JT Keith
El Rito Media
jtkeith@elritomedia.com

With no fanfare and little public discussion ahead of the decision, Artesia High School football coach Jeremy Maupin has replaced Brian Taylor as Artesia’s athletic director.

Maupin and Artesia Public Schools Superintendent Darian Jaramillo confirmed the change, saying Maupin officially assumed the role of athletic director on June 2. Asked why the change was made, both declined comment, saying the school district does not discuss personnel matters.

Maupin will retain his position as head football coach.

Jaramillo had mentioned the change was coming during the “Good Morning Artesia” program on KSVP radio on May 21 but otherwise the key personnel move seemed to be a surprise. The school district’s website was still showing Taylor as athletic director and Maupin as athletic coordinator until this week.

Taylor declined to comment, other than to say he has been reassigned as assistant principal at Artesia Junior High School and “looks forward to serving the students and staff there.”

Taylor, 54, had been Artesia Public Schools’ athletic director since May 2023 when he was appointed by then-Superintendent Thad Phipps to succeed longtime AD Cooper Henderson following Henderson’s retirement.

During Taylor’s tenure, the Maupin-coached Artesia Bulldogs won their 32nd state football championship in 2023 and finished second in the state in 2024. This year, Artesia won state championships in baseball and boys basketball.

Maupin, 39, an Artesia High graduate who played quarterback on the Bulldogs’ state champion football team in 2004, was named head football coach in 2021. He had served as an assistant to legendary coach Cooper Henderson and also as head coach at Los Lunas High School.

jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
ahedden@elritomedia.com

A fight outside the Artesia Public Safety Complex on Oct. 13, 2023, led to the fatal shooting of 42-year-old Mark Rommel, and the man charged with first-degree murder in Rommel’s death went on trial Tuesday, June 3, at the Eddy County Courthouse in Carlsbad.

The trial of Acadio Lucero, 24, before District Judge David Finger began with opening statements from the defense and prosecution. If convicted, Lucero could face life in prison.

The series of events resulting in Lucero’s death began when Lucero and his girlfriend Jahnika Guajardo went to the Public Safety Complex to pick up her infant child from Rommel, Guajardo’s ex-boyfriend and the child’s father.

A conflict between the parties erupted and Lucero shot Rommel three times, according to police. During the incident, Lucero was shot and wounded by Artesia police Sgt. Christopher Gallegos. Lucero was arrested three weeks later and charged with first-degree murder.

Here’s what happened on the first day of Lucero’s murder trial.

Fight stemmed from ‘custody exchange’

During her opening arguments, prosecutor Ariane Gonzales said Lucero had enough time to fully consider the consequences of his actions. She said the defendant walked to his truck during the argument, retrieved a gun, loaded it, then turned and fired 12 times at Rommel while walking toward the victim.

“The defendant reached into his vehicle, retrieved his firearm, loaded his firearm, turned around and immediately began firing at Mark Rommel,” Gonzales told the jury. “You will hear that Mark Rommel did not advance at any point.”

She also described how Gallegos was between meetings at the Public Safety Complex, which houses the Artesia Police Department, Fire Department and Artesia Municipal Court, when the shooting began.

The complex is where couples conduct “custody exchanges” of children, with certain zones set aside for such activity, Gonzales said, and Gallegos thought it odd when he noticed Lucero’s truck parked next to Rommel’s motorcycle in the zone without any children nearby.

She said Gallegos was proceeding toward the vehicles to inform the owners the parking spots were not for general parking when he saw Lucero shoot and kill Rommel. Gonzales said Gallegos will testify that Rommel had no weapons and did not follow Lucero to the truck.

“He (Gallegos) fired one shot at the defendant, hitting him in the back and ending his assault of Mark Rommel, who was gunned down at the public safety complex,” Gonzales said.

Defense draws doubt for first-degree

Defense attorney Raymond Conley sought to cast doubt on the police investigation and questioned whether the incident rose to the level of first-degree murder. He suggested that Rommel and Lucero were fighting at the time of the shooting, and that Lucero intended to “extricate” himself from the conflict.

