{"id":16164,"date":"2025-10-11T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/joint-investigation-nets-juveniles-in-shootings-other-violent-crimes-in-farmington\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:55:13","slug":"joint-investigation-nets-juveniles-in-shootings-other-violent-crimes-in-farmington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/joint-investigation-nets-juveniles-in-shootings-other-violent-crimes-in-farmington\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint investigation nets juveniles in shootings, other violent crimes in Farmington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"San
San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Farmington Police Department, in a joint operation, have identified 30 juveniles and at least two adults involved in violent criminal activities over the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

Ten youths ages 15 to 17 are believed to be actively involved in the crimes, while 20 others \u201cmay have been riding along or just loosely involved,\u201d Sheriff Shane Ferrari said Monday at a news conference at the Farmington Civic Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese individuals have shown an extreme amount of violence,\u201d Ferrari said, using \u201csocial media to brag about their crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crimes included shootings, a carjacking involving assault, and a kidnapping, Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

One August incident involved a youth being taken to Farmington Lake, where he was \u201cbrutally battered,\u201d Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

That attack was tied to a party north of Piedra Vista. \u201cThese individuals are luring people out into these areas,\u201d and robbing or assaulting them, Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington Police investigate a Sept. 18, 2025, shooting that left three people injured in the area of North Allen Avenue.<\/span>Debra Mayeux<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Another incident occurred Sept. 18 in the 700 block of North Allen in Farmington, where Meshach Cayaditto, 22, and Dominic Dawes, 22, reportedly hosted a house party with underage youths, according to the Farmington Police report.<\/p>\n

During that party, three teenagers were injured by gunfire \u2013 a 16-year-old was grazed by a bullet, another 16-year-old was shot in the leg, and an 18-year-old was shot in the chest, according to Farmington Police.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers recovered two firearms from the scene, both matching the caliber of casings located nearby,\u201d according to a Farmington Police Department news release.<\/p>\n

Cayaditto and Dawes were charged with violating municipal code Sec. 18-4-2: disorderly house or social house. They were booked into the San Juan County Detention Center and released the next day.<\/p>\n

The code defines an \u201cunruly gathering\u201d as one where alcoholic beverages are provided to or possessed by underage individuals, and where behavior causes a substantial disturbance to nearby residences or properties.<\/p>\n

\"Meshach
Meshach Cayaditto<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dominic
Dominic Dawes<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

While investigating, Farmington Police detectives \u201cwere able to tie people to horrible other crimes,\u201d Chief Steve Hebbe said, adding the \u201clevel of violence is what is so concerning to us here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agencies together \u201chave been able to identify many of the crimes they are involved in,\u201d Hebbe said, adding \u201cit is concerning how easily they transformed into extremely violent behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

One carjacking occurred in the Bisti area. Teenage suspects reportedly assaulted the car owner, stole the vehicle, and then vandalized it with gunfire, Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

Another crime involved a youth being stripped, thrown into a vehicle trunk, and threatened with a gun placed in his mouth, Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

Additionally, juveniles were involved in a shooting incident on the Navajo Reservation in Ojo Amarillo. The FBI is investigating some of the crimes, Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Ferrari said he believes this group of teenage offenders is \u201cisolated,\u201d and law enforcement is working \u201cto stop their crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want you to be scared; be aware, be confident in your law enforcement,\u201d Ferrari said. \u201cThe DA\u2019s office is doing everything we can. We do have holds on everyone we have arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the issue, however, is a \u201cbroken\u201d juvenile crime system marked by catch-and-release practices, Ferrari said. He said reform is needed beyond the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents, you are responsible for your children,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not the school\u2019s responsibility to discipline your child. It is not law enforcement\u2019s job to discipline your child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrari said many of these crimes, including shootings and recent homicides involving youths, happened after midnight and into the early morning hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt those hours of the night, there is nothing good going on,\u201d Ferrari said, adding that when law enforcement spoke to parents, \u201chalf the parents had true concern, the other half were truly neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n

He referenced Benny\u2019s Law, which allows prosecution of parents who fail to secure firearms, enabling youth access for criminal activity. Ferrari said his office will use it to charge parents.<\/p>\n

Ferrari briefly mentioned the recent New Mexico Special Legislative session, saying it will \u201ctake a call from our governor to say we need to address juvenile crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hebbe added that the governor tried to address crime during the last legislative session by raising issues of competency and juvenile crime, but \u201cthe legislature kept her hanging. There was nothing the governor could do to make New Mexico safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hebbe believes the legislature has failed to show urgency. \u201cPeople\u2019s lives are being lost as we are screwing around,\u201d he said, adding \u201cit is a screwed-up system\u201d that needs reform.<\/p>\n

\"Jack
Jack Fortner<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner said part of the issue is that \u201ca juvenile can only be treated as an adult for first-degree murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortner said he would like judges to have more discretion in sentencing juveniles, and emphasized the need for facilities to house juveniles who commit nonviolent crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do more. Nobody ever goes to the detention facility,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cWe continue to watch people get shot, and we\u2019re counting the bodies. I certainly do not want to see this wave continue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘I don\u2019t want you to be scared,\u2019 says Sheriff Shane Ferarri<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20052,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16164\/revisions\/20052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16164"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}