Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Alleged child sex offender takes plea

CLOVIS — An alleged child sex offender will face no prison time under the terms of a plea agreement scheduled to be finalized this month.

A jury trial last week for Rubel Encinias, 45, of Clovis, was canceled after attorneys submitted a plea agreement and scheduled a conference for Aug. 22. By terms of that agreement, Encinias will plead no contest to one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the third degree and be sentenced to six years in the Department of Corrections, suspended in favor of supervised probation. He will then face no less than five years on parole.

Encinias was charged in February 2018 with nine counts of second-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor during a period from 2012-2016. Per the pending agreement, his remaining eight charges will be dismissed.

In the plea conference this month Judge Drew Tatum will determine the terms of Encinias’ probation, which can range from a period of five to 20 years. Encinias will be required to register as a sex offender, Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover told The News.

“I don’t think anybody is ever completely satisfied with an agreement,” Stover said. “In our office, one of the paramount things that we must take into consideration is the psychological cost to victims that a trial will entail. These are several young girls, and to go through a full trial is exceptionally traumatic.”

Stover said he was “satisfied that we have done substantial justice to the family” and that “they are happy with the result and the outcome.”

Encinias’ attorney Dan Lindsey said his client has “always been a good hard working man” and that “there was no sex involved, there was just a slap on the rear end.”

Stover said as a prosecutor he “absolutely” would have liked to see Encinias serve time in custody, “but you have to take your ego out of it and always put what’s best for your victims at the forefront.”

 
 
Rendered 03/27/2024 21:13