen at other locations in violation of his release terms.
Thomas Clark, Baca’s attorney, told the judge that Baca admitted he failed to comply with his conditions of release, but Clark added that someone needed to answer for why his client was left unsupervised for seven months. Neither Clark nor Clayton returned phone messages left by