NM woman found guilty of assisting in casino armed robbery

A federal jury in Santa Fe, N.M. has convicted a northwestern New Mexico woman of assisting with an armed robbery at a casino in 2015.

According to court records, Sara Ruiz, of Grants, was seen on surveillance footage driving in the parking lot of Route 66 Casino Xpress when two men left the car and entered the casino, which is located inside a gas station.

Approximately one minute later, an armed robbery occurred inside the casino.

Two male suspects, Lorenzo Chavez and James Montano Jr., pleaded guilty to robbing the casino at gun point in February 2017.

Surveillance footage captured Ruiz using her casino rewards card to purchase gas while the Chavez and Montano were in the car, according to court records.

Ruiz was also convicted of tampering with an immediate witness who she expected to testify against her during the trial. According to evidence presented at trial, Ruiz had numerous conversations with several witnesses during which she directed them to lie about her involvement and their knowledge of the armed robbery.

Ruiz also threatened to physically hurt the witnesses if they mentioned her involvement, at one point claiming she would cut the tongue out of a witness’ mouth because that’s what “she does rats”, court documents say.

Ruiz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years and a minimum of seven years in prison during sentencing.