A mother is facing child abuse charges after she allegedly used her small child as a ploy to move cocaine from a home in Sunland Park earlier this month.
Ruben Hernandez, 33, and his wife Griselda Hernandez, 34, are each facing a charge for Trafficking in other Narcotics (Cocaine). Griselda is facing additional charges including abuse of a child and tampering with evidence after she allegedly used a child’s backpack to move drugs during an investigation.
Court records show that DEA agents were conducting surveillance on the Hernandez’s home after they allegedly learned the pair were dealing cocaine.
Sunland Park Police officers initially pulled Ruben Hernandez over for a traffic violation on Jan. 11 and requested to search his car. After the search came up empty, officers asked Hernandez to speak with DEA agents at the Sunland Park Police station regarding a drug trafficking investigation.
Ruben allegedly admitted to having 8 ounces of cocaine in his home worth approximately $6,400. Court documents show that he consented to have agents search his home and recover the cocaine.
While Ruben Hernandez was at the police station being interviewed, undercover officers conducting surveillance on the home say they noticed Griselda Hernandez walking out of her home and down the street with a young child wearing a Mickey Mouse backpack to a nearby trailer. She later left with the child, but the backpack was left behind at the trailer.
Agents were unable to locate all of the cocaine Ruben Hernandez admitted to having in his home. Court records indicate that he told investigators his wife must have moved the drugs and taken them to a trailer the couple shared.
During a search of the second location, agents allegedly recovered several baggies of cocaine, two scales and a plastic bottle that Hernandez told investigators was used as a cutting agent added to the cocaine hidden inside the Mickey Mouse backpack.
The couple were arrested and each were later released on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
(Story from ElPasoProud.com)
