By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Special to the SUN

Prosecutors are asking a judge to hold a man without bail pending trial after he allegedly threw rocks into the homes of people he knew, as well as through commercial buildings, under what appears to be delusions that they stole his gold.

Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist wrote in a March 2 motion to have Justin Archuleta, 52, of Chama, held without bail that he should not be allowed out because he “poses a guaranteed danger of property crime, including burglary, as well as the threat of physical harm when the Defendant throws rocks in a victim’s home” and that he had recently been released from prison.

Archuleta was in jail, then prison, from 2014 until recently, when he was released on parole. In that case, after an appeal, he was sentenced to 14 years, on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary and unlawful taking of a vehicle. His sentence was increased because of past convictions, which made him a “habitual offender.”

New Mexico Department of Corrections records show Archuleta is on parole, but do not show when he was released. They also indicate he spent 14 years in prison but don’t show when he was released.

New Mexico State Police officers arrested Archuleta on Feb. 27, on 10 counts of criminal damage to property, two counts of child abuse, four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (a large rock) and one count each of criminal trespass and breaking and entering.

Officer Isabelle Pilon wrote in a criminal complaint that dispatchers received multiple calls in Chama for someone throwing rocks through windows, including the bank, a strip mall and a grocery store. At the bank, surveillance footage showed a man damaging an ATM and a teller identified the man as Justin Archuleta, as he banks there.

At the Cumbres Mall, the manager said someone threw a large rock through the Radio Shop window. After going to the mall, another deputy found Archuleta walking down the street. A State Police officer and sheriff’s deputy found large rocks in his pockets, Pilon wrote.

Archuleta allegedly told officers that he “has been running for five days from people trying to frame him and he got mad,” Pilon wrote.

When she asked about broken windows, he allegedly initially said they were only broken at “Ronnie’s house” and when pressed, he said he broke some windows, she wrote.

“When asked if he had thrown rocks through any of the businesses, Justin stated, ‘I threw them through all the businesses over there that stole my gold,’” Pilon wrote.

At Capulin Lane, Ronald Carrillos said he was home with his two children and they were all sleeping in the living room after watching a movie when they were woken by a loud bang, an apparent rock thrown through his sliding glass door. An “industrial-sized trailer hitch” was thrown into his truck’s front windshield. Carillos identified Archuleta as someone who worked for him in the past and knew the layout of his house, Pilon wrote.

Another family reported half a cinderblock was thrown through their window and that Archuleta had previously stayed with them after he was released from jail, she wrote.

Businesses’ surveillance footage showed a man gathering rocks and throwing them through their windows, she wrote.

A combined dangerousness and preliminary hearing is set for March 16 in Santa Fe District Court in front of District Judge Jason Lidyard, after District Judge Anastasia Martin recused herself.