A longtime New Mexican street vendor was arrested earlier this week and charged with selling heroin along with the newspaper.

Felo Villegas, 43, was arrested at his usual spot at the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Michael's Drive on Tuesday by agents of the Region III Narcotics Task Force, said Peter Olson, state police spokesman. He was taken into custody for failing to attend an arraignment Feb. 2 in state District Court after a grand jury indicted him Jan. 15 on one count of trafficking heroin, according to court records.

"He certainly found a way to supplement his income," Olson said.

Task force agents made an unspecified number of heroin purchases from Villegas in August after complaints about his activities, Olson said. He did not know where the complaints came from. Olson did not know if Villegas offered newspaper customers the drug, but said Villegas sold it when asked.

Olson didn't know if Villegas had heroin on him when he was arrested. He was being held in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

Jeff Abbott, home delivery manager for The New Mexican, called Villegas' arrest "painful" for the newspaper, the community and the other men and women who sell the paper at street corners throughout the city. Villegas, an independent contractor known for his knee-high socks, no longer sells the paper, Abbott said.

Villegas, a California native, has sold the paper at the Cerrillos and St. Michael's intersection for about a decade, Abbott said. He had attended the Delancey Street drug rehabilitation program at some point, he said.

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