Alleged arsonist arrested in house fire that killed 14 dogs

Sixteen dogs were barking and crying as a South Valley home was burning in April. Moments later, all but two were dead.

Maximiliano Martinez, 41, was charged Monday with 16 counts of extreme animal cruelty and a felony count of arson resulting in damage over $20,000. Martinez has not yet been assigned legal counsel.

“Cute dogs,” Martinez texted Roland Sanchez, a friend of Martinez’s boyfriend and a resident of the home, the night of the fire, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Shortly after, in the early hours of April 17, Sanchez and his fiancé, Adrian Acevedo, returned to find their home engulfed in flames with their pets still inside.

“If it weren’t for so many cops holding them back — they probably would’ve run in and died for those dogs,” said Catherine Sanchez, the mother of Roland Sanchez and a witness to the fire.

Martinez’s boyfriend had been staying with the couple for a few days after an argument the pair had, according to the complaint. The man routinely stayed with the couple whenever his relationship with Martinez hit rough patches, Sanchez told the Journal.

After the couple’s argument, Sanchez said, Martinez asked him for his home address to drop off his boyfriend’s belongings, a message Sanchez ignored. Texts between Martinez and an acquaintance show him asking for a ride to the couple’s house, according to the complaint.

“How cute you all have your phones off (on my way) again I guess you didn’t get the message,” Martinez texted Sanchez.

At 2 a.m., Sanchez, Acevedo and Martinez’s boyfriend were at Isleta Resort & Casino when Acevedo received a panicked text from his mother-in-law that their house was on fire. Family members, who lived in the houses nearby, awoke to the sound of an explosion, and heard the yelps of the dogs trapped inside the burning building, Catherine Sanchez said.

Investigators believe the fire was “intentionally set,” according to the criminal complaint, citing that the blaze simultaneously started on both the front porch and a nearby metal carport.

“Those bags are supposed to be fire resistant I’m not saying I had anything to do with it I’m sure whoever did thought just the stuff inside would have burned and didn’t mean for anything else to catch especially within a metal structure,” Martinez texted Sanchez shortly after the fire.

The 14 dogs that died included four puppies and their mother, an 18-year-old Shih Tzu, two Chihuahuas, a French bulldog, a pug, a Weimaraner, an American bulldog and several mixed breed dogs.

“Animals, you expect for them to pass away, that’s a given, but to have 14 of them pass away all at once,” Sanchez said, his voice wavering. “It was very difficult. To have to pull them out of the house one by one.”

Two dogs who were in a nearby dog house survived the fire. During the commotion, another one of the Sanchez family’s dogs ran off and is yet to return, Catherine Sanchez said.

Three of the dogs that were killed in the fire belonged to Acevedo’s mother, Sanchez said. Acevedo’s mother had lived with the Sanchez family after bouts of homelessness, but about a year ago she disappeared and Acevedo hasn’t heard from her since.

“(The dogs) were kind of like the last keepsake he had left of his mom,” Sanchez said.

Before the house fire, sweethearts of 10 years, Sanchez and Acevedo, had planned to get married in April after a three-year engagement and previous attempts thwarted by illness and hospitalization.

“We put our foot down this time, no matter what happens we’re gonna go on with it and get married,” Sanchez said. “And even though the house fire did happen, we still stuck through and said we’re gonna go through with the wedding.”

Acevedo and Sanchez were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday, the same day that Martinez was arrested and charged in Albuquerque. Prosecutors have moved to keep Martinez detained awaiting trial, citing that “because the defendant is capable of exhibiting such extreme cruelty to animals, it is likely that he would exhibit the same behaviors toward other humans.”

The maximum sentence for animal cruelty in New Mexico is 18 months, and the maximum sentence for second-degree felony arson is nine years, according to New Mexico statutes.

Journal staff writer Gregory R.C. Hasman contributed to this report. Gillian Barkhurst is a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. She can be reached at gbarkhurst@abqjournal.com or on Twitter @G_Barkhurst.