“There were threats being made. Mr. Lucero attempts to extricate himself from that situation,” Conley said. “It’s not as simple as they were standing in place, my client gets his gun and shoots the guy. Who was the aggressor? That’s going to be the issue of this trial.”

Conley was also critical of police who investigated the incident and their alleged insistence during Lucero’s police interview that they had watched video of the shooting to justify the charge.

He said Lucero encouraged police during the interview to watch the video themselves to prove his side of the story, that he acted in self-defense, but that due to a “technical difficulty” no footage of the shooting was ever produced.

“Probably that will be framed as a law enforcement tactic. They will not tell the truth to get something out of someone,” Conley said. “Ultimately, at the end of the day the question is, is this first-degree murder?”

Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, detailed the autopsy of Rommel’s body and three gunshot wounds to his head, arm and shoulder.

Photos of Rommel’s body and his wounds were projected for the jury. Jarrell said the gunshot wound to the back of Rommel’s head was likely what killed him.

“It’s hard to say because people do survive gunshots to the head, but it’s usually fatal,” she said.

Additional testimony was given by law enforcement officers who responded to the scene and field investigators who processed the body and evidence.

Who else is on the witness list?

Several more officers with the Artesia Police Department, Artesia Fire Department and New Mexico State Police remained on the witness list, along with Matthew Bustamante, a firearms expert with the Santa Fe Forensic Laboratory.

Gallegos, the Artesia police sergeant who shot Lucero, was also on the list along with Guajardo and other witnesses to the incident

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Rebecca Hauschild
For the Daily Press

Artesia is one of the top five safest cities in New Mexico, according to Artesia Police Chief Kirk Roberts, who said the city was ranked fifth in the state for its public safety and low crime rate.

Roberts shared results from a study by home security company Safewise at the May 27 City Council meeting. Safewise used FBI crime data to compile a list of the top five safest cities in New Mexico.

The data encompassed instances of violent crime, including aggravated assault, murder, rape, robbery, and property crimes such as burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson, per 1,000 residents. Cities are ranked based on this combined crime rate.

Data for 2025 was taken as of the first three months for the study published March 17.

Artesia’s violent crime rate in 2025 was 2.1%, according to the report, an improvement from 3.6% in 2024 after an increase from 2.4% reported in 2023.

Property crime rates were 29.6% in 2025, followed by 29.5% last year and 18.4% in 2023.

Corrales was ranked as the safest city in New Mexico, according to the survey, followed by Anthony, Sunland Park and Rio Rancho.

“I want to say for sure that you have a great police department,” Roberts said to the council. “It really is a statement about our community, our community leaders, you, and what we’re doing right now. It has an effect. We weren’t in the top five until this year.”

New body cams and drones

Roberts also reported his staff completed training on new body cameras with expanded functions. The cameras can send an alert if a firearm is pulled and someone can watch what is happening in real time.

They have a “Watch Me” function that officers can activate that sends a notification to a sergeant. The sergeant can watch in real time and talk to the officer through the speaker on the camera.

Officers have completed training on the new drone program and have received FAA licensure to fly drones and put in flight plans, Roberts said.

Bike patrol

Police officers are using new e-bikes purchased after previous approval from the city council. The bike patrol teams up with patrol vehicles that can pull over vehicles or assist in other ways. The bike officers will patrol Jaycee Park on weekends and ride through certain neighborhoods at night.

“I did bike patrol in Rio Rancho,” Roberts said. “It’s a lot of fun. You can ride up on people doing all sorts of crazy stuff. And they had no idea you’re there. So, it works well.”

Meanwhile, Roberts said the Artesia Police Department has also been cracking down on minibikes driven by minors on city streets. Police towed four so far, and Roberts said the parents will be cited in future incidents as the activity violates state laws against unlicensed minors driving any motorized vehicle – car or bike.

“Unfortunately, we have had four of them crash with one pretty serious injury,” Roberts said. “It may seem heavy-handed to some people, but we can’t just open the floodgate and let every type of vehicle in the world just be cruising around our streets.”

