Saturday, April 15, 2006

Arrested coach put on leave

Police say he tried to use student to get drugs for him

Audry Olmsted El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

A teacher and boys track coach who is charged with attempting to use a Socorro High School senior to buy drugs has been placed on paid administrative by the school district.

Ronald Comanche, 42, of Socorro, is charged with one count each of solicitation, a third-degree felony; conspiracy to traffic crack cocaine, a third-degree felony; and attempting to traffic crack cocaine, a third-degree felony.

No arraignment date has been set for Comanche, who was released Wednesday from the Socorro County Detention Center on a $20,000 cash or surety bond.

Comanche, who is also an assistant football coach and teaches special education students at the high school, was arrested Tuesday night at his home on North Sixth Street by members of a drug task force comprised of city police, Sheriff's deputies and the State Police.

State Police Capt. Jesus F. Orozco said the arrest was made because the coach was attempting to make drug purchases using an 18-year-old student. The student in question is on the varsity football team.

Orozco said the boy's parents contacted the State Police about their son's possible drug activity.

When the police talked with the student's parents in February, they said they suspected their son had taken money from his mom's purse, so they confronted him, the criminal complaint said.

The boy admitted he took the money to buy drugs and also said he bought drugs for Comanche.

When State Police officers questioned him, "(The student) told us that, in the past, Coach Comanche had asked him to get crack cocaine and marijuana for him. (He) had done this several times," the complaint said.

The student told officers Comanche had recently asked him to get narcotics for him and agreed to make a recorded telephone call to the coach to see if Comanche wanted him to get narcotics for him.

The student made two separate phone calls to Comanche in February.

Orozco said he did not know if any charges were going to be filed against the student, but described him as a "cooperative source" for the police.

District Attorney Clint Wellborn was not available for comment.

Even though it appears in the transcripts that one of the phone calls was made while the coach was still on school grounds, Orozco said no enhancement would be added to Comanche's charges because no transaction took place on school grounds.

The captain also said that to his knowledge, no other coaches or students are being investigated in connection with this case.

"It's strictly between these two individuals," he said, speaking of Comanche and the student.

The case is still under investigation, he added.

aolmsted@dchieftain.com

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