UPDATE: County Manager Julia Brown served the sheriff’s office with a Temporary Restraining Order to remove the Sheriff’s office from the detention center immediately.
“I believe it was an illegal and inappropriate activity,” Brown said.
According to the restraining order, the County has hired a jail administrator to operate the jail with assistance from trained staff.
Sheriff Vigil said during the investigation they found that there was no stable command structure at place in the detention center in the absence of Director Chris Barela, who was arrested Tuesday morning on fraud charges.
“The investigation will reveal who they spoke to and the command staff,” Vigil said. “What they said. That Mr. Chris Barela would leave and there was nobody in charge, and the investigation will reveal that. As a matter of fact we even found out that today even more by speaking with some of the other captains.”
Brown said a command structure is in place in case any administrator goes on leave, and the sheriff did not have the legal authority to take control of the detention center.
According to the restraining order, the sheriff’s office may be on the premises to conduct their criminal investigation.
Sheriff Vigil says the county attorney is supposed to represent all county departments, but the Sheriff’s office is not being represented.
“The county attorney is here at the county,” Barela said. “Not just a certain, selected few.”
County Manager Brown says she doesn’t see a conflict of interest.
“The county attorney does not represent anyone individually,” Brown said. “On those occasions where the county attorney’s office has attempted to meet with the Sheriff and offer legal advice on things they have been soundly rebuffed.”
The full hearing on the Temporary Restraining Order will be held on December 22nd.
Brown says Detention Center Director Chris Barela has been placed on paid administrative leave as part of county policy.
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Early this morning, The Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office white-collar crime task force arrested Doña Ana County Detention Center Director Chris Barela.
Barela was arrested on charges of Fraud over $20,000, bringing contraband into a jail, specifically dangerous weapons, and willful neglect of duty.
Detective Ken Roberts, who was in charge of the investigation said it began in June after receiving complaints from county commissioners, and detention center employees. Roberts says the investigation is dealing with the specific use of the inmate welfare fund.
Sheriff Vigil said a forensic audit investigation is underway of the Detention Center Director, Barela. The audit is being conducted by an outside company through the State Auditor’s office.
Vigil also requested Barela be placed on administrative leave and have no contact with county employees at this time. Vigil and District Attorney Mark D’Antonio asked for cooperation between the Sheriff’s office and County Government.
Vigil says so far the county staff has been uncooperative.
“You know we’re talking about the grand jury subpoenas that were served on the County Management, several months ago” Vigil said. “County Manager Brown did say we will fully cooperate. They have yet to cooperate. It’s about being transparent. I say if you have nothing to hide, be transparent. The public needs to know about this. You know we serve the public, we serve the public.”
County Manager Julia Brown says they have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate, but she has difficulty contacting the Sheriff.
“He doesn’t answer phone calls,” Brown said. “He doesn’t answer emails. He doesn’t speak to me except in public.”
After the arrest, The Sheriff’s office took over control of operations at the Doña Ana County Detention Center. Vigil says it is in his legal power to do this, in the interest of public safety.
According to Vigil, County Manager Julia Brown and County Attorney Nelson Goodin were at the detention center after the Sheriff’s office took command “making threats” in regards to their employment. Vigil says his staff will stand their ground at the detention center until leadership is being safely provided.
“Might be 2,3 days,” Vigil said. “I’ll be doing an assessment. I have staff, personnel that are experts out there. When that time comes, you know we’ll relinquish that. This is temporary just to assure the safety.”
Vigil said Major Brent Barlow is currently in charge at the County Detention Center.
County Manager Julia Brown says they did visit the detention center in the morning, but that no threats were made.
“I said, we don’t believe you have lawful authority to be operating the detention center,” Brown said. “And I would ask that you please vacate the premises, and they refused to do so, and I said alright, thank you, and we left.”
Sheriff Vigil said after the Detention Center takeover, his Public Information Officer Kelly Jameson was called back to the county detention center and told to clear out her desk.
“I’ll start looking at getting her back,” Vigil said. “She is an outstanding Public Information Officer. She was only doing her job, doing her job and look what she gets.”
County Manager Julia Brown says Jameson’s job is not at risk, and she was not pulled off of duty at the Sheriff’s office as a form of retaliation.
“While she is detailed to the Sheriff’s department,” Brown said. “She is an employee of the county’s public information office. And so when it became apparent that there was some risk of her being on one side and issuing statements saying one thing, and the rest of the public information office being on the other side saying something, I thought it best that she not be caught in the middle of that.”
Brown says Jameson’s job is not in jeopardy.
District Attorney Mark D’Antonio said he visited each of the county commissioners individually a week ago to let them know about a possible disruption at the Detention Center.
KRWG will have more updates on this story, as it continues.