An inmate at the Lea County Detention Center was found guilty of kidnapping and beating a prison officer to escape from jail. On Friday, Gabriel Rodriguez, 29, of Hobbs, was convicted of kidnapping, a first-degree felony; assault with intent to commit a violent crime on a peace officer, a second-degree felony; and attempt to escape from jail and conspiracy to …

A Lea County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested Wednesday on criminal sexual penetration charges. At around 4 p.m. Wednesday the Hobbs Police Department received a call from the Lea County Detention Center in regards to a female inmate reporting that she had been allegedly sexually assaulted by Edmund Wallace, a  Lea County Sheriff’s deputy, while being transported from Hobbs, to the …