Woman arrested for trying to bribe witnesses in home invasion case

An Aztec woman is accused of trying to buy silence in one of San Juan County’s most violent recent home-invasion cases, offering two victims $1,000 each so they would not cooperate with investigators.

Angela Lucero, 47, was arrested in Aztec and booked on two counts of third-degree felony intimidation of a witness. An affidavit for arrest warrant says the allegations center on two crime victims in the case against her son, Alex Arnold, 23, who is being held in the San Juan County Detention Center.

Arnold faces three counts of first-degree felony armed robbery and one count of second-degree felony aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon. Those charges stem from the Jan. 17 invasion of a home in the 1100 block of Smith Lane, where police say Arnold, MyKaela Gonzales, 26, and Salvador Sanchez, 29, forcibly entered the residence, stole a pit bull puppy, a television, a laptop computer, bicycles and other property, and left three people injured.

The male victim suffered multiple cuts to his head and was treated at San Juan Regional Medical Center. Police say the suspects fled in a dark gray Ford F-150 that was later found at a home in the 200 block of Sunset Place, triggering a neighborhood lockdown. Arnold and Gonzales were not apprehended until Jan. 21, when they allegedly ran from police and caused a crash near Pinon Hills Boulevard and La Plata Highway.

The witness-bribery allegation adds a separate criminal layer to a case already built around armed robbery, burglary and serious injuries. In New Mexico, bribery or intimidation of a witness is a third-degree felony, a charge that can complicate a prosecution by putting pressure on the people prosecutors need most: the victims and eyewitnesses.

According to the arrest materials, Lucero’s alleged involvement began Jan. 28, when a victim’s advocate visited the Smith Lane home to advise the victims of an upcoming court date. The new charge places more scrutiny on the case as prosecutors continue pursuing the underlying home-invasion allegations against Arnold, whose adult criminal record began in 2021 with a conviction for unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and includes previous custody on charges of receiving stolen property, larceny, possession of a controlled substance and battery.