Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - A Juvenile Probation & Parole officer who allegedly had three times the legal amount of alcohol in his system avoided jail on Super Bowl Sunday after being arrested on a charge of aggravated drunken driving.
Las Cruces Magistrate Court Judge Kent Wingenroth, a retired state police officer, allowed Robert S. "Rocky" Jaurequi to be released on his own recognizance after Jaurequi was arrested coming from the Super Bowl Golf Fore Baseball Scramble, a golf tournament benefiting high school sports - which Wingenroth co-sponsored.
Aggravated drunken driving charges were filed Wednesday in 3rd Judicial District Court.
State police patrolman Michael Ramirez stopped Jaurequi, 44, at 8:30 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 70 after New Mexico Mounted Patrolman Steven Vaillancourt called 911 to report seeing Jaurequi's car going 30 miles per hour and weaving on the highway, a dash-cam video shows.
In the video, which was viewed by the Sun-News Thursday, Jaurequi admits to drinking at the tournament, but insists, "we were trying to help the kids."
Throughout the 40-minute video, Jaurequi alternates between apologizing and asking for mercy and then threatening Ramirez and Vaillancourt by implying his influence with officials at Juvenile Probation & Parole and the governor's office will vindicate him.
"You're done ... You watch what's going to happen to you tomorrow," Jaurequi tells Ramirez in the video. "I worked under (now Gov.) Susana (Martinez) ... you wait. That guy who
Jaurequi also tells the officer "Judge Wingenroth will fight this." Near the end of the video, when Jaurequi's wife and teenage son arrive to drive Jaurequi's Pontiac home, Jaurequi can be heard ordering his wife repeatedly to call Wingenroth's wife and Wingenroth himself.
"This is all Judge Wingenroth's s***!" Jaurequi yells, near the end of the video, which ends before Jaurequi and Ramirez arrive at the state police office. There, more than 40 minutes after being pulled over, his breath-alcohol content was measured as a .24, a .21 and a .22., according to authorities. In New Mexico, intoxication is presumed when one has a .08.
Members of the law enforcement community are commonly arrested without being jailed, for their own safety, said New Mexico State Police Capt. Rich Libicer. Last year, deputy Mesilla Marshal Joseph Serna and Do-a Ana sheriff's investigator Eddie Flores, also avoided jail after drunken driving arrests.
"You don't want to put a guy in jail with people he's put there before was, I think, the thinking behind it," Libicer said.
Wingenroth, citing orders not to comment on the case, referred a request for comment Thursday to Las Cruces Magistrate Court administrator Bernice Ramos.
Ramos said Thursday afternoon that presiding Magistrate Court Judge Oscar Frietze was the on-call judge Sunday night, but "officers are always allowed to deviate from that" and call another judge, if they wish. As for Jaurequi's release without being jailed, Ramos agreed with Libicer that there could have been a safety concern.
If convicted of the misdemeanor, Jaurequi will have to spend two mandatory days in jail, with up to 90 days possible, attend DWI school, comply with alcohol evaluation, complete community service and have an ignition interlock installed on any vehicle he drives for a year. He could also have his driver's license revoked for six months to a year.
The drunken driving arrest appears to be Jaurequi's first in New Mexico, but Jaurequi was also convicted of larceny in El Paso in 1993, according to court documents.
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.
