June 13 – One of five people charged with murder in the 2022 death of a man whose body was found in Lone Butte has agreed to testify against his co-defendants as part of a plea deal.
Under the agreement with prosecutors, Edgar Herrera, 32, must testify that he witnessed four other men kill 26-year-old Adan Ponce-Galdeano at a Santa Fe home on Thanksgiving Day and then help move the body of the man and clearing the crime scene.
Authorities say Ponce-Galdeano was shot and suffocated and then rolled up in a comforter and stashed in a garage in Lone Butte, a community south of the city, in a killing that appeared to be related to drug trafficking. His body was found in the home in early December 2022.
Herrera, 32, was arrested in January 2023 – the last of five murder suspects to be taken into custody. Prosecutors initially charged him with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, armed robbery and tampering with evidence, but have since agreed to reduce his charges in exchange for his testimony.
The plea deal calls for Herrera to plead guilty to two counts each of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.
The original indictment exposed Herrera to a sentence that would have left him in prison for the rest of his life. However, under the terms of the agreement, he faces a possible prison sentence of up to nine years at his sentencing, which will likely only be served after he testifies against his co-defendants.
In his written plea agreement, Herrera says he was at the home of co-defendant Michael Sweeney during Ponce-Galdeano’s death and saw Sweeney handing guns to co-defendants Angelo Martinez and Raul Rodriguez-Valencia.
“I further admit that I witnessed Manuel Rodrigo Rios-Alderete, Michael Sweeney, Angelo Martinez and Raul Rodriguez-Valencia each participating in the murder of [Ponce-Galdeano],” Herrera wrote in the plea, which state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington accepted during a hearing last month.
According to the agreement, Herrera also admitted to acting with Martinez to “help dispose of or conceal the body” and to purchase “cleaning products or to clean the murder scene.”
David Foster, an attorney for Rodriguez-Valencia, declined to comment Thursday. Attorneys for the other suspects did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Herrera has been in jail since his arrest. His attorney had asked for his release, but Ellington ordered him held without bond after prosecutors said he was dangerous and had a history of failing to appear in court.
Herrera’s attorney, Michael Rosenfield, filed a motion on May 23, two days after Herrera signed the plea, asking the court to consider releasing him with a GPS monitor while he waits to testify in the trials against his co-defendants, which will begin in August. .
Rosenfield argued during a hearing Tuesday that he thought Herrera would do well on the outside, given his recent deal with the state.
“He really has every incentive to cooperate and show the court that he is eligible for a reduced sentence based on his cooperation and will show the court that he is committed to turning his life around and being a productive citizen,” Rosenfield said.
The attorney said things are “not going well” with Herrera in custody.
“I can barely recognize him. He’s gained 70 to 80 pounds since he was locked up about 17 months ago,” Rosenfield said.
The prosecutor’s office opposed Herrera’s release, and Ellington denied the motion Tuesday, saying Herrera would be too tempted to flee.
As for the weight gain, the judge said he wondered whether this could be due to the lack of daily drug use and more regular meals.
Criminal complaints and police affidavits used as the basis for obtaining arrest warrants in the case indicate that several people participated in the murder and cover-up, which investigators suspect was related to drug debts.
Court documents show that Herrera and several others were “using drugs all day” at Sweeney’s home prior to the murder.
According to an affidavit, a confidential source told police that Sweeney invited Ponce-Galdeano to his Santa Fe home to talk to him about a debt Sweeney owed. When the source arrived, he saw “numerous other individuals” throughout the house. Sweeney had given the men weapons and told them to hide.
According to the affidavit, an altercation broke out, and after the argument became heated, the other men stationed around the house revealed themselves.
Ponce-Galdeano tried to flee the home, fought his way through the house with the others, including Martinez, and chased him, the affidavit said.
The source tried to calm things down when Alderete, Sweeney, Martinez and another man started shooting, the affidavit said.
Ponce-Galdeano was shot numerous times, the affidavit says, but was still alive when the attackers searched his pockets. Rios Alderete ordered Martinez and Herrera to get rid of Ponce-Galdeano’s body, the source told investigators, adding that Martinez killed Ponce-Galdeano by suffocating him with a plastic bag.
According to a criminal complaint, the two men enlisted the help of several others to load the body into an SUV.
A sixth suspect, Zachary Rhoades, was accused of taking the body to a home on Arroyo Coyote in Lone Butte and forcing the residents at gunpoint to leave the body in the garage. He was also accused of forcing the couple to then give him a ride to Rios Alderete’s house.
It was unclear whether they drove him in the Chevrolet Tahoe that authorities said was used to transport Ponce-Galdeano’s body or if someone else drove away in the SUV.
The extended case also saw the arrests of two other people suspected of helping to cover up the murder.
Rios Alderete’s former girlfriend, LeAmber Boyd, and roommate, Cristian Javier “Javi” Diaz Cordero, were charged in January 2023 with tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence, court documents show.
Boyd was accused of helping clean up Sweeney’s bloody home in exchange for 150 fentanyl pills.
Cordero was supposed to pick up Rhoades after leaving the body in Lone Butte, investigators alleged, but Cordero never showed up.
Police discovered the body less than two weeks later, the complaint said, after responding to a call reporting shots fired near the home.
