
(Deming) -- Two Deming men were caught taking batteries from lighted traffic signs off the Silver City Highway, and one of the men was still recovering from a gunshot wound he sustained in a residential break-in.
Thirty-year-old Abelardo Contreras and 32-year-old Justin Hull were stopped by Luna County Sheriff's Department deputies Tuesday after they were seen by witnesses taking four batteries and cable from traffic signs off Highway 180 near milemarker 162. Contreras was arrested on charges of larceny and causing criminal damage to property. Hull is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit larceny, but was not immediately arrested because he is still recovering from gunshot wounds to his stomach and right leg he received in February after breaking into an unoccupied home off Amapola Road Southeast.
Hull was shot by the property owner, a 62-year-old man who was staying in the home after discovering that the home had been broken into previously, and property had been piled in rooms ready to be loaded.
Sheriff's officials said the sign batteries were recovered after deputies followed tire tracks which led them to the stolen items.
(Deming) -- Here's the area crime report: Bradley Brown, age 34, was arrested on two Magistrate warrants... Carlos Munoz, age 34, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to appear and on a Municipal warrant for failure to pay fines... and three rolls of five-foot cattle fencing and fence posts with a combined value of nearly 500-dollars were taken from a location off Leghorn Road.