[Chief Story] describes significant forward movement—an arrest that held, a judge’s detention ruling, and a path toward treatment rather than simple removal.
By Levi Gwaltney, Editor
Las Cruces Digest
Source: Las Cruces Police Department (via Facebook)
Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story has released a new update on the city’s ongoing struggle with repeat offenders whose cases collapse under competency rulings and untreated mental illness. In recent coverage, Las Cruces Digest reported how the case of Neal Garcia—after years of state-level dead ends—ultimately left the local system altogether when federal prosecutors intervened. That move removed the case from local courts, placed it under federal authority, and shifted the outcome away from treatment-based options available inside New Mexico’s behavioral-health framework.
Chief Story’s newest statement offers a contrasting picture: a similar repeat-offender case, but one remaining firmly inside the local justice system, supported by community testimony and guided by tools unique to state jurisdiction. He describes significant forward movement—an arrest that held, a judge’s detention ruling, and a path toward treatment rather than simple removal.
Read Chief Story’s statement in its entirety, here:
Video Statement
Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story
Posted December 18, 2025 (via Facebook)
I want to share something positive that happened recently. The case I’m going to talk about highlights how teamwork can lead to a successful outcome. Each repeat offender has a different story and different circumstances that are relevant to how we approach them.
The last case I shared was a repeat offender who is a career criminal. He has spent his life victimizing and harming others.
This case is also a repeat offender, but the details are different. Like the previous case, she has over one hundred arrests, mostly for things like criminal trespass, indecent exposure, shoplifting and some misdemeanor assault or battery charges. Just recently, she was arrested five times in 23 days. She also suffers from addiction and likely untreated mental illness.
That’s not to say she hasn’t caused harm to our community. She has terrorized several businesses and citizens who are just out shopping or running errands.
Several of those businesses have reached out in desperation, not knowing what else to do—not just to protect themselves and their customers, but also to get her help.
We have been stuck in a constant cycle of arrest, her being found incompetent and the case being dismissed for the past few years… for hundreds of charges. Last week the District Attorney’s Office argued for her to be held in custody on a felony battery charge. And the District Court judge held her.
The business community showed up and testified during the hearing, which was likely the difference.
It’s important to highlight a few things. This person’s life on the streets is tragic. She victimizes the community, but is also likely frequently victimized, herself. While in jail, she will not be using drugs and can receive both mental health and substance use treatment. We are also exploring options such as AOT and civil commitment to improve the chances of treatment success while the court process is underway.
This case is far from over, but we should celebrate the successes we’ve had—and the community coming together with the police, the DA’s office and the courts to get a win.
Thank you.
Story’s latest example points to a potential shift. Where the Garcia case left New Mexico entirely—exposing how little treatment infrastructure exists once a defendant enters the federal stream—this new case remains local, opening access to options such as mental-health care in custody, Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), and even civil commitment. These are remedies unavailable in the federal system, and they speak to an emerging question: whether local courts, prosecutors, and communities can intervene early enough to redirect chronic offenders toward treatment rather than transfer.
The subtext of Story’s update is difficult to miss. Community participation appears to have influenced the court’s decision in this case, and cooperation among businesses, prosecutors, and the court may have interrupted a well-worn cycle of incompetency dismissals. The outcome is not resolved, and the larger crisis remains unchanged: pathways to help the mentally ill and addicted do exist in New Mexico, but they are narrow, underused, and too often overshadowed by jurisdictional limitations.
For the moment, Story is signaling that keeping these cases local may offer the only real chance at meaningful rehabilitation—and this one, at least, has not slipped away.
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