Jan. 15--A Santa Fe firefighter was arrested on felony charges after allegedly threatening his ex-wife with a gun Sunday morning.
Paul Serrano, 34, who drives an engine for the Fire Department, was arrested on two felony charges of aggravated assault on a household member with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence, according to Santa Fe Police Capt. Aric Wheeler.
Serrano, who has been with the Department since 2007, will be on administrative leave until he can speak with his supervisors at the fire department, who could decide to terminate him, according to Assistant Chief Erik Litzenberg.
"We take these charges pretty seriously," Litzenberg said.
Wheeler said police were called to the home of Serrano's former wife on Calle Ojo Feliz at 7:48 a.m. Sunday. She said she had been separated from Serrano for about six months and that he had come over that morning to drop off their children.
After the children exited Serrano's vehicle, the woman confronted Serrano about a party he had recently, saying she did not want the children to be around drinking.
Wheeler said Serrano got inside his vehicle and reached under the seat, and that he pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the woman in a threatening way.
Police spoke to Serrano at his fire station and he said his gun was locked up at his residence. He took police there.
Wheeler said it turned out that Serrano had two guns, but there was only one at the house.
Serrano's supervisor contacted police and said the weapon allegedly used to threaten his former wife had been found. Wheeler said Serrano had given the gun to a coworker, who then turned it over to the supervisor.
Litzenberg said Fire Department staff talked to the coworker, and Litzenberg said it did not appear that the co-worker committed a criminal act.
But the way the gun was found resulted in the tampering with evidence charge against Serrano.
Serrano was arrested at the fire station, Wheeler said, and was booked in the Santa Fe County jail. Jail records show he was released Monday.
Serrano was charged with felony aggravated battery in Santa Fe District Court in 2004, which would be before he was hired at the Department, but the case was remanded to a lower court, according to an online court records database. The database does not show the outcome of that case.
Litzenberg said he personally only learned about the 2004 charge recently. He said the Department does background screens of its new hires and that such charges could be a cause for not hiring someone or a "cause for concern" in the interview process.
However, Litzenberg did not know the specifics of the case or if the charges came up when Serrano was hired.
The assistant chief said the department would differentiate between someone simply being charged with a crime versus someone being convicted of a crime. He said how that would play out in the hiring process would depend what the department could find out about the charges.
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