Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - A former Mesilla marshal's deputy has been formally charged with aggravated stalking.
Robert Valenzuela, 28, a Columbus, N.M., police officer, was indicted Tuesday morning after he allegedly sent his 24-year-old ex-girlfriend a picture of himself with the barrel of his duty weapon in his mouth.
Ruidoso attorney J. Robert Beauvais claims Valenzuela had received more than 100 text messages from the woman in the weeks before he was charged.
The sheriff's office had said Valenzuela was sending the woman unwanted text messages, showing up at her workplace and had sent her two disturbing images: a photo of a hand full of white pills, and one that appears to show Valenzuela with his lips around his Glock 19, finger just off the trigger, the sheriff's office said.
