Sunland Park Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas
Sunland Park Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas and City Manager Jaime Aguilera entered the equivalent of not-guilty pleas today to charges alleging they used a lap-dance video to try to force one of Salinas’ opponents to drop out of the mayoral race.
The two men, who have been jailed since Saturday evening, appeared in court in orange jail jumpsuits, handcuffs and leg shackles before District Judge Lisa Schultz, the Las Cruces Sun-News is reporting. In addition to accepting their denials of guilt, Schultz rejected their attorneys’ request to reduce their $50,000, cash-only bonds after District Attorney Amy Orlando argued that their flight risk was “huge.”
More from the Sun-News:
“…Orlando highlighted that Aguilera has a 2004 fraud conviction on his record and contended he’s a flight risk because of strong ties to Mexico, where he maintains several bank accounts.
“Also, Salinas owns two or three houses in Mexico and travels often to Juarez, Orlando told Schultz.”
Both men were charged Saturday with a third-degree felony count of extortion and fourth-degree felony counts of conspiracy to extort, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. If convicted, each faces a maximum of 7.5 years in prison.
Sunland Park City Manager Jaime Aguilera
Two other Sunland Park employees charged in the case – Public Works Director Jesus Dario Hernandez and Martah Alondra Lozano, an assistant temporary human resources employee – live in El Paso and have not yet been arrested. They each face fourth-degree felony charges of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence, and a maximum of three years in prison if convicted.
The four allegedly conspired in a plot to force one of Salinas’ opponents in the March 6 mayoral race, Gerardo Hernandez (no relation to Jesus Dario Hernandez), to drop out by threatening to release a secretly recorded video of Hernandez getting a lap dance if he refused.
According to the Sun-News, Orlando told Schultz today that Gerardo Hernandez has received threats since Saturday’s arrests, and community members have come forward with more allegations because they feel free to speak.
The Sun-News quoted Bradley Sims of Las Cruces, the attorney for Aguilera and Salinas, as saying the $50,000 cash-only bonds were “far outside the resources either defendant would ever be able to come up with.” KFOX-TV in El Paso quoted Orlando as saying Sunland Park’s city attorney and Salinas supporters may be trying to come up with the cash to bond both men out.