"Miss Yolanda Licks Your Guys Sandwiches"

MAY 30--A 59-year-old cook licked food items that she later served to probation and parole officers at a New Mexico correctional facility, according to a criminal complaint charging the woman with battery on law enforcement officers.

Yolanda Arguello, who worked in the kitchen at the New Mexico Women's Recovery Academy in Albuquerque, is accused of licking pieces of cheese placed on sandwiches that she served earlier this year to three peace officers.

Witnesses also told investigators that Arguello, seen at right, also tampered with ice cubes. The complaint charges that she would suck on ice cubes and then spit them into cups in which drinks were served to victims. One witness recalled seeing Arguello dump a pitcher of ice on the floor, then “put the ice…back in the pitcher, then put tea in the pitcher before giving it to Probation and Parole Officers.”

The Women's Recovery Academy provides residential “reentry treatment services” to women referred through the prison and court systems.

The probe of Arguello began last week when Agnes Granado--an academy resident who had just been arrested--complained to her probation/parole officer about “corruption” at the state facility. When prompted for further details, Granado answered, “Miss Yolanda licks your guys sandwiches.”

In subsequent interviews with five other residents, investigators learned of the alleged cheese licking and ice cube sucking. Elisa Welch said she heard Arguello (seen at left) say, “I don’t work for Probation/Parole, I don’t have to serve them. I will show them who is special, better than others.” Welch said she was “appalled” by the food licking, but did not tell anyone because “she was afraid of retaliation and was afraid of getting fired from kitchen duty.”

Another resident recalled that when an officer asked for a grilled cheese sandwich, “Yolanda stated that she was going to make a special grilled cheese. Yolanda took some cheese, licked it, and put it on some bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich.”

Charged with three felony counts of battery upon a peace officer--for intentionally contaminating food with her saliva--Arguello was freed on bond after her booking at the Bernalillo County jail. (2 pages)