Covering Tragedy

I have been in Albuquerque as a reporter for the past seven years. During that time I have seen a lot of bad things, often up close and face-to-face. I've covered countless stories of senseless murders, family members killing family members, and terrible crimes that are often too graphic to mention. Over the years, constant crime coverage and never ending stories of shootings and death have sadly, in some ways, hardened my emotions to such cases. Frankly, I'm not surprised when I hear a "shot-fired" call over the scanner.

Most of these crimes, by my own anecdotal observations, involve drugs or pride over gang affiliations.

But never before have I come across a story so senseless as the tragic end of Tyrus Toribio, the three year old boy found buried at an Albuquerque park. This story is truely heartbreaking, and for lack of a better word, inconceivable.

His mother, Tiffany Toribio, is locked up, charged with an open count of murder. Police say she suffocated her child and buried him. The reason? Police say Toribio told them she didn't want him living in a world where nobody cares about him like she lived.

This case doesn't involve drugs, at least that we know of, and doesn't involve a common motive. The fact that a mother is accused of killing her own child obviously has touched a nerve within the Albuquerque community. Such a thing doesn't happen, shouldn't happen between a mother and child.

Today I'll be heading over to a local church for a public memorial service for Tyrus. Not sure what I will expect, but I do find it phenomenal that there has been a tremendous outpouring of support and grief from members of the Albuquerque community that didn't know Tyrus or his mother.
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jeremyjojola.com

Christians to disrupt Movie Inside Theatre?

Got an interesting email today from a guy named Mark Dice (website). He says in a press release a group of Christians will be disrupting the movie "Angels and Demons" from INSIDE movie theaters.

From the email:

"....but some moviegoers looking to enjoy a night at the movies will unexpectedly have protesters interrupt the film at various points from inside theaters across the country. The Christian media watchdog group The Resistance will have dozens of theaters in major cities filled with their members to interrupt the premier by shouting at audiences about how the film and novel it’s based on are a fraud aimed at covering up the fact that the Illuminati secret society continues to exist and illegally influences political affairs in America...."

I asked him if this would be happening in Albuquerque, so far no response from his email.
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jeremyjojola.com

Attorney: Press Not Welcome at Public Meeting

Here's a bit of lunacy.

An attorney named David Campbell told our station we weren't welcome at a public meeting involving the proposed CVS Pharmacy that would sell liquor at the corner of Central and Louisiana.As a reporter, I know this area over the years has had A LOT of issues with nuisance bars and package liquor stores that had to be shut down by the city.

So when a store wants to come in and sell liquor in this neighborhood, it's certainly in the public interest to know who's going to sell and if they have a clean record.

It's also KOB's job and duty to inform the public about the on-goings of the meeting, especially for folks who can't be there or simply don't know about it.

But for some reason Campbell doesn't want the public to know.

Campbell is certainly doing a TERRIBLE job of representing his client's cause.

Now there's a cloud of suspicion over the proposed liquor store. What's CVS hiding?

Reporter Joe Vigil says there is another PUBLIC hearing on Tuesday.
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jeremyjojola.com

Blanket Battery at Albuquerque's Jail

Crystal D. Serros, an inmate at Albuquerque's Metropolitan Detention Center, just got herself in more trouble by throwing a blanket at a corrections officer (see picture).
According to her criminal complaint,Serros caused a disturbance and decided to express her anger with her blanket. From the report:

"....[Serros] applied physical force to a corrections officer, Mary Duan, by throwing a blanket in a rude/insolent manner contacting her in the face."

No word on the officer's injuries from the blanket.....
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jeremyjojola.com

The Calm before the Storm?

Finally my trip to Juarez a few weeks ago materialized on KOB airwaves Thursday:



When I prepared for Thursday's report weeks ago, people told me to be careful. After all, I was traveling to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where in 2008 sixteen-hundred people were executed, including one local journalist. I looked forward to the trip.

I worked in Juarez often when I was a reporter for KTSM-TV (NBC) in El Paso. I loved it. The sense of urgency in the city seems far more intense once you step off the bridge and into the bustling city of two-million people. Everywhere almost everyone is trying to make a peso by washing your windshield or trying to sell bootlegged CD's.

But the dark side of the city unfortunately has a grasp on the psychology of the town. The cartels have grown too powerful, too big, too violent. So violent, their threats have forced the resignation of the chief of police--the one who wasn't assassinated.

For now, the five-thousand soldiers that patrol the Juarez streets, essentially doing police work, have curbed the violence. Ten murders a day has dropped to about a handful a week. But....more than half the soldiers are expected to leave in the fall.

The cartels certainly know this.

Is this the calm before the storm?

As long as there is money to be made on illegal drugs (especially marijuana, the cartels' largest cash crop) there will be battles over turf. More people will certainly be killed over failed deliveries of drug loads.

My prediction: There will be a surge of violence in the late summer/early fall in Juarez once three-thousand-plus Mexican soldiers leave Juarez. The sight of uniformed men carrying assault rifles is certainly a deterrent. The less the cartels see of them, the bolder they will grow.
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jeremyjojola.com

Disgusting Drug Smuggling

Take a look at these pictures released by U.S. Customs and Border protection of 244 ecstasy tablets smuggled through the rectum of a 23-year-old El Paso man (SFW).

The pills were stashed in a balloon:





From the press release:

The ecstasy seizure was made late Tuesday night as a 23-year-old man from El Paso walked across the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) international crossing. CBP officers selected the man for an intensive exam. As the exam progressed, CBP officers developed reason to believe that the man had an item concealed in a body cavity. While awaiting an x-ray exam to confirm the presence of the object, a CBP officer observed the suspect remove an item from his pants attempt to conceal it under a nearby mattress. The CBP officer was able to secure object, which was a red balloon about the size of two golf balls. CBP officers opened the balloon and discovered 244 tablets. A tablet was tested and the result was positive for MDMA (ecstasy). No other drugs were discovered during a full exam of the suspect. The subject was turned over to the El Paso Police Department Wednesday morning for local prosecution. The estimated street value of the ecstasy is just under $5,000.

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jeremyjojola.com

Border Violence Story set for Thursday

Is it going to get this bad?

This Thursday I'll be airing a report about the problems with cartels along the border and the possible break-down of authority in Mexico.

What could that mean for New Mexico and the other border states?

One local sheriff I talked to suspects it's possible his county could be overrun
with refugees fleeing the violence.
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jeremyjojola.com