By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-12 21:06:03 | Updated at 2026-08-12 21:59:45
56 minutes ago
A mother whose incestuous affair with her biological son horrified America is in trouble with the law again after multiple alleged break-ins and vandalism at an older woman’s house.
Monica Mares, who was 36 when she was charged with incest in August 2016 for her disturbing relationship with then-19-year-old son Caleb Paterson, was arrested for allegedly breaking and entering at a home in Clovis, New Mexico, on Sunday.
Mares, who looks gaunt and terrifying in a recent shaven-headed mugshot, allegedly stole new kitchen countertops and light fixtures, as well as flooding the property and yard by turning on the water.
When caught, she bizarrely told cops she had broken in because “she had no place to go, and that the weather, thunder and lightning, gave her headaches,” Clovis Police Department Captain Roman Romero told The Post.
The 66-year-old homeowner was out of town at the time, but a neighbor spotted the alleged break-in and called the woman’s best friend in Texas, where she is currently staying.
The homeowner, who lives on just $900 a month, has been broken into three times in the last three to four months, and her best friend claims Mares is responsible for each break-in.
“It’s too coincidental,” 69-year-old Virginia Pritchett told The Post.
“The neighbor said she saw the gate wide open in the back, which is what happened before, and she said she saw a light shining and saw them in the laundry room… They knew exactly where to go,” she said.
“They knew what kind of tool to take. According to the police, they just unscrewed what the handyman had done, and unscrewed the locks and everything,” Pritchett added.
After the police were called, Mares was arrested. Pritchett soon learned about her criminal past.
“I’ve seen articles on Mares; she torched a home and set fire to a backyard while on meth. She’s a thief who has broken into homes like my friend’s before,” Pritchett said.
“It seems to me that the justice system is not doing enough to punish this woman. And it just keeps going on. I’m mad as hell at her right now,” she added.
The homeowner, who doesn’t want to be identified, has lived in the property in Clovis for five years, and Pritchett was planning to move into the home to support her once they had done it up.
“I helped her when some pretty bad things happened in her life, and we’ve stayed best friends. And that’s what we do, you know, we help one another out,” Pritchett said.
After the string of break-ins, Pritchett said her friend “started being afraid to live there. And quite honestly, so was I… What if we’re living there and somebody breaks in and has a gun or something?”
“The scary thing, of course, among the obvious is that these people had obviously been watching that house,” she added.
Pritchett is now helping her friend press charges against Mares.
“She needs to be sitting in an institution, wherever that is… I’m going to call the District Attorney and see where this goes,” she said.
Mares, who has had multiple run-ins with the law since her 2016 arrest, has reportedly been living homeless in Clovis in recent years.
She is currently being held in the Curry County Adult Detention Center, according to Capt. Romero.
Mares and her son were found guilty of incest in March 2017 after entering no-contest pleas in a Curry County court, and were sentenced to three years’ probation as well as banned from contacting each other.
