Man accused of leading two high-speed chases faces escape charge
An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for a Las Vegas man accused of violating the terms of his release following accusations that he led police on two high-speed chases last summer.
Manuel “Melo” Aragon, 44, was charged Tuesday with felony escape charges after an investigator with the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office received notice from a GPS monitoring company that Aragon had violated the terms of his release by traveling out of the county.
Aragon was arrested June 15, 2021, after being charged with two felony counts of aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, along with several traffic violations, including driving with a suspended license.
His arrest followed allegations that last summer, Aragon twice fled law enforcement officers, leading them on high-speed chases through Las Vegas.
The first incident occurred just before 8 a.m. June 9, when a San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office deputy spotted a black Lexus sedan with a shattered windshield turning onto Seventh Street from Mills Avenue.
The deputy attempted a traffic stop of the car driven by Aragon, but he fled and was “weaving in and out of traffic,” according to an arrest affidavit filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court. Aragon drove through multiple intersections without stopping for stop signs, and reached speeds of 85 mph in a 30 mph zone, police allege.
The deputy called off the chase after Aragon drove through a city utility work zone at a “high rate of speed,” according to the affidavit.
Deputies identified Aragon as the driver, in part, by listening to calls between him and a woman incarcerated at the San Miguel County Detention Center. According to transcripts of the call, the woman — who police say is Aragon’s girlfriend — asked why he hadn’t been answering her calls. He told her he’d been in a high-speed chase with police up Seventh Street.
A warrant was issued for Aragon’s arrest, and days later, around 11 a.m. June 14, officers with the Las Vegas Police Department spotted Aragon driving the black Lexus near Bernal Street and New Mexico Avenue.
With knowledge of the active arrest warrant for Aragon, officers attempted a traffic stop, but he refused to stop, and continued to flee at a “high rate of speed,” according to a second arrest affidavit filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court. The officer called off the chase when Aragon traveled into a populated area along Union Street.
Police again monitored calls from SMCDC between Aragon and the woman police have identified as his girlfriend.
Transcripts of that call, filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, show that Aragon again discussed running from police, saying to the woman, “I was coming home from the jail and mother f—– cop was coming out … mother f—– tried to yank me, I bounced. I ran there on Union Street. I f—– up the bottom of my car.”
A second arrest warrant was issued and Aragon was apprehended on June 15. He was granted a $5,000 cash-only bond, and released from SMCDC June 17, and ordered to remain on house arrest with a GPS monitor.
The terms of his release stipulated that he could only leave home for medical or legal appointments, and that he was not allowed to leave San Miguel County.
Once the investigator from the DA’s office received notice from the monitoring company that Aragon had violated the conditions of his release, the investigator reviewed the GPS data.
Data showed that on Feb. 4, Aragon traveled to Española around 11:30 a.m. He returned to Las Vegas the next day around 6:15 p.m., but traveled around town for hours before returning to his home just before 10 p.m., according to the latest arrest affidavit filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court.
Both fleeing from law enforcement cases were transferred to District Court for trial. Trial dates have not been scheduled, and police had not served the latest arrest warrant as of this writing.
