Raid yields drugs and game heads

Black bear head, cocaine among items seized from La Cieneguilla home

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

7/3/2008 - 7/4/08

Law enforcement officers raiding a suspected Santa Fe County drug dealer's double-wide trailer Monday found marijuana, cocaine and dozens of mounted game heads.

A Region III drug task force of state police and Santa Fe city and county officers descended on 50-year-old Anthony "Tony" Martinez's trailer in La Cieneguilla on Monday with a search warrant. They found an unspecified amount of marijuana and cocaine, said Peter Olson, a New Mexico State Police public information officer. "They had information that Anthony was dealing cocaine," Olson said.

Martinez, who has a police record dating back 20 years and an earlier arrest on felony trafficking charges, was arrested on felony charges of trafficking with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by a felon, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance. He was booked into the Santa Fe County jail.

Police alerted the state Department of Game and Fish about the game heads and obtained a search warrant to investigate. Inside Martinez's blue-and-white mobile home at No. 77 Sunrise Road, a game officer found 17 mule deer heads and 21 elk heads, most with antlers and some shoulder mounted. The officer also found a stuffed black bear head, a bobcat hide and pronghorn antlers. Several of the bull elk skulls had large six-point antler racks attached.

The officer said in an affidavit that he believes Martinez possessed most of the game heads and pelts illegally. Game department records show Martinez has had six elk hunting licenses since 1999 and had a deer hunting license for this season, which begins Nov. 1.

Martinez pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting or fishing in 2001, court documents say.

Dan Brooks, chief of the Game and Fish Department's law enforcement division, said the Martinez case was one of the largest number of confiscated wildlife heads and items. "We're always concerned when there are numerous heads, and we haven't seen the documentation," Brooks said.

Brooks said the department has accumulated so many confiscated antlers and wildlife heads that in mid-July the cache will be auctioned off to the public. People will have a chance to bid on elk, deer and bighorn sheep antlers at the annual auction July 19 in Santa Fe. Money raised at the auction will go to the department's game protection fund, Brooks said.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.