4 Investigates: Assisted outpatient treatment back up and running in Bernalillo County

There is a huge gap in services for people who need them most. We’re talking about people who are deemed incompetent to stand trial. Many times, they’re stuck in a vicious cycle of addiction.

4 Investigates exposed the crisis last summer, highlighting the toll on our first responders and criminal justice system.

But there is a program aimed at interrupting that cycle. Bernalillo County District Court is taking on outpatient civil commitment, known as Assisted Outpatient Treatment or AOT. It’s off to a slow start, but program staffers said they are committed to serving individuals who need the most help.

It’s after dark in December 2024 when Albuquerque police were called to a westside grocery store for reports of a shoplifting. Officers found some huddled under a blanket.

“I mean, he shoplifted at Albertson’s, he’s caused a disturbance at Panera, that’s just what I’ve seen from my time in the northwest, he’s constantly doing this,” said an APD officer talking about the man under the blanket.

Albuquerque police believe they know exactly who they’re dealing with after watching surveillance video showing a man with a 6 foot 8 build stealing a bottle of whiskey off the shelf.

“That’s David Abalos,” said the officer watching the video.

David Abalos is better known to his family as Joseph Puentes. But they are one and the same.

KOB talked to his mom Priscilla Puentes in June 2024, months before that December incident.

“It’s so hard to see that the system doesn’t do anything,” she said.

Abalos lives with schizophrenia, his family said, he’s on the streets often abusing substances and committing crimes. Cycling in and out of the justice system.

Abalos has racked up more than a hundred charges over the years, 19 criminal cases for things like shoplifting and criminal trespass, since our story aired in June.

But in most cases his mental illness is so severe, he’s incompetent to stand trial. With no resources or help, he’s picked up over and over again.

“This is the thing they tell me; there’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing we can do,” said Priscilla Puentes.

But there could finally be something to help him.

“We’re really excited to be able to get it back off the ground,” said Laura Braun, Program Manager for Assisted Outpatient Treatment at the Second Judicial District Court.

After a lapse in 2022, Braun said they now have the money and services to reach people like Abalos.

It’s court-ordered civil commitment for outpatient treatment. The program is intended to meet people where they are at. Meaning, even people who are homeless, could get access to housing, resources and medical treatment for mental illness.

“The intention and goal of assisted outpatient treatment is to keep people out of our criminal justice system, to try to keep them out of our hospital system, to try to keep them housed,” said Braun.

After our story aired in 2024, the courts hired First Nations Community Healthsource, signing a contract for $400,000 with the goal of serving 40 people with severe mental illness.

The program is off to a slow start. Documents we requested show First Nations has billed the courthouse for less than 10% of that contracted amount, mostly for administrative meetings. We wanted to know how the program was going, but First Nations declined our interview request.

Right now, three people are getting those services. Braun said five more are going through the various steps. But the current contract expires at the end of June.

So, district court is in the process of finding its next provider.

“I definitely think we’re hopeful,” said Bruan. “The draw on that system I think is different today than it was two, three years ago.”

And this time around, Braun is hopeful more people call on their services. They’re working with local detention centers, hospitals, and law enforcement too. Those who often see the same people over and over again.

Meanwhile, David Abalos is on run-in number five in May alone. He was sleeping on a tiny median when Rio Rancho police pulled over to help.

Negotiations to get him to move out of the road didn’t work.  Officers booked him into the Sandoval County Detention Center for another set of charges that are unlikely to be his last.

Abalos’ family has submitted a referral petition for the AOT program. They are waiting to hear back on if he would qualify.