Father charged with felony child abuse remains free, receives summons
A Pecos man was charged with two felony counts of child abuse for allegedly kicking and slapping his children on several occasions, according to court records.
Andrew Page, 39, was charged April 6 with two counts of child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm, both third-degree felonies. Page was never arrested though. Instead, a criminal summons was issued, ordering him to appear in court in early May.
The charges followed an investigation by the Children, Youth and Families Department and New Mexico State Police that began in late February, according to a criminal complaint filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court.
The children’s mother first contacted authorities on Feb. 23, after she picked the children up from Page’s home in Pecos. One child said that Page had kicked her in the arms, legs and back, and had caused bruising to one of her arms, according to the criminal complaint.
The children’s mother filed for a restraining order the next day, but the criminal complaint states the request was dismissed because the mother “missed a phone call from the judge.”
Investigators spoke with the children in late March at a safe house in Santa Fe. One child said her father had an issue with anger, that he was abusive and that he had kicked her on several occasions in the past six months. She also stated that her sister had seen it happen, and that Page threatened her sister by saying he would “bash (her) head.”
The other child told investigators that Page had slapped both of them a number of times, and that after being accused of taking a cellphone belonging to Page’s girlfriend, his girlfriend threatened to break the child’s fingers and threatened to push her down the stairs.
CYFD spokesman Charlie Pabst-Moore said he could not comment on the specific case, citing New Mexico’s Children’s Code, but said CYFD investigators respond to any claim of abuse or neglect while working with law enforcement agencies.
The criminal complaint states NMSP began investigating after receiving a report of possible child abuse from CYFD, but it does not indicate who currently has custody of the children.
Court records indicate that Page was notified of the criminal summons by telephone, and that a paper copy of the summons was mailed to him.
However, the mailed version was returned to the court by the U.S. Postal Service, marked “return to sender” with no forwarding address.
When the Optic asked NMSP why a summons had been issued in lieu of an arrest, NMSP spokesman Lt. Mark Soriano referred the Optic’s questions to the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s office.
“All of the reports and evidence were submitted to the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s office for their review. Charges were filed by the district attorney’s office,” Soriano wrote in an email.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Richard Flores denies receiving any documents relating to the case though.
“We don’t have this case in our office and we have no evidence that this officer contacted our office regarding charges,” Flores said in an email. “We will be reaching out to (the) officer to check on his intentions since (the) summons was undelivered.”
Flores added that, because the case involves felony charges, police should have contacted the DA’s office.
“Law enforcement often passes the buck when we have zero idea of a particular case. Obviously the officer decided to summons without our input,” Flores wrote.
Flores speculated that the decision to issue a summons may have been made because Page has no previous criminal record, and because of policies in place at the county jail and area courts due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he couldn’t say for sure without speaking to the NMSP officer.
Page is scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court at 8 a.m. on May 4. According to the summons, if Page fails to appear for the court date, a warrant for his arrest will be issued.
