Donna Richmond

Donna Richmond grew up in Middletown, New York. She graduated from California State University, Northridge, California, with a major in Business Economic and moved to Southern New Mexico in 1991.

Donna knows what it feels like to be a victim. On July 13, 1988 her father Sergeant Thomas Arlen Richmond was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Mesilla, New Mexico.Since that time, Donna has put her life into advocacy – trying to make life better for the victims who oftentimes don’t know where to go.

Donna helped bring the Victim Information & Notification Everyday (VINE) Service to Doña Ana County, under Sheriff Juan Hernandez in 2003. VINE Services are now statewide. In 1995, she started working on the Southern New Mexico Peace Officers Memorial honoring fallen officers, then went on to become a volunteer victim advocate for the Victims Assistant Unit with the Las Cruces Police Department.

In 2002, Donna applied for a job as Victim Advocate Coordinator for the Sherriff’s Department, then moved on to the District Attorney’s Office as a Victim Advocate Coordinator. The work with victim advocacy prepared Donna for the position of executive director at La Piñon Sexual Assault Recovery Services of Southern NM, which she held until 2017.

Currently Donna is working to end the back log of unsubmitted rape kits in the State of New Mexico and begin to change social norm in sexual assault cases.