Rene Gamboa, 34, arrested after allegedly slapping 87-year-old grandfather, stealing truck

Rene Gamboa, 34, was arrested in Las Animas County after he allegedly slapped his 87-year-old grandfather and stole the elder’s truck, according to local news reporting that appeared in The Chronicle-News and was listed March 3, 2026 in news aggregators. The original report identifies the suspect and the victim by age and relationship and places the incident in late February; the Chronicle-News article carrying the headline is behind a login.

Available excerpts do not include charging documents or an arrest log for Gamboa. The materials supplied name Rene Gamboa and describe the acts as alleged - a slap and the theft of the grandfather’s truck - but do not list formal charges, an arrest date, the arresting agency, bond information, or whether the vehicle has been recovered. Because those records are not in the published excerpts, Gamboa’s legal status beyond "arrested" cannot be confirmed from the sources provided.

The Chronicle-News is identified as the publisher of the item and is copyrighted to The Chronicle News, a CherryRoad Media Newspaper; the site excerpt shows the story requires users to "Login to continue reading." Aggregators including Portofspain and Ground News list the same headline in local feeds with a March 3, 2026 publication date, but do not add additional factual detail beyond the names, ages, and the "late February" timeframe.

The Gamboa arrest comes amid heightened scrutiny of law enforcement conduct in Las Animas County in recent years. Separate reporting by KRDO and KKTV describes prosecutions and civil awards tied to a November 2022 traffic stop in Trinidad involving Kenneth Espinoza. KRDO reports two former Las Animas County deputies, Henry Trujillo and Mikhail Noel, are each facing five criminal charges - assault, official misconduct, official oppression, menacing, and failure to intervene - and that both deputies were fired in August 2022. KRDO quotes Espinoza family attorney Kevin Mehr saying "the filing of charges feels like justice," and reports that Kenneth Espinoza "has been awarded $1.5 million as part of a use of force lawsuit."

KKTV’s reporting adds contested details from Mehr Law that Espinoza was tased 35 times during the November 2022 stop while traveling to Walsenburg, and notes Sheriff Derek Navarette told 11 News the data from the tasers indicate Espinoza was "only tased once" and "was not struck by either deputy." Mehr’s comment in KKTV coverage states, "Even if he was going to take it a step farther, he could have just knocked on the window and say hey man, what are you doing."

At present, the Gamboa matter is limited in public detail to the names, ages, the alleged acts, and the late February timeframe reported in The Chronicle-News headline and the original excerpt. Local court filings, jail booking logs, and a statement from the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office would be needed to confirm charges, custody status, and vehicle recovery. The county’s recent $1.5 million award in the Espinoza case underscores potential fiscal and policy implications when force or misconduct allegations reach litigation, making formal records in the Gamboa case important to residents and county officials as the legal process unfolds.