Work detail escapee sentenced to 18 years

Staff report

The Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that Senovio Mendoza, Jr., 33, of Carlsbad was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday.

Mendoza pleaded guilty to kidnapping, armed robbery and escape from jail.

In July 2014, Mendoza, an Eddy County inmate being held at the Roosevelt County Detention Center, assaulted county employee Leroy Manzanares with a pickaxe, stole his vehicle and led Texas police and the Roosevelt County Sheriffs Office on a high-speed chase before being captured in Sudan, Texas.

Mendoza was on a work detail at the county fairgrounds with Manzanares and other inmates when the incident occurred. There were no officers present, and detention center officials were unaware of the murder charges against Mendoza at the time of the incident.

The incident led to major changes in the jail’s policies, procedures and contract agreements for housing inmates, such as background screenings being done on each inmate who comes into the detention center.

David Casanova was jail administrator and Charlene Webb was county manager at the time of the incident.

The jail also improved and updated bedding in detention cells in 2013 after inmates escaped on two separate occasions by punching holes in the ceiling with parts from their beds.

The Honorable Donna J. Mowrer presided over the sentencing hearing and ordered Mendoza immediately returned to the Eddy County Detention Center where he is pending trial on a murder charge.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb prosecuted the case for the State of New Mexico, and criminal defense attorney Kirk Chavez of Hobbs, New Mexico, represented the defendant.