ALBUQUERQUE – Cody Payton, 25, of Las Cruces, N.M., made his initial appearance today in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with fleeing from a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at a high rate of speed. Payton remains in federal custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, both of which are scheduled for Oct. 22, 2018.
Border Patrol agents arrested Payton in the early hours of Oct. 15, 2018, after he entered and allegedly fled from the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 25 in Doña Ana County, N.M. According to the criminal complaint, after Payton drove into the checkpoint, Border Patrol agents directed him to a secondary inspection area based on Payton’s allegedly unusual behavior and hesitant responses while in the checkpoint’s primary inspection area. Payton allegedly disregarded agents’ directions and allegedly drove away from the checkpoint, leading agents in a high-speed pursuit. Agents arrested Payton approximately an hour after he allegedly fled from the immigration checkpoint.
The statutory penalty for a conviction on a high-speed flight from an immigration checkpoint charge is a maximum of five years in federal prison. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the U.S. Border Patrol and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Hammond of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
Information from Department of Justice