Wrongful arrest case against Eddy County, Sheriff's Office will proceed

A federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against Eddy County filed by a man arguing he was wrongfully prosecuted by the deputies with the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office.

Defendants in the case Eddy County, Sheriff Mark Cage and deputies Jared Rostro and Eric Threlkeld filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in May 2023, which a federal judge on April 10 partially denied leaving the case active in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Attorney Jonlyn Martinez representing Eddy County, Cage, Rostro and Threlkeld declined to comment on the case when asked by the Carlsbad Current-Argus.

In a statement, Sanchez's lawyer Ramon Soto said the judge's ruling meant his client could "tell his side of the story" in court and seek justice for the Sheriff's Office allegedly violating Sanchez's rights.

"Judge David H. Urias’ opinion and order allowing Jason’s case to proceed to the evidence stage is a significant victory for Jason. We look forward to continuing this case on Jason’s behalf to hold the Eddy County Sheriff's Office, Mark Cage, Jared Rostro, and Eric Threlkeld accountable for violating Jason’s constitutional rights and taking away his freedom without any justification," Soto wrote in the emailed statement.

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Conflict started in 2017 amid child custody battle

Jason Sanchez filed his complaint on April 24, 2023 in federal court, alleging Threlkeld and Rostro abused their positions in law enforcement to investigate and prosecute Sanchez for several crimes stemming from his interactions with a woman with whom Sanchez shares a child.

A custody dispute between Sanchez and the mother Jocelyn Calderon began in 2017, according to the complaint. She filed a restraining order that year, restricting Sanchez from contacting her for any reason other than outlined in the custody order.

Sanchez admitted to texting and calling Calderon via the complaint about the custody dispute. The matter was investigated by Threlkeld and Rostro, who brought charges against Sanchez of aggravated stalking and violating a restraining order.

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He was convicted July 9, 2020, and sentenced to about 18 months’ incarceration. Two years later in December 2022, the convictions were overturned after he spent almost two years in jail, read the complaint, with a judge ruling the criminal case lacked adequate evidence.

In his lawsuit, Sanchez accused the County and the Sheriff’s Office of malicious prosecution, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, false arrest, false imprisonment and negligent hiring and training of the officers involved in the case.

The County filed a motion May 2, about a week after the lawsuit, to dismiss the case.

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U.S. District Judge David Herrera agreed to dismiss two counts in Sanchez’s complaint for malicious abuse of process and unlawful arrest, agreeing with the County that the complaint was filed after the three-year statute of limitations deadline.

Herrera denied the motion to dismiss the other five counts, finding the statute of limitations requirement was met for those counts, and that Sanchez presented enough evidence to support his claims.

That included the charge of false imprisonment, and the judge found that since Sanchez filed his complaint within the three-year limit of the invalidation of the charges on Dec. 20, 2022, that charge could stand.

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“As previously established, plaintiff’s conviction/sentence was invalidated on Dec. 20, 2022, when the New Mexico Court of Appeals overturned his relevant criminal convictions. Because Plaintiff’s Complaint was timely filed on April 24, 2023, well within the three-year statute of limitations applicable under New Mexico state law, the statute of limitations has not run on Count I of Plaintiff’s Complaint,” read the motion.

Herrera gave similar reasoning for the rest of the counts he declined to dismiss.

In the motion for dismiss the county argued Sanchez’s allegations were not made timely from the dates of alleged events based on statutes of limitations and that the plaintiff’s complaint was inadequate to prove the allegations.

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Deputies sue Eddy County after personnel files released to Sanchez

Amid Sanchez’s lawsuit he requested personnel files for Threlkeld and Rostro from the county under the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). The county responded to the IPRA request, providing the files to Sanchez which he then posted on Facebook on a page titled “Eddy County Wall of Shame,” alleging they showed multiple instances of misconduct by the two deputies.

Threlkeld and Rostro subsequently sued Eddy County and Sanchez on Jan. 16 for allegedly illegally releasing personal information exempted from IPRA. That case was also still pending in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, records show.

Sanchez on Feb. 2, filed a motion to dismiss himself from that case, arguing what he posted was in the public interest as it displayed, he said, a pattern of misconduct by the law enforcement officers.

“Mr. Sanchez proceeded to post these matters of high public interest and concern to Facebook,” read the motion. “Plaintiffs allege that ‘the public comments made by Jason Sanchez and release of private information have substantially harmed both Jared Rostro’s and Eric Threlkeld’s reputation and standing.’ However, they fail to allege how and what type of harm they endured.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Lawsuit alleges man was wrongfully arrested by Eddy County deputies