ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An FBI raid in the South Valley didn’t just turn up drugs and guns. A high-profile suspect who was once featured in a prison reality show surfaced.
Turns out, she is also the sister of Jessica Kelley, who was reportedly involved in the death of Victoria Martens.
Crystal Kelley is no stranger to the limelight, starring in the A&E documentary ‘Behind Bars’ from prison in Springer, New Mexico, seven years ago.
Fast forward to Thursday, when the FBI’s Violent Gang Task Force was out near Coors and Arenal to serve five federal search warrants.
Four people were arrested, including Kelley. She is not the only infamous one in the family. Crystal Kelley was thrown out of the courtroom at the trial of her sister Jessica Kelley, who was sentenced to 44 years in prison for her involvement in the death of 10-year-old Victoria Martens.
Her record, including convictions for shoplifting and burglary, dates back to 2008. In 2011, she was convicted of causing serious injury in a DWI crash, but not long after her release from prison, she started getting in trouble again, heading back to prison for using meth and breaking the rules of her probation.
On Thursday, the FBI arrested Kelley and her boyfriend Manuel Young during their raid in the South Valley. Federal investigators said Young has connections to drug trafficking for local gangs.
Kelley was arrested on a federal warrant for distributing fentanyl. In the last few years, court records show Kelley has faced a handful of charges, for drugs, shoplifting, and battery. In each case, the charges have been dropped.