Public records request tied to case in Bloomfield have gone unanswered

A Bloomfield woman who claims a San Juan County Sheriff’s deputy in plain clothes assaulted and falsely arrested her at her workplace is now suing the county.

Geraldine Chavez filed a tort claim notice dated Dec. 11 in the 11th Judicial District Court that named the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, the San Juan County Commission and Sheriff’s deputies Michael Farni and Christopher Headley.

Chavez’s attorney, Arlon Stoker, wrote in the tort claim that his client was deprived of her civil rights, when Farni and Headley reportedly came to her workplace at the Bloomfield Dollar General, 1001 E. Broadway Blvd., and mistook her to be Lucinda Burns, a woman wanted for allegedly aiding a suspect in a double homicide.

The Tri-City Record on Dec. 19 made an Inspection of Public Records Act request for body camera video, photographs and other evidence pertaining to the detention of Geraldine Chavez by Michael Farni and Christopher Headley at the Bloomfield Dollar General on Aug. 29, as well as the subsequent arrest on the same date, place and time of Lucinda Burns.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government made the same request on Dec. 19 through Legal Director Amanda Lavin.

The Sheriff’s Office has not responded to either request after 10 days.

With regard to the tort claim, both Chavez and Burns were employed by the Bloomfield Dollar General and both were reportedly working at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 29, when Farni...

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