Dominic Ribera was charged with tampering with evidence after his dogs killed a man.
New Details Released
UPDATE 06/03/21: Additional details have been released about the May 24 mauling death of a man in Veguita. Dominic Ribera was arrested and charged with multiple felonies after the vicious attack. El Defensor Chieftain reports that four adult dogs were involved in the attack, including one shot by deputies when they arrived at the scene. Six puppies were also seized from Ribera's property. Blood samples were taken from the fur of the adult dogs and placed into evidence.
The criminal complaint states that while Lt. Richard Lopez and the county's animal control officer were at the scene, Lopez saw Ribera place wooden objects against part of his fence, covering a hole where dog tracks could be seen. It appeared the dogs were using the hole to escape the yard, the complaint states. One of the dogs taken into custody had recently bitten a neighbor. Another of Ribera's dogs had to be killed recently by a neighbor after it attacked his animals.
The Albuquerque Journal identified the victim as 53-year old Jose Ortega. He was discovered face-down near some chamisa bushes. He had been dead for several hours. There was a pack of aggressive dogs nearby -- some had blood on their faces. Lopez shot and killed one of the dogs and an animal control officer pepper sprayed several others, as the two men tried to round up the animals. All 10 dogs taken into custody at the scene were pit bull-mixes, reports the Journal.
Other details of the investigation were outlined in court documents, including statements from Ortega's niece, Leslie Martinez. "I knew his dogs were vicious, we all knew that something was going to happen," Martinez said. She said her uncle had gone to water the plants at the home of Ribera’s neighbor when the attack happened. "He couldn’t fight the dogs off, he wasn’t strong enough," Martinez said. She said Ortega was disabled and had a number of health issues.
05/30/21: Man Killed by Dogs
Socorro County, NM - In another fatal dog attack, where police did not issue a press release after the attack, deputies found an adult male dead with torn clothing and bite marks on May 24. The owner of the dogs, Dominic Ribera, told deputies he went outside after he heard his dogs making noises, reports KOB-TV. Once he got outside, he discovered a man lying on the ground. Ribera was going to attempt CPR on the man, but after poking him with a stick realized he was dead.
Ribera has been charged with possession of a dangerous dog, failure to report a death, and tampering with evidence, according to authorities.
According to court documents obtained by KOB-TV, Ribera discovered the victim at 11:00 am, but waited three hours before contacting the police. The victim's niece, Leslie Martinez, told deputies that neighbors have contacted law enforcement about Ribera's dogs multiple times and even confronted Ribera about keeping his dogs secured, which he refused to do. Deputies seized 10 dogs from Ribera's property, including a pit bull-mix that deputies shot when they arrived.
Felony Tampering Cases
In the past two years, there have been at least two fatal pit bull attacks where felony tampering charges were brought afterward. The most recent was the death of 9-year old Robby Taylor in Arkansas. Trey Wyatt was charged with felony tampering with physical evidence and numerous other charges in connection to his death. In 2019, Daniel Alexander was charged with felony tampering with physical evidence at the scene after three pit bulls killed 46-year old Brian Butler.
Court filings indicate that on May 24, Ribera was charged with a third degree felony for the possession of a dangerous dog and the death of a person. (This statute is located on our Felony Dog Attack Laws page). He was also charged with a fourth degree felony for tampering with evidence and a misdemeanor for failure to report a violent death. The preliminary examination is scheduled for June 23, 2021. Court records indicate Ribera has a history of low-level offenses.
According to a KRQE report, the tampering with evidence charge is the result of Ribera trying to cover up this hole in his fence while the scene was being investigated by authorities.
Related articles:
01/15/21: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: 9-Year Old Boy Killed by Two Pit Bulls in Faulkner County
07/03/19: 2019 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Killed by Dogs in Western Kentucky, Three Pit Bulls...
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
I hope not but it sure sounds like he waited for the victim to die before calling the cops.
Sadly the murder dogs are probably being transformed in to “harmless wiggle butts” as we speak. Even the one cops had to shoot if it is still alive.
He was probably taking his time cleaning the blood off the dogs.
I think there is a very good chance this sick phuk did wait for the victim to die before putting in a call. More like the victim “was as good as dead” and not dead when he did the stick poking and death pronouncement that he is not medically or legally trained to do. I would like to know more about the tampering with evidence.
I agree. My dogs killed this guy! If the police find out they might take them away! This guy is really sick.
In societies that are ruled by local law entities that answer only to the Almighty Dog, their idols are allowed to terrorize, maim and kill with impunity. The remains of their sacrificial victims are swept under the rug and thrown away with less than scarcely a murmur. Anyone who sounds the alarm is someone who is sacrilegious to their Dog.
What else can be expected in societies that worship Dog? The only thing that can be expected in this country is that the idolators will continue to allow the flesh of a few million of their sacrificial victims to be fed to their rapacious Dog.
The elderly, the young, the newborn, and anyone that their Dog chooses to be the perfect sacrificial victim. Every year, a few million, in this country, until the end of this evil age.
Anyone whose dog kills a person should automatically be charged with involuntary manslaughter. Many dogs are not capable of killing a human, having one that is is a choice. Not securing it is a choice. Lack of concern for others is a choice. Lax laws that don’t punish murder contribute to these choices.
Well said
I don’t understand how someone can even be near a dog that killed a person, let alone try to hide it. This dude decided to wait 3 hours before alerting anyone?! Sick. The victim of his filthy dogs deserved to at least be reported to be dead.
Ten dogs? Did this fellow seem himself as some kind of rescuer or foster dog home? Is this a hoarding situation?
There were complaints about the pack of dogs being unsecured previous to the death. Perhaps if authorities had taken those seriously the victim would still be alive.
there was a litter of 6 puppies in that count.
it took him 3 hours to decide he couldnt come up with a good enough plan to conceal the incident without getting caught
Newly released details show that the dogs were a notorious threat, but nothing was done, or whatever was done was totally ineffective. This is because the local powers do not want to offend the almighty Dog that they idolize and worship. The local powers do not want to admit that they are much to blame. It is not only the owners who worship the almighty Dog. Only when their idol turned out to be the angel of death, these local powers decided to take action against the person who maintained the object of their worship.
forgive me for actually coming right out and speaking the truth but cops are in general worthless or worse than worthless-thats just the cold hard truth-the whole idea ,philosophy, and attitude of law enforcement in this country needs a real thorough overhaul-needs to be entirely revamped so that they are constructive and beneficial for a civil community-not destructive or indifferent
thats all 100% undisputable-but heres my 2 cents-pepper spray should never be used on any dog-if a dog is doing something that is harmful to any living thing-that dog needs to be shot and all that bs about ‘cant shoot a dog while its attacking or has a person in its mouth…blah blah blah yadi yadi yadi-im so sick of hearing that kool aid that every1 is drinking these days-that kind of thinking and attitude is 1 of the main reason there is a dog problem to begin with and even if zero ppl got killed by dogs -if daily there are dog attacks requiring medical attention-thats would still be a major problem-fatalities from dog attacks goes way beyond ‘a problem’-im not sure theres even a word for it