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Pojoaque teacher faces sex charges 18-year-old student says he was pressured into acts By Nico Roesler The New Mexican
A 31-year-old teacher accused of having sex with a student in her Pojoaque Valley High School classroom was arraigned Wednesday on felony charges.
Jennifer Vigil faces two counts of criminal sexual penetration of the teen, who told police that she pressured him into letting her perform oral sex on him in March, and then into having sexual intercourse twice in April. Authorities said Vigil admitted to having sex with the student on school
grounds but said that the sex was consensual and that the student had repeatedly sought sexual favors. Maj. Ken Johnson of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said that even though the student is 18 and may have consented to sexual acts, the acts themselves are still illegal. “In her position as a teacher, she’s an authority figure,” Johnson said. “For
her to engage in any sexual activity with a student, whether they be 18 or not, is against the law.” A criminal complaint says Vigil told investigators that “she was aware she had authority over [the student] because she was his teacher” but again insisted that the sexual acts were consensual.
Jennifer Vigil
The 31-year-old teacher is accused of having sex with a student in her Pojoaque Valley High School classroom.
Please see SEX, Page A-4
Homeowner blasts judge after suspected squatter let go
HAPPY LANDING United Express flights between Santa Fe, Denver begin
By Nico Roesler The New Mexican
An east-side property owner said he is outraged that a Santa Fe County magistrate on Wednesday dismissed burglary and other charges against a man police say admitted to repeatedly breaking Police say into a vacation rental house. Moses Gold Santa Fe police say Moses admitted to Gold, 44, confessed to breaking breaking in into Miguel Rodriguez’s vacant house in the 1300 block of Upper to a vacant Canyon Road twice within the last house on Upper week, where he slept, showered Canyon Road, and otherwise made himself at where he slept, home. In addition to eating meals showered and and drinking vodka in the house, otherwise Rodriguez said, the intruder caused nearly $1,000 in dammade himself age, including destroying several at home. The wooden shelves and using them to property owner build a fire in his fireplace. says Gold However, when Gold appeared caused nearly in court Wednesday to face $1,000 in charges of burglary, breaking and entering, criminal damage and damage. larceny, Magistrate Judge George Anaya Jr. dismissed the case, saying he found a “lack of probable cause” for the charges. “Nobody asked me if I wanted the charges dropped,” Rodriguez said when he learned of the decision. “The judge, with no regard for the victim, has just vomited all over me.”
Passengers disembark from United Express Flight 5944 from Denver after landing at Santa Fe Municipal Airport on Wednesday. United Airlines now offers daily service between Santa Fe and Denver. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
D
iana Feldman was waiting for a United Express flight to Denver on Wednesday, the first day of the airline’s service between the Santa Fe Municipal Airport and Denver International. Her flight was scheduled to leave at 1 p.m., but weather delayed both the incoming flight from Denver and her outgoing flight from Santa Fe. United’s Flight 5944 was due at 12:35 p.m. but left Denver late because of snow there. The pilot of the Embraer ERJ-145 jet made two tries before landing successfully in Santa Fe because of high winds. It didn’t reach the gate until 1:57 p.m. “They [the crew] made the right choice,” said the city’s new airport director, Frances Jesson. The National Weather Service was forecasting wind speeds of 18 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Feldman said that when attending conferences here in the past, she has taken the train and bus to the Albuquerque Sunport to start
Please see LANDING, Page A-4
Please see BLASTS, Page A-4
In good hands On the farm at Kindred Spirits, where unwanted animals find end-of-life love. SCOOP, A-9
United Express Flight 5944 from Denver touches down at Santa Fe Municipal Airport on Wednesday, the first day of daily service between Santa Fe and Denver.
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Operators say end of line near for Lamy’s Legal Tender Restaurant set to close over space dispute By Robert Nott The New Mexican
From left, Greg Jednak serves Sheila Cox, Colleen and Larry Lopez and David Cox during dinner at The Legal Tender Saloon and Restaurant. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
The Legal Tender Saloon and Restaurant in Lamy is scheduled to close by the end of May, its managers said this week. And, as in many an Old West tale, the defining conflict seems to be about space. The restaurant shares a roughly 5,000-square-foot building with the Lamy Railroad & History Museum, which opened about six years ago in the then-shuttered structure across
Lotteries A-2
Opinion A-11
from the train station in the rural community south of Santa Fe. According to John Jednak, who reopened the restaurant with his wife, Cindy, early last year under the auspices of the couple’s nonprofit Learning Mind, the museum wants to expand its operations into the restaurant’s Tumbleweed Room, which seats about 50 diners and features a dance floor that has become popular on weekends. Samuel Latkin, founder of the Railroad & History Museum, said by phone Wednesday that the restaurant has become so successful that it needs more room than the museum is will-
Police notes A-10
Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Brian Barker, bbarker@sfnewmexican.com
Time Out A-11
Santa Fe University of Art and Design Contemporary Music Department’s students in concert, 7 p.m., O’Shaughnessy Performance Space, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, no charge, More events in Calendar, Page A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Obituaries Matias J. Rivera, 83, Santa Fe, April 29 Joe Manuel Romero, 73, Santa Fe, April 27
Today
PAGE A-10
Partly cloudy. High 56, low 26.
Please see END, Page A-4
Sports B-1
Balkan/Mideast Ensemble and African Drum Ensemble
PAGE A-12
Scoop A-9
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 122 Publication No. 596-440