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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Northern NM economy profits from LANL

Northern NM economy profits from LANL from Los Alamos Monitor


Joshua Montoya worked as a pipefitter when the thefts occurred. Montoya was arrested in July 2016, after the owner of an EspaƱola scrap metal yard gave investigators Montoya’s driver’s licence information and sales records of the transaction that also had Montoya’s personal information. 

In court Wednesday, Montoya pleaded no contest to larceny. In exchange for his plea, Montoya was sentenced to three years probation. If he completes the three years without breaking any other laws, the felony conviction will be wiped from his record.

Montoya’s attorney, Tyr Loranger, said he was able to get a more lenient sentence for his client because there were others involved.

“There were some sympathetic factors in Joshua’s case,” Loranger said. “One of those factors was that the main culprit in that case was someone else. There was someone else who was responsible for what was going on. Josh was just an accessory. That was the fulcrum I used to convince the district attorney that this outcome was in the best interest of justice.”

Shortly after his July 9, 2016, arrest, Montoya also checked himself into an inpatient addiction treatment program, which also helped his case, Loranger said.

Police believe Montoya started taking the copper between May 31 and July 9 of last year.

Los Alamos National Laboratory officials initially reported a theft of copper fittings that occurred between July 9 and July 13. Investigators traced the stolen copper to Gallegos Scrap Metal LLC, where the shop’s owner, Tim Gallegos was able to show investigators receipts from sales Montoya made to his shop.

After a more thorough examination of the records, investigators from LANL and the Los Alamos Police Department determined that Montoya had been selling copper materials from LANL several times a week since May 31.

“(Gallegos) said that since this date, Mr. Montoya has sold 2,709 pounds of copper and brass to Gallegos Scrap Metal and was paid $3,474.95,” said Los Alamos Police Department Cpl. Jack Casias in his report. “Examination of one of the boxes showed a label which had ‘Los Alamos National Laboratory’ on it as well as ‘LANL SM-30 TA 60’ which is another technical area of the laboratory.”

http://www.lamonitor.com/content/espa%C3%B1ola-man-pleads-no-contest-lanl-copper-thefts

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is well known how Los Alamos has stolen the riches from Northern New Mexico so this is just people trying to get something back from what was stolen. The Los Alamos study group has many studies showing how LANL has ruined a once thriving region
and created huge wealth inequalities and wealth inequialities are the cause of poverty therefore Los Alamos creates poverty in
Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.

Anonymous said...

How many logical fallacies, not to mention outright lies, can you weave into one statement, 11:40. I count at least 5. Impressive.

Anonymous said...


"How many logical fallacies, not to mention outright lies"

OMG, only a scientist would talk about things like "logical fallacies" whatever that means. Certain groups have manipulated the
language to benefit themselves. Logic can only take you so far in life, and we all know things that are not "logical" but are true, and to deny that means you are the liar. I feel sorry for you that your worldview is so limited that all you see is logical or not-logical arguments. Is art logical, is love logical, is justice logical, is what we all know in our hearts to be true logical? No and that is where you fail.

Anonymous said...

Scooby, time to shut down this thread. The nutcase Socialist is trolling again.

Anonymous said...

Hogwash.

I don't work at LANL, but I grew up in New Mexico. We were poor when I did. That's common in New Mexico.

The fact is that Mew Mexico is a relatively poor state. It always has been, all fantasies of the Los Alamos Study Group aside. Sticking any significant federally funded activity into such a state creates economic inequality, not because its sucking up the local vitality, but because its creating a pocket of higher paying jobs. Kick out LANL, Sandia, and Kirtland, and New Mexico would be even poorer

Anonymous said...

Without LANL, Northern New Mexico would go back to the Stone Age in a jiffy. It's a beautiful land, but the human capital is just not there. Forget educated, sophisticated workforce pushing hightech forward: you can't even find a minimally competent plumber or roofer. Corruption, nepotism, incompetence, truancy, drug addiction rule here.

Anonymous said...

The series "Breaking Bad" was shot in New Mexico for a very good reason. It's almost a documentary of the state's bad crime problems.

Anonymous said...

"Without LANL, Northern New Mexico would go back to the Stone Age in a jiffy. It's a beautiful land, but the human capital is just not there. Forget educated, sophisticated workforce pushing hightech forward: you can't even find a minimally competent plumber or roofer. Corruption, nepotism, incompetence, truancy, drug addiction rule here.

June 1, 2017 at 10:48 PM"

That is a very ugly thing to say but is all too common an attitude by some in New Mexico. Did you ever think that your attitude is the reason for New Mexico's problems? No I suppose not.

Anonymous said...

Hey 6:46. You called him a scientist. To him that's a compliment. And if you're the same person who posted at 11:40, you started the whole "logic" thing by using the word "therefore" in your argument.

Lastly, I know in my heart to be true that unicorns exist and therefore I am qualified to post on this blog. Another logical fallacy. See how that works?

Anonymous said...

10:50 AM must have never needed a minimally competent plumber or roofer in northern NM, otherwise they would know better than to make such bogus claims.

Anonymous said...

10:50 AM must not have ever required the services of a minimally qualified plumber or roofer in northern NM, otherwise they would not have made such an obviously bogus claim.

Anonymous said...

I'm not 10:50 but the northern NM plumber who did the plumbing in my addition ran a hot water line to the toilet.

Northern NM is famous for incompetent roofers so 11:45 clearly knows nothing about the subject.

Anonymous said...

