Saturday, January 26, 2008

Police arrest Dana Trujillo

Woman's daughter died in December, after alleged beating by child's babysitters

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain reporter

Former Socorro resident Dana Trujillo, 30 was arrested Thursday (Jan. 24) on a bench warrant stemming from a failure to appear in court in 2004. She was arrested in Colorado by the Johnstown Police Department according to victim-witness advocate Herman Romero with the 7th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

According to Socorro City Police reports, in November 2003, Trujillo had reputedly left her three children (ages 3, 5 and 12) with a babysitter. The report claimed Trujillo had been drinking and had not come home for an extended period of time. At that time, she was charged in Magistrate Court with two counts alleging abandonment of a child involving death or great bodily harm.

Romero said the case was brought to the district attorney's attention by Socorro residents related to Zoe Garcia, Trujillo's daughter, following Zoe's death.

Zoe Garcia, 7, died Dec. 6 in Johnstown, Colo., after Heather Trujillo, 16, and her boyfriend Lamar Roberts, 17, allegedly beat the child while acting out their version of the video game "Mortal Kombat."

Zoe's grandparents, Veronica Lara and Hector Juarez, her brother, James Trujillo, her aunts, Heidi Juarez and Heather Juarez, and her uncle, Isaac Juarez, all live in Socorro where Zoe was born and attended Head Start.

Zoe's father, David Garcia, claimed he and Trujillo were given joint custody of their children and Trujillo moved out of state with the children without leaving an address.

"Every time we (Garcia's family) would find an address for them, she (Trujillo) would move before we could get papers served," said Theresa Urias, Garcia's sister.

In September 2006, Lara filed a report with Socorro City Police saying her daughter, Trujillo, had moved out of state and had not contacted her since she left. In the report, Lara said she was concerned about the family's safety and asked for a safety check.

Deputy District Attorney Stacey Ward issued a revised bench warrant for Trujillo in January. A previous warrant had been issued by the court in April 2004 after Trujillo failed to appear on a criminal summons to be arraigned on the child abuse charges. The original bench warrant was restricted and could only be executed in New Mexico. The warrant from the District Attorney's Office was executable nationwide.

"We just called the (the Johnstown Police) a couple of days ago to let them know the warrant was ready," said Sgt. Mike Winders of the Socorro City Police Department.

Trujillo now faces extradition back to Socorro to appear on the original charges.

ecronce@dchieftain.com

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