Sheriff’s aviation unit helps arrest three fugitives in county operation

Paul Benavidez Jr., wanted on allegations of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and two counts of aggravated fleeing, was among three fugitives arrested when the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit helped the United States Marshals Service serve warrants on May 12.

The operation stretched across San Juan County and Sandoval County and relied on aerial surveillance from a county helicopter staffed by two deputies who were cross-commissioned as U.S. Marshals Service temporary field officers. While the aircraft kept watch from above, ground teams moved in to arrest the suspects before they could slip across county or state lines.

The county identified the other two fugitives as Eric Lopez and Tracy Antonio. Lopez was wanted on aggravated sexual abuse charges, had federal warrants from Arizona and New Mexico, and was also facing new federal charges in New Mexico for failure to register as a sex offender. Antonio had a federal warrant from Arizona for violating supervised release tied to an original sexual abuse of a minor charge, and he was also facing new federal charges in Arizona for failure to register as a sex offender.

San Juan County officials said the arrests reflected the kind of work regional fugitive task forces are built to do: combine federal, state and local law enforcement to locate and apprehend dangerous fugitives. The U.S. Marshals Service currently leads 56 local fugitive task forces nationwide, and county officials said the arrangement matters in northwest New Mexico, where suspects can move quickly between jurisdictions and into remote stretches of the Four Corners region.

The Sheriff’s Office said 12 of its personnel are currently cross-commissioned as temporary field officers with the Marshals Service, extending the county’s role beyond routine patrol and into multi-agency fugitive work. That broader footprint is underscored by the Aviation Unit itself, which covers more than 30,000 square miles across four states and about 300,000 people.

San Juan County’s scale helps explain why aerial support can matter so much in a fugitive operation. The county had 121,661 residents in the 2020 Census, while neighboring Sandoval County had 148,834, and Farmington, the county’s largest city, had 46,624. When wanted suspects move through that wide territory, deputies said the ability to track them from the air can make the difference between a temporary lead and an arrest.

The May 12 operation also fit an established pattern of cooperation between county deputies and federal marshals. In a May 7, 2025 case, San Juan County records show the Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Service were working together on a wanted-person operation that ended in an officer-involved shooting with two fatalities, a reminder of the risks tied to fugitive enforcement in the region.