My experience in trying to hire competent tradesmen in Northern NM is that they do not exist. Crappy quality work is the rule - if you find a good competent worker in the building trades, he is either unavailable due to overbooking, or two times as expensive as everyone else, because he can charge that much for quality, or he doesn't show up because he is drunk most of the time. Check Angie's List or Home Advisor. Almost all lousy reviews. My other observation is that the really quality tradesmen are often illegals. Don't ask questions, pay cash, and get good work. If you are lucky.

Anonymous said...

June 2, 2017 at 6:29 PM

You people are ugly and this whole thread just shows what is wrong with privileged attitudes of people at the labs who think they are better than everyone else.

Anonymous said...

You can find many roofers in northern NM, but not many that are sober on the job. They mostly still exist because of the unusually large disposable incomes that the lab provides to workers and the homeowners remain content to get fourth rate work at jacked up prices. And a poor roof job insures a return visit!

Anonymous said...

If you dropped out of high school, the chances of you being a competent, quality craftsman are pretty slim. Calculate an accurate square footage of roofing or flooring, minimizing waste? Design a good miter joint on a fine cabinet? Plumb a six-way diverter valve on a shower? A 4-way switch on an outside light? Not likely. Northern New Mexico is full of "not likely."

Anonymous said...

"That is a very ugly thing to say but is all too common an attitude by some in New Mexico. Did you ever think that your attitude is the reason for New Mexico's problems? No I suppose not."

No, it's not his/her attitude that the cause, it's "corruption, nepotism, incompetence, truancy, and drug addiction." I'll add to that, the rinse and repeat policies that have put this state waaaay behind it's neighboring states. I say move the Government work out and give New Mexico back to Mexico. This place just can't govern itself.

Anonymous said...

My plumber is dyslexic because of MY attitude? Good one.

Anonymous said...

"No, it's not his/her attitude that the cause, it's "corruption, nepotism, incompetence, truancy, and drug addiction." "

Or could be due to systemic racism that has created the lack of social mobility, wealth inequalities and lack of opportunities.

Anonymous said...

That was offensive. The trouble with your BS is that many NM Hispanics have been very successful. Governor Martinez is one.

I'm another.

So are thousands of my coworkers.

You're the REAL racist here. PIG.

Anonymous said...

Since when are Hispanics a separate race?

Anonymous said...

There are lots of successful Hispanics all over the country and the world; this has nothing to do with race. This is a problem with the "business model" for New Mexico. Arizona, Colorado, Utah...chalk full of successful Hispanics. New Mexico can't manage itself and needs to bring in outside consultants from successful states from the land-locked southwest states listed above. The challenging part in all this is its dirt-poor state, which drives it into a downward spiral; makes recover very difficult. Due to the poverty, education is not valued due. Most of the poor New Mexicans - a significant and growing population, just don't care about education - that's not racist its a fact (there are exceptions but not enough to be statistically meaningful). If New Mexico can reduce the poverty, things will improve. To reduce poverty you need jobs and to get jobs, you need an educated work force and business plan that brings jobs. Liberals typically suck at business and public education and hence you have states like New Mexico. California, a liberal state that makes all sorts of bad business decisions yet seems to be surviving and surviving fairly well. They have more margin for error due to their population and geographic location - they can be stupid, New Mexico can't.

Anonymous said...

Gov. Martinez is from Texas.

Anonymous said...

People noted that workers from Mexico are usually more competent and do a better job than the local Northern NM workforce. We have local workers who have no work ethics, no motivation, no training, going against people who are motivated, mobile and experienced. The result is predictable. Where is racism here? Are you accusing the posters of being "pro-Hispanic" or "anti-Hispanic"? It's become a tradition to yell "racism" or other incendiary accusations in place of substantive arguments, to the point when it really makes zero logical sense.

Anonymous said...

Governor Martinez has lived in N.M. for 31 years, almost twice as long as she lived in Texas. She didn't go to College in Texas, she went to College in Oklahoma.

She refers to herself as a New Mexican.

So what is your point 4:53? Maybe you just like to toss smelly red herrings?

Anonymous said...

Who cares about where Martinez is from?? Get behind good policy for NM or don't. Stop being imbeciles and grow up.

Anonymous said...

On the one hand, it is nearly darn impossible to find a quality tradesman in NM. On the other hand, the state ranks dead last in unemployment in the whole country. What's wrong with this picture? What does this say about the state government? That they failed at workforce development. We have a huge mismatch between the needs of the market and the skills of the local workforce (or lack thereof).

At the bare minimum, the state would do well supporting education and vocational training programs of all sorts for its residents. Instead of telling them that they are victims of "systemic racism" or that the reason for their problems is the "privileged attitudes of people from the labs who think they are better than everyone else".

Anonymous said...

Why is it the responsibility of the state to provide anything to people who aren't victims of anything?

Anonymous said...

There is indeed a radical group out there which subscribes to the worldview that the state should not provide anything to its population: no education, no social safety net, no healthcare, no support in retirement, no environmental controls or protection, no support for science, and on and on. I won't debate this here, because experience shows that those who adhere to such a worldview do so religiously and are typically immune to rational arguments. I will just note that if you consider running a state like a business, then there is an extremely strong business case for workforce development. Neglect it and other states and countries will eat your lunch. Positive examples abound, such as Germany, which has extremely strong vocational training programs and a thriving economy with exports worldwide as a result. Negative examples are plentiful as well, like Russia post Soviet collapse, where the government stopped doing anything for the population and the economy collapsed while life expectancy plunged. Which model should NM adopt?

Anonymous said...

Who wants to run a state "like a business"?? That's just a stupid as running it like a welfare organization. Let the state take care of roads, school funding (not school regulation), drivers licenses, and basic criminal law enforcement. Safety nets, healthcare, retirement support, are all personal responsibilities. Germany may pretend to no longer be a fascist state, but the German psyche will never change.

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