The Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office is getting more than $100,000 to help clear a backlog of nearly 400 felony warrants.
Sandoval County Undersheriff Joe Gonzales said the county is receiving $132,941 from the state to pay deputies overtime, allowing them to knock on doors and clear some of the roughly 370 outstanding felony warrants in Sandoval County.
This is the second round of money this year for the sheriff’s office, which partnered with Bernalillo County and the Rio Rancho and Corrales police departments on a task force that aims to make the grant process easier.
“The district attorney will vet the warrants that they have, and then they issue those to the proper agency for service,” Gonzales said. “When we get the warrants, we also vet them, just to see if we have a change of address, those types of things. So we vet them, and then we pay overtime to deputies to execute those warrants.”
Gonzales said the number of warrants piled up during the outbreak of COVID-19.
“Because they weren’t having court that often, some of these people never showed up, and they were being released to stem the spread of COVID, so they were being released from jail with a promise to appear in court, and some of these people did not appear,” Gonzales said. “So we’re trying to clean that up. Plus, obviously there are some that are repeat offenders that will offend, and then they don’t show up to court.”
Once the grant money is received, the sheriff’s office will start working to clear the warrant backlog, which should take four to six weeks.
To check if you have a warrant, go to the New Mexico Court Records website. To clear your warrant, visit the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office.