Doña Ana County Jail Director Busted For Pot

Did you read that the Doña Ana County Jail Director got busted for pot? From the Las Cruces Sun Times:

Doña Ana County Detention Center Director Christopher Barela placed on leave Friday after he was charged with purchasing marijuana from undercover sources on four separate occasions earlier this year, according to court records obtained by the Sun-News.

. . .

A police affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint revealed that Metro Narcotics investigators in April were tipped off to allegations that Barela had been purchasing marijuana every five to 10 days “on a consistent basis” for about two years.

. . .

On May 10, investigators conducted the first of four reverse transactions with Barela, according to the affidavit. Barela, the affidavit states, arrived at a “preset location” in a silver Lexus and purchased 30 grams of marijuana for $40 from a confidential source.

Whoa. Forty bucks for an ounce? The Doña Ana County Jail Director was (allegedly) smoking Mexican pot? New Mexico’s a medical marijuana state. Can’t the jail director get some kine? Can’t he get a prescription? Doesn’t he have PTSD, or something?

Not only that, but he was allegedly soliciting weed on Facebook.

The investigators then discovered information on a cellphone linking Barela to a Facebook Messenger account that had been used to facilitate marijuana purchases, the affidavit states. The public name on the account was “Kris Barela,” and the associated profile picture depicted an image of the jail director, according to the affidavit.

Barela had allegedly used code words such as “Hatch Green Chile” for marijuana, and had inquired about prices and pick-up times.

Oh, that’s clever. The popo will never figure that one out.

Hey, maybe he’ll get convicted and incarcerated. Then he’ll probably meet some solid connections for when he gets out.

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