A Hernandez woman involved in a March 9 shoplifting incident, which ended with a local man being struck by a vehicle outside Bealls Department Store in the Mari-Mac Shopping Center has entered into a global plea agreement in the First Judicial District Court for charges in Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Rio Arriba Counties.

Ashley Garcia, 23, pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, forgery and two counts of shoplifting of more than $500. Judge T. Glenn Ellington ordered a 60-day diagnostic evaluation at the Department of Prisons prior to sentencing, which will take place after her return. Garcia’s total cited in the plea agreement is six years, however she can be sentenced to no more than two years in prison. At final sentencing it is up to the Judge Ellington to decide how much time, if any, she will serve in prison. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Garcia would pay restitution of $1,100 to the victim in the Rio Arriba County case, $1,028 to Bealls Department Store and a yet to be determined amount to the man struck by her car in the Los Alamos case. In return for Garcia’s admission to a 2012 residential burglary charge in Rio Arriba County, Assistant District Attorney Kent Wahlquist agreed not to apply the additional time for a habitual criminal at this time.

Garcia’s first arrest in Los Alamos County was an incident at Smith’s Marketplace in June 2016 in which she and Anthony Montoya placed an empty baby carrier in their shopping cart and loaded it with $675.25 worth of items including food and girls’ clothing. As they attempted to leave the store without paying, a store manager approached them and grabbed the cart but Garcia and Montoya grabbed the items from underneath the baby carrier and the baby carrier itself. The manager reported seeing Garcia and Montoya placing the baby carrier in the trunk of a car in the parking lot.

In the March 9 incident, Los Alamos Police Department reports indicate Garcia had been in Los Alamos Magistrate Court on the 2016 case with Stephanie Garcia, the woman who also was later arrested in the case. As the two were driving out of town, Garcia said they picked up David Montoya to give him a ride. Garcia told police Montoya pulled a gun on them and forced her to drive him to Bealls to shoplift. She alleged that when they arrived at the store, Montoya saw a large man in a biker jacket, got scared and told the them to go inside and shoplift.

According to the report, Ashley Garcia said that when she and Stephanie Garcia ran out the door, she got in the driver’s seat and backed out of the parking space, and while she was stopped, the man ran out of the store, jumped onto the windshield and broke it with his elbow. She allegedly stated Montoya again pointed the gun at her and told her she needed to keep driving.

The man injured in the incident sustained a broken nose. He told police he ran out the door of the store to attempt to get the license plate number of the vehicle, but because the vehicle backed out of the parking space so quickly, he was unable to get out of the way. He ended up in front of the vehicle and the driver allegedly made no attempt to avoid hitting him.

A statewide warrant was issued for Ashley Garcia and she was apprehended March 13 and charged with shoplifting, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and duty to give information and render aid in connection with the hit and run incident.