Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace will resign on November 28 from his position as sheriff to pursue education in preparation for his new role as Cibola County Magistrate Judge. His departure will leave a temporary void that the Cibola County Commission has found a way to fill without any disruption to the security of Cibola. The sheriff’s term officially ends on December 31, so he will be leaving with only a month left. New Mexico has a two-term limit for sheriff’s, making Mace ineligible to continue as sheriff. Not giving up law enforcement entirely, Mace is beginning a new venture as Magistrate Judge. Two men, Larry Diaz (D) and Wesley Mallery (R) are running to replace Mace. Whichever of these men wins the election on November 8 will be sworn in early to take over Mace’s responsibility as he leaves the sheriff’s post to pursue legal education for his new judgeship.
Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher explained the process at Coffee with the Managers on November 3 at the Coyote Del Malpais Golf Course. She said this is an effective way to ensure an orderly transition that will not impact the sheriff’s office’s ability to protect the greater community.
“I hope that the Sheriff’s Office continues to move forward with the same professionalism and courtesy to the citizens of Cibola County. It was a great ride and I enjoyed every minute of it, although there were bad days, the good one outweighed it all. The positive feedback and support from the community made it all worth it. As sheriff, I was only as good as the people I had standing next to me and I do believe I had one of the most loyal and committed teams in this profession. I will miss each and every one of them,” Sheriff Mace said in a statement.
Mace had a successful eight years as sheriff, taking down criminals across the county. One of his greatest accomplishments occurred in 2017, when, despite a lack of interest by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, CCSO moved into a militarized compound in Fence Lake controlled by the Aggressive Christian Ministry Training Corp. The heavily armed group was found guilty of kidnapping children from Africa, failing to report births and deaths within their compound, and of abuse. Mace’s law enforcement administration was successful in bringing an end to this paramilitary group. Under his steadfast leadership, the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office increased their efforts to combat drugs in Cibola. Bringing together a large chunk of resources, sometimes teaming up with other county sheriff’s offices, the federal government, and local prisons to bolster protection and target drug dealers and traffickers in Cibola.
Many of the traffickers CCSO has arrested and brought down were non-locals, trafficking sometimes thousands of pounds of drugs through Cibola on Interstate 40. There were several instances, however, where Mace’s Cibola Narcotics Taskforce took down serious drug dealers in the Cibola community.
Recently, a drug dealer was distributing a bad batch of drugs around Cibola that was laced with the deadly drug Fentanyl. CCSO teamed up with local law enforcement and raided an illegally operated smoke shop where they took a suspect into custody, since then the flow of Fentanyl in Cibola has been seriously interrupted.
These are just a few of the numerous accomplishments Sheriff Mace’s administration was able to accomplish. He was always known as being accessible and friendly to the public, with a no-nonsense attitude for crime.
His administration was not without some controversy, however. Mace spearheaded an effort to make Cibola a “Second Amendment Sanctuary Community”. His political campaigning against the governor’s strict gun laws – which, despite passing through the state legislature, are rarely used – was often seen as purely political moves, but Mace said that he would always uphold the oath he swore to the constitution when he was just a boy entering military service with the US Marine Corps.
In recent years, the sheriff stepped off of the political gas pedal and focused on strengthening his office, making it better equipped and more resilient in the face of rapidly evolving criminal activity, like Fentanyl drugs that look like candy. Mace was always the first to say that law enforcement needed to evolve to match the times, and worked hard to keep his department up to date with the political climate, even when it was lessthan friendly to law enforcement.
The new sheriff, whomever wins the November 8 election, will be tasked with maintaining the strength of CCSO and the commitment it has demonstrated toward the safety of Cibola.