ALBUQUERQUE, NM---Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas and Albuquerque Police Department Chief Michael Geier announced that Sergei Von Hoyningen-Huene was charged by criminal complaint with the felony crimes of Sexual Exploitation of a Child (Possession) and Sexual Exploitation of a Child (Manufacturing). In late July, investigators with the Albuquerque Police Department, acting on a cybertip of child exploitation materials, conducted a search warrant of Von Hoyningen-Huene’s residence, where they found and seized multiple images and videos of child sexual exploitation contained on multiple electronic devices.
Santa Fe, NM–Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas filed a motion to enforce a 2018 judicial order that established public use of several roads across private property that provide access to public land in the White Peak area of northeast New Mexico. This is the second motion that the Office of the Attorney General has filed to enforce the order against a private landowner, who continues to defy the judge’s order and deny public access.
Santa Fe, NM---Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas joined State Treasurer Tim Eichenberg and State Auditor Brian Colón in recognizing the Americans with Disabilities Act Day. On July 17, 2020, Governor Michelle Luján Grisham declared July 26, 2020 as Americans with Disabilities Act Day in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act.
Santa Fe, NM---Attorney General Balderas today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule unlawfully curtailing state authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. For more than three decades, the EPA has consistently acknowledged and respected that Section 401 provides states with the authority to review, impose conditions on, or deny certification for federally permitted projects. However, as directed by President Trump’s April 2019 executive order, the EPA issued a final rule radically altering its water quality certification regulations to restrict state authority under the Clean Water Act. In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the final rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and Clean Water Act and must be vacated.
Albuquerque, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas issued the following statement on the passing of Congressman John Lewis:
“America has lost a true hero in Congressman Lewis, an icon who led the civil rights movement and changed our lives for the better. We must continue to fight with his courage and follow in his footsteps.”
Santa Fe, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that the Office of the Attorney General has taken over the prosecution of former Las Cruces Police Department Officer Christopher Smelser, who stands accused of killing Antonio Valenzuela while in his custody. The Office of the Attorney General has taken the case at the request of the Third Judicial District Attorney’s office. In addition to taking the case, the Office of the Attorney General has increased the charges that Smelser will face to second degree murder.
Santa Fe, NM–Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that the State of New Mexico, along with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and the California Air Resources Board prevailed in their lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to repeal the Waste Prevention Rule, a commonsense measure to reduce the enormous waste of natural gas on public lands. The rule requires oil and natural gas producers to take cost-effective measures to cut the wasteful leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, on federal and tribal lands. Nearly 35 % of New Mexico is federally administered, and the state contains the second highest area of federal land leased for oil and gas production – more than four million acres – producing almost 900 million mcf of natural gas in 2018.
Santa Fe, NM–New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas today joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in a lawsuit against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education (ED), challenging their action to unlawfully repeal the 2016 “borrower defense” regulations and replace them with regulations that do nothing more than benefit predatory for-profit schools at the expense of defrauded students.
Albuquerque, NM -- Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that Second Judicial District Court Judge Jacqueline Flores sentenced Mark Vallejos to 5 years in the Department of Corrections for possession of child pornography. An investigation by the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force into the online distribution of child pornography over peer-to-peer file sharing networks led to a search of Vallejos’ residence.
Santa Fe, NM---In response to this week’s white supremacist attack on the India Palace restaurant in Santa Fe, Attorney General Hector Balderas today renewed his call for the New Mexico Legislature to update New Mexico’s anti-domestic terrorism and hate crimes statutes, as well as fund an anti-domestic terrorism unit in the Office of the Attorney General.