BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Editor’s note: The article may be disturbing to some readers
A warrant has been issued by Albuquerque Police Department for Timothy A. Pacheco, 63, of Los Alamos on charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree criminal sexual penetration of a minor under 13 in a case that is being worked by detectives with both APD and Los Alamos Police Department.
APD Sex Crimes Unit Det. Justin Wingerd began investigating the case February 12 in a response to a report of sexual assault reported by an adult male. The alleged victim told Wingerd that throughout the mid-1980s up to 1994 he had been inappropriately touched by Pacheco “well over 100 times” within the victim’s home when Pacheco was at least 18 years old.
Court documents estimate that the years of the victim being touched by Pacheco were between 1986 and 1989 when the victim was between 5 and 8 years old. The documents state that contact with the victim continued until around 1994 when the alleged victim “had matured physically to the point where he was able to stop from participating in the touching”. Apart from touching the victim at his home, the victim also spoke of frequently having been allegedly similarly touched by Pacheco in Los Alamos where Pacheco lived and while camping with Pacheco in Los Alamos.
In 1996, court documents state that the victim told his sister what had been occurring and she encouraged him to tell their mother, which he did soon thereafter.
“His mother believed his disclosure and attempted to report the matter to APD as well as to the Los Alamos Police Department, although neither department accepted the case for follow-up due to the reported time delay”, the court documents state. “Afterwards the other members of the victim’s mother’s side of the family learned of the victim’s allegations against (Pacheco) they doubted their veracity…. The victim had not spoken to Pacheco since his disclosure to his mother in 1996 although he had seen him in several family events over the years though he never spoke with him.”
The victim told Det. Wingerd that it was difficult for him to disclose the touching until he was 13 or 14 years old although he had long felt that what was happening to him was “wrong”. He said his mother had kept a handwritten journal along the way and that she had sent him photos of the pages of the journal, which he sent to Det. Wingerd and also to Det. Ladislas Szabo who was investigating the case at LAPD.
According to the court documents, LAPD has a recording of Pacheco allegedly admitting to “having sexually penetrated his nephew in the past”. The recording was allegedly obtained by an individual known to Pacheco, who at the direction of LAPD spoke to Pacheco about the allegations of past sexual abuse. They recorded the conversation and provided a copy to Det. Szabo.
The end of the nine-page complaint states that Det. Wingerd contacted Pacheco by phone April 1 and Pacheco said he wished to speak to an attorney before speaking to him. NM Courts records indicate that the warrant is active as of publication Thursday evening.
Pacheco is facing a trial in September in Los Alamos County on three charges of abuse of a child. The first charge involves Pacheco allegedly allowing 20-year old Kyrina Deschamp to engage a 15-year old female juvenile in a romantic, inappropriate and sexual relationship at Pacheco’s home.
The second abuse charge relates to Pacheco allegedly allowing to provide the juvenile with marijuana (and cocaine and molly) in the juvenile’s bedroom at Pacheco’s home.
The third abuse charge was for allegedly allowing the juvenile to visit 36-year old Shawn Cavasos unsupervised at his residence where he consumed alcohol with her, engaged in sexual activity with her, and placed a gun to his head in front of her.