Courts

Magistrate Judge Pat Casados Orders Steven C. Porter to Pay Nearly $100K in Cash to Get Out of Jail

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Steven C. Porter

Staff Report

In order to get out of jail this time, Steven C. Porter of Pajarito Acres in White Rock must pay nearly $100,000 in cash after being arrested Monday and charged with violating the terms of his release.

Police suspect Porter removed the electronic monitoring bracelet attached to his ankle for some 20 hours between Friday and Saturday. A truck was vandalized about a mile from his home within that time period.

Porter went before Los Alamos Magistrate Court Judge Pat Casados this morning. His attorney Elwood Pennington told the judge that the brand of ankle bracelet used Read More

Couple Suspected of Burglarizing Los Alamos Homes Granted Bail With Conditions

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Brandi Ortiz-Merrifield

Staff Report

In seperate hearings this morning in Los Alamos Magistrate Court, Judge Pat Casados set bond for an Ojo Caliente couple who are engaged to be married. The couple is charged in a string of local residential burglaries over the past two months.

Casados set bond at $10,000 cash or surety for Brandi Ortiz-Merrifield. Ortiz-Merrifield, 20, is charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit burglary (4th degree felonies) and one count of burglary of a dwelling (3rd degree felony). Her bond was reduced from $28,000 due to her inability to pay. The judge told her Read More

Former Sandia Scientist Pleads Guilty to Taking Government Property to China

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Jianyu Huang

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE—Jianyu Huang, a scientist formerly employed by Sandia Corporation (Sandia) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), pleaded guilty Monday to making a false statement and unlawfully transporting converted government property in interstate and foreign commerce.

The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Carol K.O. Lee of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division.

Huang, 46, a naturalized U.S. citizen from the People’s Republic of China who resides in Albuquerque, was arrested in June 2012, on a six-count indictment Read More

Police Inventory Lists 66 Firearms At Steve Porter’s Pajarito Acres Home

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This SKS Russian 7.62 with bayonet is among 66 firearms police recently inventoried and confiscated from Steven C. Porter’s residence in Pajarito Acres. Courtesy/LAPD

Staff Report

Los Alamos Police arrested Steven C. Porter Monday and charged him with escape from a community custody program, a felony, for tampering with his court ordered electronic monitoring device.

He is being held in jail without bond and scheduled to go back before Los Alamos Magistrate Court Judge Pat Casados at 8:30 a.m., Thursday at the Justice Center.

Porter, 46, was initially arrested Sunday, Aug. Read More

Judge Casados: Landlord and Tenant Issues

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Landlord and Tenant Issues

By JUDGE PAT CASADOS
Los Alamos Magistrate Court

Are you thinking about moving and renting a new home? Are you going away to college and will not live in the dorm? Are you sending a student off to rent an apartment or share a house with other students?

Renting a place to live presents many important questions and can have legal consequences. Lack of information or wrong information may cause disputes that can turn into headaches including court action leading to eviction.

The first and most important piece of advice I would give anyone is to KEEP RECORDS.

In looking for housing Read More

Former Los Alamos National Laboratory Worker Sentenced for Violating Atomic Energy Act Violations

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Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni and Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni. Courtesy photo

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE—The Justice Department today announced that a former contract employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was sentenced this morning for conspiring to violate the Atomic Energy Act by communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person believed to be a Venezuelan government official, and making false statements to the FBI.

Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 71, of Los Alamos was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson to a year and a day in federal prison followed by three

Read More

Magistrate Judge Pat Casados Orders $102K Bond For Steven C. Porter With Strict Conditions

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During an arraignment this morning, Magistrate Judge Pat Casados explains to defendant Steven C. Porter each of the 20 charges he is facing. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post

Steven C. Porter

With 20 drug-related counts filed against him, Steven C. Porter faced Los Alamos Magistrate Judge Pat Casados this morning during his arraignment at the Justice Center.

Casados read each charge out loud, detailed what each charge meant and asked porter if he understood each charge and the possible sentence and fine. Porter, 46, answered that he understood. Read More

Letter to the Editor: Shocked at Judge Parker’s Decision to Remove Mural

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By DEAN and LINDA SPIKER
Aztec, N.M.
Regarding: Court decision concerning the 10 Commandments in Bloomfield, New Mexico.
 
Honorable Judge Parker:
 
After reading the decision that you returned concerning the 10 Commandments monument in Bloomfield, N.M., I was shocked.
 
There were several reasons that I was shocked. One being that since you were appointed by Pres. Ronald Reagan I thought you were a more conservative judge who would have known the history of the United States. The other concern was that the 10 Commandments mural was on the wall in the District Court itself. Therefore,
Read More

Los Alamos Police Charge Steven C. Porter With Multiple Drug Related Counts

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Steven C. Porter

STAFF REPORT

Los Alamos police have charged Steven C. Porter of White Rock with more than a dozen criminal counts including possession of a controlled substance, trafficking of a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance.

Porter, 46, is a Pajarito Acres homeowner who was handcuffed and removed from the annual meeting of the Pajarito Acres Home Owners Association Sunday evening at the White Rock Baptist Church on N.M. 4.

PAHOA President Eldon Linnebur told the Los Alamos Daily Post at the scene Sunday evening that more than 100 people representing more Read More