Alexander M.M. Uballez U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico
A Las Cruces man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison following convictions for carjacking and firearms offenses linked to an incident in February 2023. Federal parole is not applicable.
Court documents reveal that on February 19, 2023, Las Cruces Police Department officers attempted to stop a black Cadillac sedan without a visible license plate. The vehicle did not comply and was later found parked outside the Rack Room Shoes store on E. Lohman Ave.
Officers saw Sergio Ivan Enriquez, 41, approaching the Cadillac. When he noticed the officers, Enriquez fled on foot. Shortly thereafter, it was reported over police radio that someone matching his description had committed a gunpoint carjacking in the same parking lot.
During this event, Enriquez entered the victim's vehicle via the front passenger door and demanded that they "get out or drive." When refused, Enriquez brandished a gray handgun and forced the victim out of their vehicle before driving away with their dog still inside.
Later that day, authorities located both the stolen Volkswagen and Enriquez at a residence in Las Cruces along with the victim's dog. A search revealed a gray handgun hidden in an oven within the residence and a shotgun in the initial fleeing Cadillac.
Enriquez was previously convicted of child abuse in 2014 and thus prohibited from possessing firearms at the time of these events.
Following his release from prison, Enriquez will face three years of supervised release.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez alongside Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. The investigation involved collaboration between the FBI Albuquerque Field Office's Las Cruces Resident Agency and Las Cruces Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Y. Armijo and Ry Ellison.
