Mountainair High School in New Mexico was visited by the New Mexico State Police on Thursday, and as a result, the school district decided to cancel all sporting activities for both this week and the following week.
The New Mexico State Police have stated that they are conducting an investigation into complaints of inappropriate behavior involving members of the football and basketball teams at Mountainair High School.
The first mention of a state police presence was made public on Thursday, when Mountainair Public Schools published the following status update on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/mountainairpublicschools/posts/654757903316152
The school district then made a further post on Facebook regarding the presence of police officers three hours later:
https://www.facebook.com/mountainairpublicschools/posts/654828069975802
The residents were apprehensive about this police presence.
Joe Lajuenesse, a local resident of Mountainair, was quoted as saying, “I had just observed that there was a group of state police officers by the high school up there.” “That’s pretty much what everyone was saying was that something was going on between the two and state police were called to investigate so.”
Due to the fact that Mountainair Public Schools only operate on a four-day week schedule, the superintendent of those schools, Dawn Apodaca, was not available for an interview on Friday. Neither the schools nor the administrative offices of the schools were open on that day.
Residents were also concerned about the presence of the state police and the lack of a local department’s existence in the area.
It has been confirmed by Torrance County dispatch that the village of Mountainair does not have any police officers working for it; instead, the municipality relies only on assistance from the county and the state police.
Due to the fact that the investigation is still ongoing, the state police were unable to comment on the specifics of the inappropriate behavior because it is an active case. However, they did state that they are collaborating with the school administration and the family members of potential victims in this investigation.
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