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
ahedden@elritomedia.com

Eddy County may be in the sights of the federal government as a so-called “sanctuary” county for undocumented migrants, according to a list published Thursday, May 29, by the Department of Homeland Security.

The county, along with 22 other New Mexico counties including nearby Chaves, Otero and Lincoln counties and the cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque were included on the list, which was apparently taken down by the federal agency as of Monday.

But that didn’t stop Eddy County Sheriff Matthew Hutchinson from decrying the “inaccurate information” presented by the federal release, contending Eddy County was not a “sanctuary for criminals.”

Hutchinson said that as sheriff his oath to defend the constitution will be upheld “without discrimination.”

“The Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, as it has in the past, will enforce the law regardless of the law enforcement origination,” Hutchinson said in the Monday statement. “This enforcement will be done without any biases. This county for as long as I am sheriff will not be a sanctuary for criminals.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Thursday statement as the list was released that “sanctuary city politicians” are putting Americans and local police in danger while protecting “violent criminal illegal aliens.”

Each jurisdiction on the list was to receive a “formal notification” of its non-compliance with federal immigration police and violations of federal statutes, according to the Department of Homeland Security news release.

The notice would include a demand that the jurisdictions immediately review their policies to be in compliance with federal policy, the release said.

It was unclear as of Monday if such notices were sent out or received by Eddy County or any of the other listed counties and cities.

“We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law,” Noem said. “President (Donald) Trump and I will always put the safety of the American people first. Sanctuary politicians are on notice: comply with federal law.”

The presence of rural, largely conservative New Mexico counties on the list sparked confusion among local leaders such as Hutchinson who vowed to uphold the law in the wake of their communities’ inclusion.

Amy Barela, chairwoman of the New Mexico Republican Party and an Otero County Commissioner, said her county in 2019 voted to pass a resolution expressly declaring that it was not a sanctuary for undocumented migrants.

“Despite misleading reports and inaccurate listings by outside organizations, Otero County has never adopted sanctuary policies, nor has the Board of County Commissioners ever made such declarations,” she said.

12th District Attorney Ryan Suggs, whose office covers Otero and Lincoln counties, said he stood ready to enforce federal immigration policies supported by the Trump administration.

“If any municipality or public agency has policies, procedures, or memorandums of understanding that may conflict with federal immigration law, my office stands ready to assist in reviewing and addressing those issues,” Suggs said.

The list, before it was apparently taken down over the weekend, was met with backlash from county sheriffs across the country.

Canyon County, Idaho Sheriff Kieran Donahue, who serves as president of the National Sheriff’s Association, a group known for supporting tighter immigration laws, said the list was published with a “lack of transparency” as to how and why jurisdictions were included.

“This is an unfortunate and unnecessary erosion of unity and collaboration with law enforcement and the enforcement of the rule of law at a time when that unity is needed most,” Donahue said in a Saturday statement. “This decision by DHS could create a vacuum of trust that may take years to overcome.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Staff reports

For the first time since 1979, Artesia voters rejected a mill levy to fund operations at Artesia General Hospital, according to unofficial results from the Eddy County Clerk’s Office.

The vote was 638 against, and 605 for, as of June 4. The results of the election will be canvassed during a June 10 special meeting of the Eddy County Commission.

The levy, which was voted on in a mail-in election running from May 6 to June 3, was used since it was established to partially fund the Artesia Special Hospital District to offset costs of the hospital that sits on land owned by the district. It was renewed every four years since being established.

Ballots were mailed to the homes of residents within the district, which encompasses most of the Artesia City Limits.

The levy is collected by the hospital district, which functions as a government agency similar to a school district, and as such is allowed to place the levy on the ballot for voters. The funds are used to support operational costs at the hospital, which serves patients throughout Eddy County and in Chaves County.

A vote for the mill levy this year would not have raised taxes but maintain the levy in place of $2.70 per every $1,000 of a property owner’s net taxable property value for those within the district.

Jarrod Moreau, chair of the Artesia Special Hospital District, said revenue from the levy mostly comes from commercial property owners – mainly large oil and gas corporations he estimated account for 80% to 90% of the funds.

He said the levy provided between $4 million and $7 million annually to the hospital.