NEW MEXICO (KRQE) — A New Mexico woman is charged with forging medical documents at her job to try and get her brother out of jail after he was shot by police during his arrest earlier this week.
On Monday morning, New Mexico State Police dragged 47-year-old Robert Lee Chavez out of his Santa Rosa home. They were serving a warrant for Chavez in an auto theft case, and they say Chavez threw explosives at them. When he walked out of the house holding another device, an officer fired at least one shot injuring Chavez, according to police. He then barricaded himself inside a neighboring house.
His sister, Refugita Eloisa Chavez, sent Nexstar’s KRQE video of her brother’s arrest that she recorded with her cellphone.
She, too, was arrested, however, after police say she drafted fake doctor’s notes while working at Guadalupe County Hospital in a bid to get her brother released.
The criminal complaint says one of the notes Refugita sent to the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office read, “Incarceration is going to lead to serious health issues.” Investigators say the note was signed by a fake doctor.
Authorities were alerted to the fake documents because the letterhead did not match, and found security camera video of Chavez at the hospital faxing paperwork at the time the fake documents were sent. She has been charged with two counts of forgery.
When the fraudulent notes were sent to the sheriff’s office, Robert Chavez was behind bars for being a felon with a gun and damaging a police cruiser. He was released while he awaited trial for that case.
Chavez was arrested in 2017 after attacking two state police officers and trying to run over five more. He was sentenced to three years of probation in that case.
Both siblings now face two counts of forgery for the fake doctor notes. Her first appearance will be April 12.