Reward increased in Tucker case

Cops and courts

The owners of a Clovis business want to boost the reward money offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the death of Clovis businessman J.C. Tucker.

Since Tucker was shot Sept. 4 at his business, Tucker Auto Sales and Tucker Self Storage near Cannon Air Force Base, police have had few leads and no one has been charged with his death. Kenneth and Amber Workheiser, owners of Transmatic Transmissions, are asking local businesses to contribute.

“As a fellow Clovis businessman, I am asking the rest of this business community to please donate to the Curry County Crime Stoppers to boost the reward money so that someone may come forth with information” leading to an arrest in the case, the couple wrote in a letter mailed to area businesses.

Checks may be made payable to Curry County Crime Stoppers, marked “J.C. Tucker,” and mailed to P.O. Box 2001, Clovis 88101. Donors may remain anonymous or request a receipt for their contributions.

Curry County Crime Stoppers’ standard reward is up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of accused criminals.

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Officers of the Lubbock Police Department have found the man wanted in connection with the Sept. 7 shooting of Hugo Medrano Ochoa of Clovis. Ochoa survived the shooting.

Bernardo Rodriguez Jr., 33, was arrested by Lubbock police on Oct. 9. Court records show he has been charged in Curry County with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Rodriguez is being held in the Lubbock County Jail without bond on a charge out of Nueces County, Texas, for possession of a controlled substance, as well as the Curry County charge and a Lubbock County charge of failure to identify himself to a police officer, officials said.

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A 20-year-old Carlsbad man who tried to marry his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend in Portales ended up with an arrest warrant instead.

Capt. Lonnie Berry of the Portales Police Department said the couple — whose names have not been released — applied for a marriage license at the Roosevelt County Courthouse on Sept. 25 before District Court Judge Stephen Quinn. The judge refused to approve the license on the grounds that the girl had been a victim of statutory rape.

“The mother had signed the marriage license, but I don’t know if that was because she actually supported the marriage or because of the situation with her being pregnant,” Berry said.

The age of sexual consent in New Mexico is 16, Berry said.

Berry said his office issued a warrant on Sept. 30 for the prospective husband’s arrest and Carlsbad police apprehended him Oct. 2.

Cops and Courts is compiled by CNJ staff writer Darrell Todd Maurina. He can be contacted at 763-6991 or:

darrell_maurina@

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