Bond granted to man accused of kidnap, rape of Organ Mountain student

LAS CRUCES - A man accused of kidnapping then sexually assaulting an Organ Mountain student was granted an unsecured bond after his lawyer argued discrepancies raised questions about the facts of the case.

Jorge Luis Claro Quezada, 45, was arrested and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on Sept. 3. He's charged with one count of kidnapping with intent to commit sexual offenses, three counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor.

Police said Quezada approached an Organ Mountain High School student while she was at McDonald's near the school around 12:40 p.m. on Aug. 27. They said he offered to give the girl a ride back to campus. She refused, but Quezada offered a second time and she accepted.

Once she was in the car, police said Quezada sexually assaulted her and prevented her from leaving the vehicle.

During the pretrial detention hearing on Thursday, Las Cruces Police Department Detective Dianna Renteria provided the court with additional details about the incident.

Renteria said that the security camera video at the McDonalds shows that Quezada and the alleged victim get into Quezada's car. She said the two got out of the car about 15 minutes later. The alleged victim then began walking back to the high school campus.

When Quezada's defense attorney, Jose Coronado, cross-examined Renteria, he asked several questions about the timeline that Renteria established and the timeline expressed in an LCPD news release.

Before Quezada was arrested, LCPD released a news release calling for the public's help in finding Quezada. Information from the news release, some of which turned out to be false, was used as the basis for news articles and television news segments.

The news release stated that Quezada held the alleged victim against her will for about an hour. However, Renteria said that the McDonald's surveillance video showed Quezada and the alleged victim in Quezada's vehicle for about 15 minutes.

"The press releases that are sent out are not always accurate because we don't want to release too much information," Renteria said.

Dan Trujillo, LCPD Public Information Officer and the author of the news release, told Sun-News that some information is excluded from news releases and Facebook posts in order to protect a person or to protect the investigation.

Still, Trujillo said that the information in the Quezada press release was a mistake.

"It was an unfortunate mistake, but it does not take away what was alleged to have occurred," Trujillo told the Sun-News.

During the hearing, Coronado said that he asked about the news release because it shows a discrepancy between the alleged victim's statements and the police officer's narrative of events.

Coronado also cast doubt on the allegations by saying that Quezada's car was in need of repair during the incident. Coronado said that Quezada stayed in the McDonald's parking lot after the alleged incident to continue working on his car.

"You have to wonder why would Mr. Quezada, who now has committed a violent crime, just casually work on his vehicle given reason to believe that the police are going to arrive?" Coronado said.

Third Judicial District Court Judge Conrad Perea ultimately ruled that an unsecured bond would ensure Quezada would come to court and would not pick up additional charges.

During a pretrial detention hearing, prosecutors have to prove that the defendant in a case is dangerous and that no conditions or release can assure the safety of the community or specific members of the community.

Coronado said that prosecutor Jason Galbirth presented no evidence that Quezada knows the alleged victim or her family, or has any history of violent behavior. According to court filings, Quezada has never been charged with a violent crime.

"He's got good family behind him. He's got a job. He has no mental health issues. He's got no substance abuse issues. He's fully employed," Coronado said.

Judge Perea found that Quezada did present a danger based on the evidence presented at the hearing. However, he said that prosecutors did not prove that conditions of release could not ensure the public's safety.

Perea granted Quezada a $25,000 unsecured bond, meaning he would have to pay if a judge ruled he violated his release order. Perea also ruled that Quezada could not return to the McDonald's where the alleged incident occurred.

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Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached by email at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com or by phone at 575-541-5449 or on Twitter at @Just516garc.

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