SantaFe.com

Clayton— the Self-Professed Messiah of a Doomsday Cult Went From Presiding Over His Compound to a Cell at the Clayton/Union County Jail on Tuesday, Courtesy of the New Mexico State Police.

Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser, was booked into the jail— where he turned down an offer of juice and a bologna sandwich— on multiple charges of sexual contact with minors.

In an Internet posting before his arrest early Tuesday, he said he had committed no crime and compared his impending arrest to the persecution of Jesus.

Bent, 66, had previously admitted having sex with adult followers and...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008
by Vic Vela and Polly Summar • Journal Santa Fe

It hasn't been a good week for Willem Malten, owner of Santa Fe's Cloud Cliff Bakery and Cafe.

Malten announced over the weekend that Cloud Cliff will close after 25 years in business. And Tuesday morning, Malten arrived at his bakery-restaurant to find that every single piece of patio furniture had been stolen. That's about 30 chairs and four tables. A Buddha statue also was taken.

It was the third time Cloud Cliff was hit by thieves in the past few months.

Malten, who has said he's shutting down the Cloud Cliff because of soaring wheat prices and increased personnel costs from Santa Fe's...

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

The man suspected of being the driver responsible for a Sunday crash that killed renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar Lobsang Lhalungpa is employed as a correctional officer at the state penitentiary south of Santa Fe.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman said Tuesday that Roque Lucero, 40, of Santo Domingo Pueblo has not returned to work since the crash and that the department has opened its own internal investigation into Lucero's alleged involvement in the fatal wreck.

Lucero was hired in February to work at the penitentiary despite having multiple DWI convictions on his record.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

Tibetan Buddhist scholar Lobsang Lhalungpa died in Santa Fe on Monday, the day after the car he was riding in was struck by a pickup truck police say was littered with beer cans.

The man police have identified as the driver of the truck— Roque Lucero, 40, of Santo Domingo Pueblo— has multiple DWI citations on his record.

Lucero fled the scene of the crash on St. Michael's Drive on Sunday afternoon and had not been apprehended as of Monday evening. Three people who were passengers in the truck with Lucero were caught but have not been charged.

Lhalungpa, 80, worked for the Dalai Lama's...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

Spring weather means more sunshine, more time outdoors and, at least this year in New Mexico, more thefts of high-end sunglasses.

"The more outdoor activities are on the rise, the more (sunglasses are) stolen," Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said. "It's the old adage of supply and demand."

Designer brands, including Versace, Gucci and Christian Dior, that can costs hundreds of dollars a pair were among the fancy frames taken in the recent heists.

A recent string of burglaries targeting designer sunglasses has shades shop owners worried.

"They're pretty easy to move," said Vince...

Saturday, April 26, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

A Santa Fe prosecutor has become a defendant in the court where he usually is on the other side.

Magistrate Judge Richard Padilla has accused Assistant District Attorney Jason Bielagus of being in contempt of court. In a criminal complaint, the judge charges Bielagus with "disorderly behavior, breach of the peace tending to interrupt or disturb a judicial proceeding" or disobeying a lawful order or court processes.

The dust-up stems from a November incident that led to the dismissal of a DWI case that Bielagus was prosecuting. The dispute between Bielagus and Padilla is now headed to...

Thursday, April 24, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

After 35 years of making music, two members of Los Lobos are now opening their front doors to their fans — metaphorically speaking.

“We’re gonna invite people into our living rooms and sit them on our couches and have a nice conversation with them,” said Louie Pérez during a recent phone interview from his home in Orange County.

Pérez and band mate David Hidalgo will bring the band’s impressive music catalogue to the Lensic Performing Arts Center tonight for a special acoustic performance that will be an “intimate and candid forum.”

The show will be stripped-down and informal — fellow Los...

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

ALBUQUERQUE— A 17-year-old St. Michael's student— whom his father called his "shining star"— died Friday after he crashed his SUV on Interstate 25 near Tramway.

Jensen Brown was killed while driving south on the highway when he ran into the back of a safety escort vehicle that was following a street sweeper, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department spokesman David Knowles said.

Brown had just moved into the right lane and apparently hit the escort vehicle at an angle, Knowles said. Brown died from his injuries, which included head trauma.

The two other passengers in the vehicle— Eric Fishback...

Saturday, April 5, 2008
by Vic Vela and Hailey Heinz • Journal Santa Fe

Some muggers apparently just don't know whom to pick on.

Santa Fe police now believe the young assailant who lost a tug-of-war for a purse with an 83-year-old woman last month is the same knife-wielding thug who failed when he tried to rob a state Court of Appeals judge near the Plaza in November.

In both cases, the would-be victims who fought back were more than three times the age of the suspect— 20-year-old Angelo Trujillo of Chimayó.

"I'm sure he had no way of knowing these people were going to fight back," Santa Fe Police Lt. Tom Wiggins said. "It was just another decision in a chain...

Friday, April 4, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe

A jury awarded $3.55 million Thursday to the family of an Arizona man who died in a 2005 crash on an icy stretch of interstate east of Gallup.

The six-person jury held the state Department of Transportation "100 percent" negligent for failing to make the road safe. Damages were awarded to the estate and family members of Philip Chaky of Surprise, Ariz.

Chaky died April 10, 2005, after his truck and horse trailer flipped and crashed into an Interstate 40 guard rail east of Gallup.

Two other people died in a separate accident the same day on the same stretch of I-40's eastbound lanes in icy...

Friday, April 4, 2008
by Vic Vela • Journal Santa Fe