A Silver City man, Dominic Carbajal, 26, has pleaded guilty in federal court to a series of violent crimes, including unlawful firearm possession, armed robbery, and a brutal carjacking, committed between June 2024 and March 2025. The plea was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office.
Court documents reveal that on June 25, 2024, Silver City police found Carbajal, a convicted felon, with a stolen pistol and a loaded 32-round magazine, which he admitted knowing he was prohibited from possessing. Seven months later, on January 22, 2025, Carbajal committed an armed robbery at a local nutrition store, brandishing a handgun to threaten the owner after attempting to steal merchandise. He later admitted using the firearm threat to complete the theft.
The crime spree culminated on March 23, 2025, with a violent carjacking where Carbajal assaulted a man in a pickup truck with his fists and a metal bar, causing head injuries, before threatening to shoot him and stealing his vehicle and personal belongings. Carbajal admitted intending to cause serious bodily injury to obtain the vehicle. Officers tracked the stolen truck and, during his arrest, Carbajal allegedly released two pit bulls and fled on foot before being subdued with a Taser.
Carbajal pleaded guilty to interference with commerce by threats or violence, being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition, and carjacking. He now faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The FBI Albuquerque Field Office, with assistance from the Silver City Police Department and Grant County Sheriff’s Department, investigated the case.