Portales man sentenced for kidnapping, car chase

A Portales man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for kidnapping and aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, according to a press release from the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

George Vela, 28, pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced by District Judge Drew Tatum Thursday in Portales, according to the release. In addition to the eight-year sentence, Vela will serve five years of intensive supervised probation after his release.

The charges stem from a Feb. 20, 2007 incident when officers with the Portales Police Department were called to Roosevelt General Hospital in reference to a distraught victim. The victim told police that she was held against her will by Vela and only escaped after he left the house to go to the store.

A short time later, officers from the Portales Police Department and Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office located Vela in Portales but he fled from the officers in his vehicle at a high rate of speed. Vela ran several stop lights in his attempt to flee from the officers and eventually stopped near RGH, where he made an attempt to enter the emergency room where the victim was receiving treatment, the release said.

Roosevelt County Sheriff Deputy Malin Parker and an on-duty RGH paramedic caught the defendant and arrested him before he was able to get into the emergency room.   

Other charges, including criminal sexual penetration were dropped as a part of Vela’s plea agreement, according to Deputy District Attorney Donna Mowrer who prosecuted the case.