Prosecutor: Suspect a 'person of interest' in Nevada, Alaska murders
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9/26/2008 - 9/27/08
One of two brothers arraigned Friday for a brutal home invasion last December in which several people were beaten with a baseball bat is a "person of interest" in murders in Nevada and Alaska, a prosecutor said Friday.However, after making the statements in open court during discussions about how high to set the bond for Isaac and Arthur Ortega, prosecutor Krishna Singh refused later to expand on the allegations. Singh even refused to say which brother was the person of interest.
District Attorney Henry Valdez said later that he knew nothing about Singh's allegations. Isaac Ortega, 23, was recently extradited from Henderson, Nev., though Valdez said police there were only holding him on the New Mexico warrant with charges related to the home invasion.
The brothers each pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of aggravated burglary, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and two counts each of robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. State District Court Judge Michael Vigil ordered them held in lieu of $500,000 cash-only bonds.
Singh said Arthur Ortega, 24, faces up to 39 years in prison, while Isaac Ortega faces up to 46 years in prison because he has a prior felony from Nevada on his record. Isaac Ortega denied being previously convicted of a felony, said Sydney West, his lawyer.
Police say the brothers and two other men donned ski masks and kicked open the door of an office connected to a residence on West Booth Street in the South Capitol neighborhood on Dec. 29, where several young people were partying. The man with the bat — police say it was Isaac Ortega — hit two men on the head with it, injuring them severely, Singh said. Others were injured, and the men escaped with less than $500 taken from the wallets of the 10-12 people at the party, according to Singh and police.
Singh told Judge Vigil on Friday that the victims and their families would be concerned for their safety if the Ortegas were allowed out of jail.
West, a public defender who stood in Friday as Isaac Ortega's lawyer, said she had no idea if Singh's allegations about murders in other states were true. "He's totally denying he had anything to do with the beating," she said. West said Isaac Ortega likely would be hiring private counsel.
Public defender Gabriel Wade, Arthur Ortega's lawyer, said his client told him he had nothing to do with the beating and thinks the other two men involved in the case are mistaking him for another person. Wade said he thinks Singh was likely talking about Isaac Ortega when she spoke of one of the brothers being a person of interest in the murders in other states, because Arthur Ortega has never lived in Nevada.
The third man charged in the attack, 19-year-old Aaron Dundas, is awaiting trial on charges of robbery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated burglary, conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
The fourth man charged, Shalom Katz, 14, pleaded no contest of aggravated burglary, conspiracy and two counts of armed robbery in June and was given a two-year commitment to the Children, Youth and Families Department. That sentence was suspended, however, so Katz could attend a Department of Health juvenile treatment center in Albuquerque.
Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.
