ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A federal jury convicted a former University of New Mexico football player who was accused of working with a correctional officer to traffic methamphetamine inside the Cibola County Correctional Center.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, while Rayshawn Boyce, 29, was in custody awaiting trial for the 2022 armed robbery of a U.S. Postal Service employee, he was implicated in a separate case involving drug trafficking within the Cibola County Correctional Center (CCCC).
On May 17, 2022, CCCC personnel conducted a search of a unit and discovered a bag containing approximately one pound of methamphetamine in the shower area, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
Surveillance footage revealed that on the night of May 16, 2022, now former Correctional Officer Gabriella Torres smuggled a bundle of methamphetamine into the facility under her hoodie and dropped it in cell in an area that was not covered by a camera for Boyce to retrieve.
A short time later, Boyce retrieved the bundle, concealed it in a blanket, and walked back to his cell. When he learned that the jail was being searched the next day, Boyce moved the bundle from his cell in the middle of the night, submerged it in water, and left it near the showers, where it was found that morning by CCCC personnel, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico.
Federal investigators determined that Boyce and Torres were in a romantic relationship, and that Boyce persuaded Torres to smuggle drugs into the CCCC.
Boyce was convicted on charges of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine while incarcerated. Boyce will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled. At sentencing, he faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years of imprisonment and up to life.
Torres pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and remains on conditions of release pending sentencing, which is not currently scheduled. At sentencing, Torres could face 10 years to life in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
A federal jury in April 2024 convicted Boyce of robbing a postal carrier, stealing an arrow key belonging to the United States Postal Service, and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. At sentencing for this prior conviction, Boyce faces up to ten years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.