ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On March 14 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Cibola County resident, William Valencia, a 33-year-old resident of Paguete, New Mexico, was brought to court where he entered a guilty plea to charges of escaping from federal custody. Valencia now awaits sentencing, remaining in custody, though a date for the sentencing has yet to be established.
The plea deal was announced by Alexander M.M. Uballez, the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico.
In January 2020, Valencia was convicted for the assault of an intimate partner through strangulation and suffocation, leading to a sentence of 75 months in prison. This sentence was to be followed by a three-year period of supervised release.
To serve the final six months of his sentence, Valencia was placed at the Dismas Charities Diersen Residential Reentry Center in Albuquerque. However, on July 27, 2023, he left the facility without authorization and did not return.
Valencia's freedom was short-lived as he was arrested by the Albuquerque Police Department on October 6, 2023, for possession of a controlled substance. Four days later, on October 10, he was taken into federal custody.
As Valencia faces his sentencing, he could be looking at up to five years in prison. The case has been under the investigation of the United States Marshals Service, with Assistant United States Attorney Jesse Pecoraro leading the prosecution.