ActivePaper Archive Jailor charged over sex with inmate - Hobbs News Sun, 6/15/2019

Jailor charged over sex with inmate

Police said inmate fathered jailor’s baby

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Alvarado

A former Lea County corrections officer faces a second-degree felony charge punishable by up to nine years in prison after she allegedly had sex with an inmate at the county jail.

Amelia Alvarado, 30, of Hobbs, was arrested Thursday on a charge of criminal sexual penetration in the second degree. A warrant for her arrest had been issued June 6 after a male inmate at the jail reported he had had sex with Alvarado on three occasions at the jail.

According to a criminal complaint, Lovington police received a voicemail message on May 10 from a 39-year-old inmate incarcerated in the Santa Fe County Correctional Facility.

Lovington police said Alvarado had been convicted of bringing the inmate contraband, specifically a cellphone, when he was incarcerated in the county jail in Lovington. Police said they suspected at the time that Alvarado and the inmate were having a romantic relationship, although it had not been reported by the inmate.

Lovington police also received a hand-written letter from the inmate on May 10, in which the inmate detailed his alleged relationship with Alvarado. The inmate said he impregnated Alvarado while in the Lea County jail, resulting in a baby girl, and that he had evidence to corroborate his allegations, including a picture of Alvarado and the inmate kissing while he was in jail, which police said they obtained a copy of.

The inmate said he was revealing what had taken place between him and Alvarado because he was testifying in federal court about his relationship with Alvarado while he was at the Lea County Detention Center.

Police interviewed the inmate by phone on May 14. He said he and Alvarado began a relationship, which turned sexual a couple months later.

“(I) asked the victim if at any time during this relationship if he ever conveyed to the defendant that he was uncomfortable or did not want to pursue the relationship and he advised ‘Oh no, no. I didn’t do none of that,’” states a criminal complaint. “However, the victim advised that the defendant made him feel uncomfortable, ‘by abusing her authority.’”

The inmate told police he and Alvarado had sexual intercourse on Dec. 21, 24 and 27, 2017, in a utility room while Alvarado was working the day shift.

Police said the inmate’s recollection of events was consistent with a form an unknown inmate submitted to LCDC staff on Dec. 26, 2017, about possible contact between Alvarado and the 39-year-old inmate. The reporting inmate said the 39-year-old inmate and Alvarado had sex in the utility room for about 10 minutes, and Alvarado came back with tobacco and a form of opioid replacement medication.

The reporting inmate said Alvarado and the 39-year-old inmate had sex in the utility room again on Dec. 24, 2017, when Alvarado gave the 39-year-old inmate drugs and a cellphone, resulting in Alvarado’s contraband conviction on May 7, 2019.

Police said jail staff almost caught Alvarado and the inmate engaged in sex in the jail’s law library on Dec. 27, 2017. When Alvarado was seen on video leaving her post in the control room, jail staff rushed to the law library room where Montoya was reportedly seen “pulling up his boxer shorts.”

“It is also important to note that the affiant has letters that were sent from the defendant to the victim and vice versa while the victim was incarcerated at LCDC,” states the criminal complaint. “These letters basically convey the love they have for each other and more specifically about the defendant being pregnant with the victim’s child.”

According to one letter, Alvarado told the 39-year-old inmate she was pregnant about two weeks after their first alleged sexual encounter.

“Now to find out that you’re going to have my child just made us official,” the inmate allegedly wrote Alvarado on Jan. 2, 2018. “I can’t wait to take pictures, kiss your (stomach) & for u to start showing.”

Alvarado was interviewed by Lovington police on Jan. 18, 2018. Alvarado reportedly confirmed she had written letters to the inmate using aliases of Mami Montoya, Luci Montoya and Lucia Hernandez. She also reportedly confirmed she opened a door to meet with the inmate once or twice.

“Defendant also states that when meeting with Montoya in this room they would kiss, but denied having sex with him,” states the criminal complaint.

Police said the relationship between Alvarado and the inmate continued long after he was moved from the Lea County Detention Center to Otero County to Santa Fe correctional facilities. Police obtained phone calls from the other two jails and inmate visitation lists in which Alvarado signed in as the inmate’s fiance.

Police said Alvarado called the inmate in Santa Fe about 56 times between Feb. 13, 2019 and May 8, 2019, and they referred to each other as “baby.”

Police said they obtained screenshots of messages between Alvarado and her mother in which Alvarado states her baby died after birth.

“I gave birth to baby girl Aron she didn’t make it I was only 22 weeks she was only 9 oz.. I failed my babe,” Alvarado reportedly wrote online. “Tell babe to call me tomorrow night I should be home. If u talk to him just say lucky didn’t make it.”

Police said the screenshots validate the inmate’s claim that he and Alvarado had sex, that the defendant was pregnant by the inmate, and that she gave birth to a baby girl.