Amarillo man wanted for alleged sex crime stole ID, lived in Las Cruces before arrest in Santa Fe

A man police suspect of identity theft was arrested Tuesday in Santa Fe and also is a registered sex offender wanted in Texas since 2009 for an alleged sex crime.

Fingerprints positively identified him as Rafael Marquez Pieda, 43, of Amarillo, Texas. A warrant was issued for Pieda’s arrest in May 2009 where he was wanted for criminal sexual contact of a minor.

Pieda is registered with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s sex offender registry as Ralph Marcos Pieda for aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in 2001. He was convicted of that crime and sentenced to six years in prison.

His sex offender page lists several aliases.

Las Cruces Police believe he moved to Las Cruces around May 2009 and assumed the name of “Armando Ryan Alvarez” and used the Social Security number and other personal information of a Texas man to obtain a New Mexico driver’s license.

Under the assumed name, Pieda obtained work in Las Cruces and took out at least four loans in five years under the Texas man’s name.

After moving to Santa Fe in 2014, Pieda failed to make payments on his latest loan, forcing the finance company to look for him to get him to pay.

Finance company officials made contact with the person named on the loan and realized he was not the man who signed off on the loans.

Las Cruces Police were called and determined Pieda stole the identity of a Texas man and had been using that identification since 2009.

LCPD received numerous tips through Crime Stoppers and one of those leads suggested that the then unidentified man may be working as a mechanic in Santa Fe.

LCPD detectives followed up on that tip and, with the assistance of officers from the Santa Fe Police Department, confirmed the whereabouts of Pieda.

Pieda was detained Tuesday morning in Santa Fe.

Fingerprints taken during his booking were submitted to IAFIS – the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. A match was confirmed and positively identified the fingerprints as Pieda’s.

Pieda is charged with one count of identity theft and one count of fraud.

Additional charges are pending. He will be returned to Las Cruces and held on cash-only bonds totaling $280,000.

LCPD says ultimately, he will be extradited to Texas to face charges in that state.