3 AFR employees will remain in jail pending ankle monitors after alleged rape
By Andres Valle
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — Three Albuquerque Fire Rescue employees will remain in jail for now, but will eventually be released. The firefighters are accused of raping a woman back in July.
In their first detention hearing, the judge said they won’t be released right away because of a delay in getting ankle monitors.
According to court records, Aden Heyman, Angel Portillo, and Anthony Martin are accused of raping a woman inside Martin’s apartment on Menaul Boulevard NE on July 15.
Police say the victim left the apartment through a bathroom window after the alleged rape took place. A resident of the complex found the victim and called police.
Because of the intensity of the crime, state prosecutor Lisa Vigil-Roybal is pushed to keep all three behind bars, first starting with Heyman.
“The state is asking for the court to grant the state’s motion for preventative detention to find that the defendant is dangerous and to find that there are no release conditions that can adequately protect specifically our victim in this case and the community under state,” Vigil-Roybal said.
District Judge Britt M. Baca-Miller granted he stay in jail for now.
“There should be a few weeks until pretrial services have those GPS monitors. At that point, he would be fitted with a GPS monitor through pretrial services,” Baca-Miller said.
The attorney for Martin, who recently retired from the fire department, also pushed to get him released. Citing his work history with the department as well as his cooperation with the investigation, according to the criminal complaint.
“A lifetime of service for the fire department suggests otherwise, that Mr. Martin is perfectly capable of following official directives. And so this is evidence that weighs heavily in his favor that he can abide by conditions of release,” Ben Ortega said.
The judge once again ruled to keep him in jail until an ankle monitor is available.
“I’m going to echo what I said for Mr. Hayman. I will release him third party to pretrial services upon the availability of that GPS monitoring device or certification that a third-party GPS company agrees to monitor him until pretrial services have monitors available,” Baca-Miller said.
Portillo’s attorney also pushed to have him released without a GPS tracking device.
“These allegations stem from July 15 of this year. That is more than a month and a half ago, your honor, that Mr. Portillo has been out without GPS monitoring and that he’s been out without other conditions of release,” Heather LeBlanc said.
“At this point, I’m going to deny that request,” Baca-Miller said.
The judge ordered alcohol and drug testing to be submitted by the defendants.
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