Marfa residents face drug charges, Alpine police called to stabbing and gun standoff 

MARFA AND ALPINE –– Two Marfa residents were arrested last week on warrants for possession and “manufacture or delivery” of drugs, while the City of Alpine Police arrested individuals in a stabbing incident and a gun standoff last week.

Last Thursday, March 21, Marfa police arrested Brenda Jo Garcia of Marfa on warrants for possession and manufacture or delivery of cocaine, both felonies. She was released from Presidio County Jail on Friday with bonds totaling $55,000. On Friday, police arrested Chantella Brimhall of Marfa on warrants for possession of and manufacture or delivery of methamphetamine. The possession charges for Brimhall were for a “drug-free zone,” within 1,000 feet of a playground. Brimhall was being held in Presidio County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon on bonds totaling $70,000. 

All charges were announced in a press release on the Marfa Police Department’s Facebook page, which also carried the following statement: “The Marfa Police Department would like to express to the community that the use and or delivery of narcotics is not welcome in this community.”

Marfa Police Chief Gilberto Carrillo said Wednesday that the arrests were not connected, but that both were the result of months-long investigations. Search warrants of the individual’s houses resulted in the discovery of the actual drugs, which were in significant enough quantities to substantiate a charge with intent to deliver, he said. 

Carrillo added that he wants Marfa residents to know that they can come to the police department at any time with information on drug distribution and their identities will remain anonymous.

Early Wednesday morning, March 20, Alpine Police Department officers responded to a call at the 400 block of West Sul Ross Avenue where they found 27-year-old, Alvaro H. Luna, 27 of Alpine, with two stab wounds, according to Alpine Police Captain Felipe Fierro Jr.  He was treated at the scene, transported to Big Bend Regional Medical Center and airlifted to another hospital.

Fierro said the victim identified the attackers and police located them at a residence in the 600 block of West Sul Ross Avenue. There police arrested Alpine residents Alex Almada, 31, and his mother, Jeanne Lewis, 56, for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. Lewis was held in Brewster County Jail on a $20,000 bond before being released Wednesday on a personal recognizance bond, and Almada was released on a personal recognizance bond.

Last Thursday evening, March 21, 2024, at approximately 9:17 pm, Alpine Police Department officers responded to a call of possible shots fired around the 1300 block of W. Murphy Street, Fierro said. Contact was made with a suspect — Jose Angel Rodriguez of Alpine — who “became uncooperative” with officers and then “brandished a firearm and retreated into his residence,” he said.

Fierro said the situation was tense for about 10 minutes in a standoff between officers and Rodriguez, who refused to come out, but officers eventually were able to take him into custody. He was booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, and terroristic threat towards a peace officer, a state-jail felony, and was being held in Brewster County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon on $20,000 in bonds.