[Editor's Note: Sorry, part of the article accidentally didn't get posted. All of it is here now!]
By Roger Lanse
On Sunday, June 23, 2019, at about 7:17 p.m., Silver City police officers were dispatched to a Serinna Court address in reference to suspicious males in the ditch behind the caller’s house. Officers arrived at the location, according to a SCPD incident report, and upon walking north in the ditch found a cut in the fence on the south side of the Silver Schools Annex and four screwdrivers on the outside of the fence. The officer also observed that several Silver Schools maintenance vehicles appeared to have been tampered with and the south side entrance door of the maintenance building was wide open.
After other officers arrived, the report said, the building was cleared. A school employee confirmed that two computer towers valued at $549 each, two security cameras valued at $487.50 each, five security cameras valued at $112.50 each, and multiple other items, were missing.
According to the report, security camera footage showed that a male entered the property on Saturday, June 22, at 7:15 p.m., and took a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria belonging to Silver Schools and left the property at 7:25 p.m. However, an officer had already initiated a traffic stop on the Crown Vic earlier that morning and the driver, Dominick Munoz, 21, of Silver City, arrested. The footage also showed the same male entering the property again through the same cut in the fence later that day at about 10:14 p.m. and making off with multiple items. According to GCDC staff, Munoz was released soon after the early morning arrest under a catch-and-release program. According to the SCPD, Munoz’ early release may be because the details of how he came to be driving the Crown Vic were still being investigated as the vehicle had not been reported stolen.
At about 10:14 p.m., on Tuesday, June 23, officers were again dispatched to the Silver Schools Annex in reference to a breaking and entering call, according to the report. Upon arrival, officers spotted two men on the property who left through the cut in the fence and began running south in the ditch. After refusing to obey an officer’s command to stop, one male, identified as Rafael Torrez. 36, of Silver City, was pursued, taken to the ground, and handcuffed. The other man, Dominick Munoz, was arrested by other officers. Both men were booked into the Grant County Detention Center that day.
The two men have been variously charged with four counts of criminal trespass, two counts of burglary, two counts of resisting arrest, and one count each of breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft, criminal damage, possession of burglary tools, and assault on a police officer.
According to GCDC staff, Munoz and Torrez were released on June 24, Munoz on his own recognizance and Torrez on an unsecured bond.
Other burglaries in the same area are being investigated, including two break-ins at the Ben Altamirano Sports Complex concession stand on Monday and Tuesday, June 17 and 18, and three break-ins at Bible Baptist Church – two earlier in June and the latest on Tuesday, June 18.
Church staff told the Beat that, in the three break-ins, approximately $350 in cash, a guitar amp, a laptop computer, a Bluetooth speaker, two cases of bottled water, and assorted small tools were taken.
Missing from the concession stand, according to a blotter report, was a gallon jar of pickles which was found thrown into a dugout.