Ex shot; jail guard, boyfriend busted

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A state worker who usually watches over people in jail is facing charges of her own.

Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies said Stephanie Avila did not turn in her gun-toting boyfriend after he shot her ex-boyfriend.

Avila is a guard at the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center, the juvenile lockup in Albuquerque, but she is now on paid leave.

KRQE News 13 has learned her boss at the facility is also on paid leave because of what he failed to do.

Deputies arrested Avila after she did not turn in her boyfriend, Johnny 'Blaze' Dominguez, after her allegedly shot her ex-boyfriend outside a South Valley home.

"My son and me were watching TV, and I heard five gun shots," one neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous, told News 13 about events that happened late last month.

It all started when Avila's ex-boyfriend showed up to drop off a gift for their daughter.

Detectives say Dominguez, the new man in Avila's life, did not like that idea and decide to shoot the ex.

"I did hear a car leave fast," the neighbor said.

In that car was the ex-boyfriend. He had been shot in the neck and hand but survived.

Dominguez got away, and deputies started looking for him.  They also asked Aliva to call them if she saw Dominguez.

A couple of weeks later investigators discovered that the two were living together.

A short time later deputies nabbed Dominguez for the shooting and then arrested Avila at work for harboring a felon.

She is on paid leave and so is her boss, Silverios Peña.

A News 13 source at the state Children, Youth and Families Department, which oversees YDDC, said Peña is alleged to have known Avila was living with her wanted boyfriend and did not tell his superiors in Santa Fe.

The same source said Avila's boss was encouraging her to turn in her boyfriend, but that was about it.

A CYFD spokesperson could not comment on the case saying the issue is a personnel matter but added the agency is cooperating with authorities.

Aliva's boyfriend is still in jail facing charges including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charges.