Grand jury indicts Taos County man on child rape charges

TAOS — A grand jury in 8th Judicial District Court returned indictments against a Taos County man on Nov. 6, charging him with several counts of rape of a minor between 2010 and 2017.

Leonardo Vigil, 75, is charged with criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact of a child under 13, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, bribery of a witness and battery against a household member.

Four witnesses to the alleged crimes were listed in the grand jury indictment, but court documents on Wednesday did not provide any narrative detailing the allegations against Vigil.

Albuquerque defense attorney Aaron Aragon was assigned to the case on Wednesday and said it remains unclear when precisely the alleged rape and other crimes issued in the indictment took place. He filed a motion for discovery Wednesday afternoon.

Cases involving criminal sexual penetration against a minor in the first-degree have a 15-year statute of limitations in New Mexico, but that period doesn’t begin until the victim in question reaches the age of 18.

“It’s a little bit tricky and a little bit different than the normal statute of limitations because it’s dealing with a minor,” Aragon said, “and so the statute doesn’t really kick into effect until that minor hits 18 years of age, or until the incident has been reported.”

Partly due to the often extensive delays in reporting sex crimes, a bill to extend the age when the statute of limitation period begins to 35 years old was proposed with the New Mexico Legislature in January but did not advance.

Due to the nature of the crime in Vigil’s case, the victim remains unidentified in court documents, so their current age isn’t publicly known.

Joseph Casados, program and media assistant for the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said in a phone interview that District Attorney Marcus Montoya and his prosecutors withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest.

In an update Thursday morning, Montoya told the Journal that he knows both the defendant and the victim in the case.

"It's a small town, so sometimes I or someone in our office knows the family, the accused, the victim," he said. "Even if it isn't inappropriate or improper, just if it appears improper, I'll conflict it out."

The case was transferred for prosecution to the 13th Judicial District, where DA Barbara Romo filed an entry of appearance committing her staff to prosecuting it in Taos.

Taos District Court Judge Jeffrey Shannon also recused himself from presiding over the case.

No other cases were listed for Vigil in online court records.