APD officer arrested after allegedly driving drunk with child in vehicle
Jonathan Franco, 38, of Albuquerque, is charged with driving while intoxicated with a minor in the vehicle and DWI. He was released on personal recognizance, according to court records. A bond arraignment is scheduled for June 5.
It is unclear if he has an attorney.
The Albuquerque police chief said he was "disappointed" with the officer.
"We are disappointed that this officer made a bad choice," Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina said in a news release Sunday. "There are many rideshare options for people to avoid drinking and driving."
At 11:30 p.m., the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office was conducting a DWI checkpoint at Unser and Rainbow NW when deputies saw a truck approach orange cones, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. While talking to Franco, deputies said they smelled a "strong odor" of alcohol on his breath and saw his eyes were bloodshot and watery, deputies said.
Franco told deputies he had "one or two beers" about an hour earlier, the complaint states. When Franco got out of the truck, deputies saw a six-year-old girl in the backseat, deputies said.
Franco performed "poorly" on the standardized field sobriety tests then told deputies he had three or four Modelos, according to the complaint.
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San Francisco Chronicle
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- San Francisco Chronicle
Dave Franco responds to being fan-cast as Luigi Mangione: ‘I'm open'
After nearly a year of online buzz, Dave Franco has finally weighed in on potentially playing Luigi Mangione on the big screen. Fans on the internet wasted no time pointing out the uncanny resemblance between the Palo Alto native and Mangione, the primary suspect in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, since the 27-year-old was arrested in December. Many suggested that Franco would be a great candidate to play Mangione in any future movies or made-for TV shows reenacting the crime. When asked about the discourse during a recent appearance on Bravo's 'Watch What Happens Live,' hosted by Andy Cohen, he admitted he wouldn't be opposed to the idea. "No one has approached me about it yet," he told one viewer via video call during a Q&A portion of the episode, which aired on Tuesday, Aug. 5. "Let's just say I'm open if it's the right people, and let's leave it at that." Franco, who was on the late-night talk show to promote his new body horror film ' Together,' in which he stars opposite his real-life wife Alison Brie, also mentioned that this is far from the first time he has heard about being compared to Mangione. 'More people in my life reached out about this exact thing than anything else that has ever happened,' he said. Mangione, who has ties to Stanford University, was taken into custody on Dec. 9, in connection with the killing of Thompson. Police found several handwritten pages expressing a 'disdain for corporate America' and frustrations with the United States' healthcare system on Mangione when he was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty. From the moment his name and mugshot were released, social media users dug into Mangione's online presence, from Linkedin to Spotify and Letterboxd accounts. A vocal subset of the internet has viewed Mangione as a martyr, urging for his release, making fancam videos of him and even dubbing him 'America's Sweetheart.' In addition to advocating for Franco's involvement in a potential on-screen project, several online have suggested that television writer and creator Ryan Murphy should be involved. Murphy has a history of creating series and film adaptations based on real-life headline news, from 'American Crime Story,' which chronicled the death of Gianni Versace and earned San Francisco native Darren Criss a Golden Globe; O.J. Simpson's murder trial, which starred Stanford alum Sterling K. Brown; and the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to 'Monsters,' which has run through the stories of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers murder case. But while Hollywood may not have jumped in yet, the case has inspired several documentaries and a San Francisco play, ' Luigi: The Musical.' Earlier this week, the production announced a run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival from Aug. 19-23, its first set of shows outside of San Francisco.
Los Angeles Times
31-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Reputed Mexican Mafia member charged in killing of L.A. club owner, B-movie actor
One night nearly 15 years ago, two men broke into the Downey home of Hermilio Franco, an actor and nightclub owner. The scene could have been ripped from one of the low-budget, shoot-em-up Mexican films Franco starred in — or the ballads chronicling the drug trade that were sung at his club. The intruders shook Franco and his wife awake. Franco pulled a chrome-plated .45 from under the mattress. Screams and gunshots filled the bedroom. When the shooting stopped, Franco was dead. One of the intruders lay moaning a few feet away, paralyzed by a bullet that struck his spine. The second would-be robber slipped out a back door. The paralyzed assailant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2014. His companion went unidentified until last week, when Los Angeles County prosecutors charged that Manuel Quintero, a reputed Mexican Mafia member nicknamed 'Snuffy,' was the intruder who got away. 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UPI
26-07-2025
- UPI
Man, 18, arrested in fatal shooting in University of New Mexico dorm
John Fuentes, 18, is facing charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and tampering with evidence. He is in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Photo by Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office July 26 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old man was arrested in the death of a 14-year-old boy and injury of a 19-year-old while playing video games at a University of New Mexico student housing complex in Albuquerque, police said. The campus reopened on Saturday, the university said in a news release. The suspect, John Fuentes, was arrested around 2:30 p.m. local time Friday in Los Lunas, 25 miles south of Albuquerque and about 13 hours after the shooting at Casas del Rio housing complex. Fuentes was taken into custody at 3 a.m. Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque. He is facing charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence, New Mexico State Police said. Fuentes was arrested during a traffic stop on Highway 314 in Valencia County. Several agencies, including state police, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and Albuquerque police, looked for Fuentes. Fuentes was one of four teenagers playing video games in a dorn room, New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said at a news conference. According to court documents Saturday obtained by KOAT-TV, Fuentes went to the dorm parking lot in his father's vehicle. At 10:20 p.m., he met with the 14-year-old and another person, police said. A fourth person told authorities they were playing video games, and the Fuentes appeared to be on drugs. The victim was shot in the head. He said they fled through a window. Police said Fuentes first went to his car and then wound up on the first story of the housing building where he injured himself while smashing several windows. Blood stains, a stolen Glock 9mm handgun, keys and a pair of blue jeans were left on the roof, police said. Two people picked him up in a pickup around 1:40 a.m., police said. Gunfire was detected after midnight at the dormitory. At 1:36 a.m., police responded to an alarm from the dorm building. They found a broken window and what appeared to be blood, Weisler said. Police found the dead 14-year-old inside the dorm. The young teen hasn't been identified. At 2:30 a.m., a 19-year-old man arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound. The university first reported the incident at 3:27 a.m. via Lobo Alerts. Central campus had been closed "out of an abundance of caution," the school posted on X. For about five hours people were told to shelter in place. Late Friday, the university said the campus would reopen Saturday with all planned activities. The dormitory also reopened, the school posted on X. "This is a tragic incident that has had a deep impact on our entire community," Weisler said. The University of Mexico has about 22,000 students enrolled but much fewer during the summer. More than 400 students were attending new student orientation and were staying in the dormitories. "We understand this incident may be especially distressing for new students and their families," University President Garnett S. Stokes said in a statement. "We want to assure everyone that we are fully committed to your safety and well-being."
