Woman sentenced for attempting to bring drugs to jailed murder suspect

From the Las Vegas Optic

A Las Vegas woman charged with delivering illegal drugs to the jail where her boyfriend was being held on murder charges has avoided going to trial by accepting a plea agreement.

Sky A. Sedillo, 24, pleaded guilty last month to trafficking heroin and one count of conspiracy to commit trafficking.

District Judge Michael Aragon on Dec. 10 sentenced Sedillo to five years of supervised probation and ordered her to pay $15,000 in fines. Judge Aragon also stipulated that upon successful completion of the sentence, both felony charges would be discharged from her record. Sedillo had faced a maximum sentence of nine years in prison and $15,000 in fines.

The court also ordered Sedillo to gain full-time employment or enroll in an educational program, undergo counseling and substance abuse treatment and submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

According to Fourth Judicial District Attorney Tom Clayton, under these types of sentences, once probation is completed, the guilty plea remains on a criminal record, but the conviction is removed.

“The offense can still be used under the habitual offender act, so it’s not a complete wash,” Clayton said. “It’s basically an incentive for first-time offenders.”

However, if Sedillo were to violate the terms of her probation, she could be imprisoned for up to nine years, and the conviction would then remain on her record, according to Clayton.

Sedillo initially faced seven felony charges, including an escape charge for violating the terms of house arrest while awaiting trial.

Sedillo was arrested outside the San Miguel County Detention Center in August of 2020 after police and corrections officers learned of a plot to sneak illegal drugs into the jail for the benefit of two incarcerated men.

One of the men, Roger A. Tait-Gomez, is charged with first-degree murder in a July 2020 shooting near Storrie Lake State Park that killed 16-year-old Adelina Tafoya and wounded a 15-year-old boy and another 16-year-old girl.

SMCDC corrections officers alleged that Tait-Gomez and the second man, Kevin DeHerrera, called Sedillo from a jail phone and arranged for her to pick up methamphetamine and heroin, then bring it to the jail. Sedillo was supposed to give the package to a corrections officer who the trio believed would then sneak the package inside the jail in exchange for a cash payment, according to court records.

The corrections officer instead informed LVPD of the plan and Sedillo was arrested outside the facility.

Sedillo was 21 at the time of the arrest and had no previous criminal history.

“This is the tragedy of narcotics in our community,” Clayton said. “(Drugs) are grabbing our youth at a younger and younger age, and they become so immersed in the drug world that it’s destroying these kids.”

DeHerrera was charged with criminal solicitation, conspiracy to bring contraband into jail and two counts of conspiracy to commit trafficking.

Court records show that a plea agreement was in the works and that DeHerrera was set to plead guilty to bringing drugs into the jail and to a conspiracy charge, but during a Dec. 1 hearing, the judge rejected the guilty pleas after DeHerrera said he didn’t know there were drugs in the package Sedillo had brought to the jail. DeHerrera’s case is still open in District Court.

Tait-Gomez is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit trafficking, and three counts of criminal solicitation. In connection to the Storrie Lake shooting, he faces a charge of first-degree murder, three counts aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.

Nico L. Barela was charged in the shooting as well and faces the same charges as Tait-Gomez, as well as a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. A trial for Barela is scheduled to begin Feb. 21.

Tait-Gomez is scheduled to go to trial on murder charges beginning April 4; a trial for the drug-related charges has been scheduled for May 10.