Notable New Mexico Arrest Records
A public case leaves more than one image behind. Booking photos come from an arrest. Portraits and press pictures do not. A historical tintype raises its own questions of origin. Headlines cannot turn one into the other. So the first job with any New Mexico case is naming the record and finding its keeper.
These documented cases span three systems. Billy the Kid's trail is territorial. Robert Vigil and Manny Aragon faced federal prosecution. Others began in state court or with local police. The split matters because dockets, arresting agencies, archives, and custody locators each answer a different question. When an image is missing, that gap is real. A news photo or private repost is never an honest stand-in. Confirm each case with the court, agency, or archive that holds it, and keep the documented outcome or source date attached.
A court file ends with a disposition. That entry may be a plea, verdict, or sentence. Reading the final record tells you where the case actually stood.
Notable New Mexico Arrest Records
Names, images, and outcomes each need separate notes. The original record may sit in a territorial archive, a state court file, or a federal docket. News reports can point the way. They cannot replace the source agency or court. The outcomes stated here follow the cited case sources, so check a live docket when current status matters.
| Case | Year | Documented outcome or posture | Where the original record lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| William H. Bonney, known as Billy the Kid | 1880–1881 | Historical conviction and death sentence; escaped and died in 1881. | Territorial court and sheriff records; Lincoln County Heritage Trust and New Mexico History Museum collections. |
| Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum | 1899–1901 | Convicted for the train robbery and hanged in 1901; historical accounts describe a botched execution. | Union County and Clayton territorial court and sheriff records; State Archives and New Mexico Digital Collections. |
| Robert Vigil | 2005–2007 | After his first trial ended without a verdict, he was convicted in 2006 on one attempted-extortion count and acquitted on the other reported counts; he served a federal sentence and was later released. | Federal criminal docket and Department of Justice case report. |
| Dianna Duran | 2015 | Pleaded guilty to two felonies and four misdemeanors, resigned, and served a short jail sentence. | State criminal court and Attorney General/special-prosecution files; the Legislature’s hearing file preserves the amended criminal information. |
| Phil A. Griego | 2015–2018 | Convicted of public-corruption and fraud-related offenses; sentenced to 18 months, with a later plea adding another year. | State criminal docket and prosecutorial file; see the New Mexico Legislative Council report. |
| Manny Aragon | 2007–2011 | Pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiracy and mail fraud and served a federal prison sentence. | Federal indictment, plea, and sentencing records; U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico. |
| David Parker Ray | 1999–2002 | Convicted in 2000 of kidnapping and rape; died in custody in 2002 before trial on the most serious homicide charges. | Seventh Judicial District and Torrance-Sierra law-enforcement records; New Mexico Courts Case Lookup. |
| Tomas Rivas | 2025 | Pending in the source review dated September 22, 2026; the live docket must be checked for a later disposition. | Third Judicial District docket and Las Cruces police/prosecutorial file; Associated Press case report. |
These entries identify records, not pictures. The state publishes no official booking image of Robert Vigil, Dianna Duran, or Phil Griego. An outlaw portrait or news photograph is no substitute. Relabeling one as a booking photo would misstate the record. Keep source date and record type with every case.
Note: A case summary names its cited source and outcome; it does not establish that an arrest photo is available to the public.
Territorial Record Trail: Billy the Kid
Sheriff Pat Garrett captured William H. Bonney after the Lincoln County conflict. The murder case brought an 1881 conviction and a death sentence. Bonney escaped the Lincoln County jail. He died later that year. Those facts belong to a territorial court and sheriff record trail. None of it makes every familiar picture of Bonney an arrest photo.
The well-known tintype is a historical portrait on metal. Archives and museums still debate its origin and authenticity. The Lincoln County Heritage Trust, the State Records Center and Archives, and the New Mexico History Museum offer historical leads. For the conviction and the escape, the original court and sheriff records remain the right path. Start with the territorial case, not an image copied from a later story.
For older New Mexico arrests, one question comes first. Was the territorial court or sheriff series transferred? Old Mugshots explains the archive process in depth. If a portrait surfaces, keep its source.
Note: A historical portrait should be labeled by its collection source unless an official record confirms it as a booking photo.
Federal Record Trail: Robert Vigil
Former New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil was indicted in federal court in 2005, in a public-corruption case alleging extortion and bribery. His first trial ended without a verdict. A later prosecution brought a 2006 conviction on one attempted-extortion count. The jury acquitted him on the remaining counts. He served a federal sentence and was later released.
The right source here is the federal criminal docket, the public list of filings and case events. The Department of Justice case file matters too. A county jail roster answers a different question entirely. The Department of Justice report on the Vigil case gives a documented account of the prosecution. No booking photo appears in the public federal record for the case. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator handles federal custody questions within its stated scope. It is not a photo archive. It cannot verify an old image. The docket remains the place for the full history.
The federal Bureau of Prisons locator offers a simple search by name or number. It warns custody status can change at any time. A search for Vigil there yields no record and no booking photograph. For any federal case, the court docket comes first. Use the BOP tool only to answer whether a person is in custody. Any arrest image should be confirmed with the local agency that made the arrest. That agency may have released the photo.
State Court Trail: Dianna Duran
Dianna Duran served as New Mexico Secretary of State. A 2015 investigation into her campaign-fund use and public-record conduct upended her career. She faced charges that year. She then pleaded guilty to two felonies and four misdemeanors. She resigned her office. She also served a short jail sentence. The final plea and sentence, not the charging papers, tell how the case actually ended.
The Legislature's hearing file preserves the amended criminal information from that period. The official outcome record sits with the state criminal court. The Attorney General's prosecution file holds the rest. A booking photo, if one exists, belongs to the arresting agency or local custodian. The state publishes no official booking-image source for a case like this. To ask, contact the arresting agency and request the specific booking image or sheet.
The New Mexico Department of Justice IPRA page lays out the state's public-records request framework. That framework covers this kind of ask.
That document is general public-record guidance, not a filing in Duran's case. A records request can point you toward the right custodian, but only that office can confirm whether a releasable photo exists.
Find Any New Mexico Arrest Record
A booking image and a case outcome come from different places. The arresting agency holds the photo. The court holds the docket and the final ruling. Decades-old events call for the State Archives and its finding guides. Check those before any request goes out. For recent matters, the tools differ. County jail rosters, court files, state corrections, and federal custody tools each answer a separate question. The statewide New Mexico search path maps these official channels for arrests and bookings.
- Write down the name, approximate arrest date, county, agency, and any known case or booking number.
- Use the official county source for a current booking or custody event, then ask the originating agency for a releasable booking sheet or image if no photo appears.
- Search New Mexico Courts Case Lookup for a state case and read the docket for the case outcome. A case-search screen is not the complete court file.
- For federal prosecutions, follow the federal docket and use the BOP locator only for the separate question of federal custody status.
- For older territorial or historical material, check the Archives finding guides and ask whether the agency or court series was transferred.
The New Mexico Courts Case Lookup opens with an access notice. Users must accept it before searching. The portal offers public state case information, not a photo gallery.
The court portal's access notice is a gate, not a private case record. Search with the details the portal accepts. When a filing is not online, the clerk's office is the next stop.
The Associated Press reported on the Tomas Rivas case. The case was pending at the time. Rivas faced three counts of open murder. The charges followed a 2025 shooting at a Las Cruces-area park. He made a brief court appearance while proceedings continued. For anything later, the Third Judicial District record holds the answer.
A roster entry only shows custody at a moment in time. It settles nothing about guilt. The docket carries the outcome. A photo belongs to the agency or collection that can vouch for its source.