David Curtis remains held without bond, while an eyewitness disputes police claims about what investigators found near “A” Mountain.

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - A Las Cruces man accused of possessing bomb-making materials near “A” Mountain will remain held without bond after a judge granted prosecutors’ request for pretrial detention.

District Judge Douglas R. Driggers granted the state’s amended motion for pretrial detention June 17, ordering David J. Curtis held pending trial. Curtis is charged with one fourth-degree felony count of possession of an explosive device or incendiary device.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25.

The charge stems from a June 9 police response to a desert area south of Dripping Springs Road, where New Mexico State University police said witnesses reported hearing an explosion. Police later searched a trailer and surrounding property and said they found copper pipe, a fuse, chemicals and a “Blasters Handbook,” according to court records.

But an eyewitness who contacted Organ Mountain News after publication of the first story says police misunderstood what they found and took the materials out of context.

Judge grants detention motion

In the order granting pretrial detention, Driggers found prosecutors met the legal standard required to hold Curtis pending trial.

The order says the state showed by clear and convincing evidence that no release conditions would reasonably protect the community or alleged victims. The order also says prosecutors indicated they intended to indict Curtis before the preliminary hearing.

Driggers cited the current allegation that Curtis knowingly possessed bomb-making materials, as well as Curtis’ prior conviction in federal court in Texas for possession of stolen explosive materials transported in interstate commerce. The judge wrote that Curtis had a history of violent felonies and said the current case raised concerns about future confrontations that could endanger law enforcement, potential witnesses or the community.

The order also cited allegations that Curtis had shown aggression toward law enforcement, distrust of authorities and violent tendencies, including alleged conduct after his arrest.

Prosecutors argued in their amended detention motion that Curtis posed a danger to the community because the materials found at the scene could be used to make an explosive device.

According to the probable cause statement, NMSU police responded after two witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing two men in the desert south of 4100 Dripping Springs Road. Officers said they found Curtis and another person near a trailer at the site.

Police said Curtis refused to identify himself or provide identification. Officers later detained him and obtained a search warrant for the trailer and surrounding area, according to the probable cause statement.

The statement says bomb technicians identified copper pipe with a fuse, sulfur, aluminum powder, hydrochloric acid, potassium chloride and other items. Bomb technicians told investigators that if the materials were combined in the pipe, they could make a working explosive device.

In the amended detention motion, prosecutors also argued that copper tubing could create shrapnel and cause lethal injury if used in an explosive device.

Eyewitness contradicts police account

Tamara Lewis, who is identified in the probable cause statement as a woman who arrived at the scene in a truck and was later questioned and released, contacted Organ Mountain News on Sunday and said the materials described by police were being taken out of context.

Lewis said she is a longtime friend of Curtis and was present during part of the police encounter.

“I can tell you as a person who was there at the time the allegations were being made that a lot of the facts pertaining to this case are not being given in their true context,” Lewis wrote.

Lewis said the muriatic acid found in Curtis’ RV was used to remove gold from circuit boards, not to make explosives. She said officers failed to note “three huge tupperware containers full of old computer parts” that were waiting to be processed.

She also said Curtis had scrap-yard receipts tacked to the ceiling of the RV because recycling is his work.

“Just like the gold, the copper pipe(s) found around his property were there, (open ended on both ends) waiting to be taken to the scrap yard,” Lewis wrote, adding that many of the pipes came from her house after recent plumbing work.

Lewis also disputed the state’s account of the explosion that prompted the police response. She said the sound witnesses heard came from a large “Mad Dog” canister firework, not a homemade explosive device.

“What someone heard was nothing more than the big badass 6 inch Mad Dog canister firework commonly sold EVERYWHERE,” Lewis wrote. “We just couldn’t wait to see what the hype was all about.”

Lewis said she did not know why officers did not list the firework in their inventory and said she believes investigators should have found part of the wrapper during the search.

“This is the most bothersome fact about the whole case,” she wrote.

Lewis also said she was present when police flew a drone overhead and said she was detained while officers sought a search warrant. She said she intends to testify about what happened, including the conduct of officers toward Curtis, herself and Curtis’ son.

“For the sake of this email I will go as far as to say they were less than professional,” Lewis wrote. “I have a few more descriptive words I could use but I will save them for the courtroom.”

The probable cause statement says Lewis told officers she had brought wooden pallets to Curtis’ trailer and said she did not know anything about explosives or pipe bombs. Police said she was released after questioning.

Lewis’ account disputes the state’s description of the materials found in the current case. Her email did not address Curtis’ prior conviction cited in the detention order.

Las Cruces man accused of possessing bomb-making materials near ‘A’ Mountain

Prosecutors say NMSU police and bomb squad personnel found bomb-making materials, chemicals and an explosives handbook after witnesses reported explosions in the desert south of Dripping Springs Road.

Organ Mountain NewsDamien Willis

Property dispute headed to court

Lewis also challenged the property claims underlying the police response.

The probable cause statement says NMSU police contacted Elephant Butte Irrigation District, which reported Curtis was not authorized to be on EBID property and had no permit to live there.

Lewis disputed that account, saying county assessor and parcel records show Curtis’ property does not touch land owned by EBID.

“This matter will be settled soon enough in civil court,” she wrote.

That civil dispute is already underway. EBID filed a petition for possession June 10 in Doña Ana County Magistrate Court against David J. Curtis and Thomas Curtis, alleging Curtis set up a trailer and fencing on EBID property at Millers Washington Park Lot 21, Block 59, in the Tortugas Dam area.

EBID’s filing says the property is within the Tortugas Dam flood pool and that the irrigation district acquired title through a 1960 condemnation judgment. The petition asks the court for immediate possession of the premises, damages, costs and other relief.

A forcible detainer trial is scheduled for Tuesday in magistrate court.

Case continues Thursday

Curtis remains held without bond under Driggers’ June 17 order.

The case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday in Doña Ana County District Court. Prosecutors previously indicated they intended to present the case to a grand jury.

Curtis has not been convicted of a crime in the current case.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.