ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Prosecutors want the man accused of setting fires in the bosque to remain locked up until trial. Police arrested 45-year-old Sean Taylor over the weekend after they said he was found with a lighter near a fire that started near the Alameda Bridge.
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Prosecutors argued the fire could have spread, potentially damaging property and putting lives at risk, and they said he could easily get hold of matches or a lighter to start another fire, meaning the community would be at risk if he is released. “It’s not acceptable to keep lighting fires. That is a danger to the community. People get hurt. Property gets lost. It’s a big deal, and we are going to make sure that the courts know it’s such a big deal,” said Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman.
Many of these kinds of cases get dismissed because suspects are deemed incompetent to stand trial. In the last 10 years, there have been six people suspected of setting fires in the bosque in Bernaillo and Valencia Counties. Only two of the six served jail time. One was given time served, and the other was given 18 months in prison. Half of those cases were dropped because the suspects were deemed incompetent.
“We do run into issues because many of these people who do something like this have competency issues. We have a new law that went into effect last Friday, and we hopefully have more tools, and we will see how that gets rolled out,” said Bregman…