Adios Carla

There are those certain people you meet that are genuinely good people. Buena Gente as the saying goes in Spanish. Carla is certainly Buena Gente.

I've worked with Carla since I've been here at KOB-TV for the past five years. I quickly learned Carla is the newsroom compass when it comes to covering stories relevant to New Mexico's culture, people, and rich, complex history.

Her departure from the station is like losing a compass. To me, it almost seems the newsroom is losing a piece of New Mexico. Carla has grown to become an iconic symbol of our state.

She has a strong faith and believes in family. But what really impresses me about Carla is her courage to make a serious life change as she did when she left KNBC in Los Angeles to come back home.

Good luck Carla. We'll miss you.

New Mexico's Wanted Escapees

Seven men who have escaped from New Mexico prisons over the past thirty years have managed to stay on the run.

You can see my full report here.

As I was doing research for this piece, the state found Johnnie Garcia, a prisoner who ran off from a Roswell facility back in 1981. For 26 years the state had no idea where he's been until they ran a background check after I requested information on all wanted escapees. The state realized Garcia has been sitting in a Texas prison. I called Texas and found he was locked up in 1982-a year after his escape from New Mexico.

I suspect the state hasn't checked up on these escapees in quite a long time--considering Garcia has been sitting in a Texas cell all this time without the state's knowledge.

The Dangers of Money in the Mail

Last night Eric Kahnert reported a mail carrier was seen throwing mail into an irrigation ditch.

It's believed the unknown carrier may have opened the pieces of holiday mail to steal cash.

You can see the report here.

I put in a call today to the The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General to see what's new on the case. So far they haven't identified the carrier.

In the mean time, you should know that sending cash and checks in the mail is not the best idea.

The US Postal Service says it's better to send money orders because money orders can only be cashed by the person they are made out to.

If someone opens mail with cash or checks you can say goodbye to that money and even your identity (checks contain names, addresses, and account/bank routing numbers).

Behind the Illegal DVDs Investigation

Since June of this year I've been working on a hidden camera story about people selling illegal DVDs at two Albuquerque indoor flea markets.

You can watch the November 15th report here.

While some people don't really care about multi-million dollar movie companies getting hit with piracy, I find it amazing that so many people at these flea markets are breaking the law and getting away with it.

While wearing a hidden camera, I bought several high-quality illegal DVDs from six different vendors. There are many other vendors selling these illegal discs at these flea markets. I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of bootlegging is happening all over the state.

If New Mexico wants to continue attracting large movie companies here, it may not look good for this illegal activity to continue.

One long-time Albuquerque business owner who runs a local video store emailed me saying he's never seen so many pirated DVDs in the city. I'm sure this sort of illegal industry is also affecting local legitimate business owners like him.