US Attorney General visits Albuquerque to discuss crime-fighting measures

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Law enforcement officials from across the state gathered for a meeting with the nation’s top prosecutor.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with tribal and local law enforcement officials to discuss his office's efforts to combat violent crime.

Most of the meeting took place behind closed doors, but Garland says his office is working to target violent crime and the fentanyl crisis.

He called fentanyl the deadliest drug in the United States and said the Justice Department is working to combat it.

Locally, he says, according to Albuquerque police, there was a 19% decrease in the murder rate from 2022 to 2023. And a 41% decrease in robberies from 2022 to 2023.

According to Garland, this is consistent with the rest of the country. He also cited examples of the work of the U.S. Attorney here in New Mexico.

“Last month, the U.S. Attorney's Office, in cooperation with the Albuquerque Police Department, the ATF and the FBI, successfully prosecuted a felon who illegally possessed a firearm and shot a woman in the back of the head at a Walmart. She survived but required emergency surgery and extensive rehabilitation,” Garland said.

He's talking about Maurice Lacey. According to police, he broke into a Walmart break room in 2022 and shot his ex-wife in the head. He then told employees he had just shot his wife. In July, Lacey was sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison.

Garland also spoke of an arrest in a drug-related crime on the subway.

“In collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE and the New Mexico State Police, this office secured a 14-year prison sentence for a man caught with more than 19 pounds of fentanyl in his hotel room,” Garland said.

That was Eric Jaramillo. Police say he was running from his hotel room when he impaled himself on a wrought iron fence in 2022.

Police said they found nearly 20 pounds of fentanyl and two firearms in the room. He pleaded guilty to possession and intent to resell.

The U.S. attorney general says such arrests are a collaborative effort between agencies, and he has planned several similar visits across the country this week.