Albuquerque, NM—Attorney General Balderas and a bipartisan coalition of twenty-five State Attorneys General today submitted a comment letter to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) asking the agency to strengthen its rules prohibiting websites, mobile applications, and other digital marketing companies from collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 and using that information to track children across the internet.
SANTA FE, NM–Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas opened an investigation into potential harms to New Mexican consumers and issued a consumer safety alert today regarding popular ride-sharing service Uber. According to a new report from the company, thousands of Uber drivers and passengers reported being the victims of sexual assaults, physical assaults, motor-vehicle accidents, and other harms while using the Uber app from 2017 through 2018. During that period, Uber users also reported approximately 6,000 instances of unwanted touching, attempted rape, as well as 107 traffic accidents resulting in death and 19 physical assaults resulting in death. In 2018 alone, 235 Uber users reported being raped while using the Uber app.
GALLUP, NM---Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that Gallup Magistrate Court Judge Virginia A Yazzie found probable cause to believe Mathew Vargas committed a second degree felony resulting in death on October 14, 2017 for a head-on vehicular homicide on State Road 118 near Gallup. Evidence was presented that Vargas suddenly veered across the center line into oncoming traffic when he struck and killed a motorist, Ernest Baker, in the other lane. Vargas’ car contained a half empty bottle of Goldschlager Whiskey and three Xanax pills were found in the defendant’s pants pockets. A blood test confirmed Vargas had excessive amounts of Xanax in his system at the time of the collision.
Albuquerque, NM?—Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas issued the following statement and risk advisory to New Mexicans in response to reports of ?illegal coyote-killing contests proposed for the holiday weekend. The Office of the Attorney General warns New Mexicans that coyote-killing contests are prohibited under New Mexico law, NMSA 1978, Section 30-18-16. This law, which went into effect July 1, 2019, makes it a misdemeanor to organize or sponsor a coyote-killing contest and a petty misdemeanor to participate in one.
Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that San Juan County Magistrate Court Judge Rena Scott found probable cause to believe Brandy America Stevens committed seven first-degree felonies between 2005 and 2010 by sexually penetrating her own daughter. The young woman...
Albuquerque, NM---Attorney General Balderas joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general fighting to support transgender rights in an antidiscrimination lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia. Gavin Grimm, a former student at Gloucester High School, sued the local school board in 2015 — when he was still a student — for discrimination that banned him from using the common male restrooms at his high school. The coalition filed an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in support of Grimm in the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board.
Albuquerque, NM– Today, Attorney General Balderas, joining a coalition of 22 attorneys general and the City of Chicago filed comments opposing an unlawful proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which would gut the current standards that limit emissions of methane and other harmful pollutants from new, reconstructed, and modified facilities in the oil and natural gas industry. This sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas up to 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas called on the New Mexico Game Commission to immediately strengthen its regulations to address waterway access in compliance with state law. The Attorney General's call for action follows a years long debate surrounding the public's right to access waterways that are adjacent to private land.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM---Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that charges against Brian and Tammy Casaus will proceed to trial after a probable cause finding by the Chaves County Magistrate Court. The couple is charged with multiple felony crimes stemming from their theft from the Cattle Baron Restaurant in Roswell. The two are charged with 13 felony counts, respectively, including for racketeering, tax fraud, money laundering, and embezzlement.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that a Rio Arriba County jury convicted Laura Seeds of five counts of felony voter fraud Thursday in relation to her work on her husband Robert Seeds’ 2016 election campaign for an Española City Council seat. Seeds was found guilty of two counts of false statements, two counts of possessing absentee ballots, and one count of conspiracy to violate the Municipal Election Code.