Ronnie Romero's chances ran out on Friday.

State District Judge Michael Vigil sent him to jail for the next year for violating his probation for the sixth time, prosecutor David Foster said. In addition, the judge made sure the oft-troubled Romero — older brother of Robbie Romero, the 7-year-old Santa Fe boy missing since 2000 — will spend the entire year behind bars by deeming him ineligible for so-called "good time."

Good time allows an inmate to reduce his sentence in exchange for good behavior.

Police have long considered Ronnie Romero, 30, a "person of interest" in his brother's disappearance, which occurred June 7, 2000. However, despite repeated law enforcement efforts to crack the case — including convening an investigative grand jury that looked into the case in early 2006 — neither Ronnie Romero nor anyone else has ever been labeled a suspect, much less charged in the disappearance.

Police believe Robbie Romero is dead, though they have never found his body. The last major effort to search for the body occurred in early January 2006, just before the grand jury met, when Santa Fe police, state police and members of the FBI spent four days searching an area near the city's sold waste transfer station.

Results of the both the search and grand jury — if there were any — were never released.

While his legal troubles — mainly involving cocaine — date back to 2000, Ronnie Romero has been in and out of jail since he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and assault on a household member in January 2006. Those charges were prompted by an incident at Ronnie Romero's mother's home on Bellamah Drive in August 2005.

At that time, police were called by Evelyn Romero — mother of Robbie and Ronnie — who told them Ronnie Romero was under the influence of narcotics and "was unable to stop twitching and acting crazy," a police report says. Officers found cocaine on Ronnie Romero and in his home.

Later, at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Ronnie Romero grabbed the hand of a nurse who was trying to give him an injection, pulled the needle out of his leg and stabbed the nurse in the thumb. Ronnie Romero had hepatitis C at the time and could have infected the nurse, according to Ronnie Romero's plea agreement.

The plea deal called for Ronnie Romero to be on house arrest for two years followed by 18 months on probation. It also called for Romero, who had tested positive for cocaine the month before the deal was signed, to remain sober.

Less than a week later, Ronnie Romero reported drunk to the Santa Fe County Electronic Monitoring Program — his breath alcohol content was measured at .21. He first became verbally abusive, according to reports, then physically combative with a deputy.

In November 2006, Judge Vigil sentenced Ronnie Romero to serve the remaining six months on his two-year sentence in jail. On Friday, Vigil sentenced him to serve the remaining year left on his 18-month probation sentence for overdosing on cocaine.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.