By Matthew Reisen
Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Rio Rancho man was arrested after authorities said he showed up to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday with a pickup full of dismantled Flock Safety cameras.
Jevon Martinez reportedly claimed he was returning the devices days after Sheriff John Allen canceled contracts with the controversial company, which has come under scrutiny nationwide over data privacy concerns.
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“Not breaking them, not stealing your (expletive),” the 44-year-old said in an Instagram reel, clad in a Hawaiian-esque shirt and a sun hat as he unscrewed and dismantled a camera near a busy intersection. “Not cutting the lines like I usually do.”
Martinez was charged with interference with communications and larceny over $2,500. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
According to police, it wasn’t his first time.
Martinez was arrested in July by Rio Rancho police and charged with a slew of felonies for allegedly dismantling and disposing of at least three Flock cameras, recording the vandalism and placing “American Civil Peace” flag stickers where the equipment had once been.
On July 17, Martinez was released on his own recognizance.
On Wednesday, Martinez was detained around 1:30 p.m. outside BCSO headquarters in Downtown Albuquerque, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. He had shown up in a truck with a license plate that read “Diplomat” and several Flock cameras, worth $16,000, stacked in the bed.
Deputies said Martinez told them he removed the cameras without damaging them and his intent was to return the cameras to BCSO “as a political statement” following BCSO canceling contracts with Flock. The complaint states Martinez drove by BCSO headquarters three times without stopping, was pulled over by deputies and “was not found returning them, contrary to his statement of intent.”
“This was not a public service. It was not authorized, and it did not help the Sheriff’s Office,” Allen said in a news release Thursday. “Mr. Martinez took property that did not belong to him, filmed himself doing it and then attempted to turn his conduct into a heroic narrative. Ending a contract is not permission to take property. Filming yourself committing a crime does not make it legal.”
He said while people have the right to question government technology and participate in public debate, “What they do not have is the right to take the law into their own hands.”
BCSO spokesperson Jayme Gonzales said Martinez has used his actions to bolster public fundraising and a social media campaign, portraying himself as a “community protector.”
“Before turning someone into a hero, look beyond the livestream and examine the facts,” Allen said. “The people of this community are generous, but that generosity should not be manipulated by someone creating a false image of himself for attention and personal benefit. We are better than that.”
The news release documented Martinez’s criminal history, which spanned the past three decades and included charges that ranged from DWI to sexual abuse of children.
Most recently, in 2024 and 2025, Martinez was charged in a rape case — in which he was also accused of sexually abusing a minor — and the aggravated battery of his roommates, according to court records. Martinez’s competency was questioned in both cases, and he underwent an evaluation.
Court records show that, after he was found competent to stand trial, both cases were dismissed after the victims became “uncooperative.” In the rape case, prosecutors said the victim was uncooperative “due to outside influences.”
In the Rio Rancho case involving Flock cameras, Martinez’s initial counsel withdrew after an “irreconcilable conflict developed.”
Weeks after another attorney was assigned, Martinez filed a notice to the attorney: “You are fired, upon receiving this note, your help was never requested.”
That attorney did not return calls and messages Wednesday.
The Aug. 12 notice was one of several filed in the case by Martinez, each one headed with a banner showing mythical creatures that said “The Living Empire” and “Sovereign, Free, Eternal.” Martinez appears to be seeking to represent himself in the Rio Rancho case.
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