Police accuse Las Cruces city employee of selling cocaine on the job

Las Cruces police arrested a 29-year-old city employee in connection with trafficking cocaine on the job, according to court records.

Police executed a search warrant for Ernesto Garcia-Quintana, an employee at the Mesilla Valley Intermodal Transit Center near Lohman Avenue and El Paseo Road.

While serving the warrant on February 8th, police say agents located a large zip lock back in his left breast shirt pocket, containing eighteen individual knotted plastic bags of a substance that appeared to be cocaine.

In his right breast shirt pocket, agents found $1,000 cash in $20 dollar denominations, according to court records.

Police determined that the volume of cocaine and the manner of packaging indicated “street level drug trafficking,” the records stated.

At the time of his arrest, Garcia-Quintana was an employee with the city of Las Cruces, confirmed Andre Moquin, the city’s director of human resources. However, the city is currently processing his papers for termination.

Garcia-Quintana was released the day after his arrest on a $1,000 unsecured bond.