US Marshal Service to send agents to help with warrant backlog in Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Law enforcement in the metro united in their mission to get violent criminals off the streets Wednesday. After a meeting with U.S. Marshal Service Director Ronald Davis, they’re feeling very confident about making that happen.

“Candidly, the benefit of this visit was to hear what was happening in Albuquerque in the district of New Mexico to understand what is in place to be able to respond to violent crime,” said Davis. 

Davis was joined by several law enforcement agencies Wednesday. This comes after a recent announcement from the Metro Crime Initiative about tackling the massive warrant backlog in Albuquerque. 

“Also today, we decided to up the ask with respect to the warrant fund from the state legislature. So we’re now going to ask for a total of $20 million that would be $10 million for the metro that’s double than what we asked for before,” said Mayor Tim Keller. 

The original ask was $10 million total, $5 million for the metro and $5 million for the rest of the state. 

“One of the things that we’ve learned is that we want to make that funding applicable to every piece of the system that is required with respect to warrants and warrant processing,” said Keller. 

Davis announced the U.S. Marshal Service would also bring in agents from across the country to help with some of the 5,000 outstanding felony warrants.

“We’ve had key arrests with the United States Marshal Service, with ATF, with FBI. Today was the first we have the sheriff’s department sitting with us, and I hope that the community sees that we are united with our sheriff’s department,” said APD Chief Harold Medina. 

Every official said the initiative is already in a better place after the roundtable with the director.

“The message to the violent offenders out there is strength in numbers, and there’s a whole lot of us who are working really hard every single day to make sure we do our best to keep our community safe,” said Sonya Chavez, U.S. Marshal for the District of New Mexico.  

There are also about 60,000 misdemeanor warrants that need clearing. But, the first step in the process is to prioritize which warrants need to be cleared first out of the felony warrants. 

Already, local authorities have worked with the U.S. Marshal Service to arrest a 29-year-old man suspected of 14 armed robberies in the Albuquerque metro.

Brandon Sanchez, 29, was arrested by Albuquerque police Tuesday at a motel in northeast Albuquerque. Police say U.S. marshals helped track down Sanchez, who they found was wanted for a federal probation violation and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Police allege Sanchez committed the following robberies:

• Twisters, 2235 Wyoming Blvd., N.E., Jan. 1 at 9:44 a.m.
• Starbucks, 2801 Eubank Blvd., N.E., Jan. 1
• Subway, 4451 Osuna Rd., N.E., Jan. 1 at 1:07 p.m.
• Little Caesar’s, 6125 Montgomery Rd., N.E., Jan. 4 at 10:51 a.m.
• Subway, 5400 San Mateo Blvd., N.E., Jan. 4 at 10:56 a.m.
• Subway, 1306 Gibson Blvd., N.E., Jan. 7 at 12:54 a.m.
• Little Caesar’s, 333 Montaño Rd., N.W., Jan. 8 at 1:10 p.m.
• Starbucks, 6828 San Mateo Blvd., N.E., Jan. 9 at 9 a.m.
• Big 5, 8102 Wyoming Blvd., N.E., Jan. 9 at 3:50 p.m.
• Domino’s, 5920 Holly Ave., N.E., Jan. 9 at 5:08 p.m.