New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Public contact, Information Center: (888) 248-6866
Media contact: Dan Williams: (505) 476-8004
dan.williams@state.nm.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 17, 2017:

Roswell man arrested for harassing pronghorns

SANTA FE – Tips from the public resulted in the arrest of a 28-year-old Roswell man for allegedly harassing wildlife after he was reportedly seen chasing a herd of pronghorns with his four-wheel off-highway vehicle.

Enrico Amaya, 28, of the 600 block of Pine St., Roswell, was arrested Aug. 11 by Cpl. Tyson Sanders, a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish conservation officer stationed in Roswell.

Sanders had received tips from the public reporting someone riding an off-highway vehicle and chasing a herd of pronghorns in a pasture near town on several recent occasions. Sanders identified, questioned and arrested Amaya. A video camera and digital media card also was confiscated from Amaya.

Sanders wrote in his affidavit for an arrest warrant that continued chasing of pronghorns during the summer heat could have led to exhaustion and death of the popular game animals.

Amaya pleaded no contest to the charge before Magistrate K. C. Rogers Aug. 15 and was given a suspended 182 day jail sentence under supervised probation with enrollment in the county jail’s alternative educational program, according to court records.

For more information about New Mexico wildlife and game and fish laws, please visit the department’s website, www.wildlife.state.nm.us.

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