Sheriff Raul D. Villanueva was born and raised in the mining district of Grant County.

His education included graduation from Cobre High School in 1988. In 1990 he attended Western New Mexico University in the police academy. While he attended the academy he was also working for the Hurley Police Department as a patrol officer. As a member of the police academy he earned the top driver award of his class. In 1992 he moved on to work for the Silver City Police Department. After serving three years with the police department he moved on to work for the Grant County Sheriff’s Department where he has been ever since. During his tenure with the Grant County Sheriff’s Department he has moved up the ranks of deputy to corporal and then Senior Patrol Sergeant. In August of 2009 he was appointed to be the Sheriff of Grant County.

In his time with the Sheriff’s Department he has been involved with the Special Response Team and he was appointed the Commander of this elite team. He has advanced training in Critical Incident Management, Instructor Development, Defensive Driving, Accident Investigations, Desert Snow and Gang and Drug interdiction. He was a project coordinator for the Traffic safety Bureau (S.T.E.P and D.W.I). He was the former president of the local union AFSCME Local 2516 and a member of the Grant County Safety Committee as well as a board member of the Dispatch Authority. He is very active with the youth in the community being involved as a coach in several sports. He feels that our youth need more involvement from our law enforcement. Sheriff Villanueva is married and the proud father of six children.