On Friday January 19, it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed search warrants and raided the homes of 3 Albuquerque Police officers and the home and the law office of prominent DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear, III. All 6 are allegedly involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme spanning a decade to dismiss DWI cases. DA Sam Bregman ordered the dismissed 196 DWI cases because of the scandal due to the main witnesses’ credibility being called into question which in all the cases are APD officers. The Albuquerque Police Department has opened its own Internal Affairs investigation of the 5 officers.
The 5 cops implicated have been identified as Officers Honorio Alba, Joshua Montaño, Nelson Ortiz, Harvey Johnson and Lt. Justin Hunt and all were placed on paid administrative leave pending an APD Internal Affairs investigation of the scandal. The FBI searched the homes of Alba and Johnson and the law offices of Thomas Clear III and the home of Clear’s paralegal Ricardo “Rick” Mendez.
The US Department of Justice and US Attorney’s office have confirmed the APD police officers and the criminal defense attorney are at the center of a federal investigation involving the dismissal of hundreds of pending DWI criminal cases by the APD Officers ostensibly for some sort of remuneration to have the cases dismissed.
RESIGNATIONS ANNOUNCED
All 5 APD Police officers implicated in the scandal have now resigned during the Internal Affairs investigation. The names and dates of the first 4 resignations are:
On Feb. 7, 2024 Justin Hunt, who started at APD in 2000, resigned.
on Feb. 29, 2024, Honorio Alba, who started at APD in 2014, resigned
On March 13, 2024, Harvey Johnson, who started at APD in 2014, resigned
On March 15, 2024, Nelson Ortiz, who started at APD in 2016, resigned.
When the resignations of all 4 of officers occurred, they were simply announced by APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos. The contents of the resignations were never made public.
5TH APD OFFICER RESIGNS RELEASING LETTER OF RESIGNATION
On March 20, it was announced that Joshua Montaño, the most high profile of the 5 police officers implicated in the scandal has resigned. Montaño is and 18-year veteran of the department having joined APD in January 2005 and has served on the DWI unit since 2015. Montaño quit days after being asked to give a statement and be interviewed Internal Affairs for the investigation triggered by allegations of corruption within the DWI unit in the past decade.
The letter of resignation was sent to Police Reform Superintendent Eric Garcia on March 20. Montaño’s resignation letter is the only one that has been shared by APD to the news media. Montaño resignation is decidedly different from the resignations of the other 4 in that he wrote the letter of resignation and it was then released to the press. Montaño and his defense attorney in the Internal Affairs Investigation then gave interviews. You can read the full resignation letter in the post script to this blog article.
In the first segment of his resignation letter, Montaño gets very emotional and talks about how he “fell in love” with APD, risked his life “on numerous occasions” and did “great and amazing things” for his community as an officer. Montaño wrote he was “all but abandoned” by APD after he was seriously injured in a crash with a drunken driver in 2022. He wrote that he then found “comfort and support” from his fellow officers in APD’s DWI Unit. Montaño wrote “They were my family because they cared for me when others didn’t and they supported me when others wouldn’t. … However, that support came with a high price and on January 18, 2024, I found out what the cost of that support really meant.” January 18, 2024 was when the FBI raided the homes of the 3 police officers.
The most damning portions of Montaño’s resignation letter are as follows:
“When I was put on administrative leave, I thought there would be an opportunity for me to talk to the department about what I knew regarding the FBI’s investigation. I thought there would be a time where I could disclose what I knew from within APD and how the issues I let myself get caught up in within the DWI Unit were generational. I thought there would be a time where I could talk about all the other people who should be on administrative leave as well, but aren’t.
That opportunity was denied to me though. As I know my lawyer has explained in all his letters to the City, in order for me to talk to the City about what I knew, I needed to not be the City’s scapegoat for its own failures. Instead, Chief Medina has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own. This is far from the truth. None of allegations against myself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. And they didn’t just happen over a few years ago. From my time as a P2/C, officers all know that our attendance, or non-attendance, at Courtis watched over and monitored.
I take responsibility for my actions. However, APD’s investigations of me have been unfair, and because of Chief Medina’s public statements, the outcome of these investigations is already set. Therefore, I have no choice but to hereby resign from my position with APD. As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, I fell in love with this department nearly19 years ago and this is such a difficult moment for me. I do not waive any of my earned and accrued sick, vacation, or comp time and respectfully request that I be out-processed as any other employee would be upon resigning from the department.”
APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos reported that Montaño was given 4 opportunities to be interviewed in scheduled interviews with Internal Affairs investigators. He said Montaño missed every interview, and then resigned. Grover, Montaño’s attorney, said despite the four requests for an IA interview, his client refused to be interviewed “under the conditions they presented.”
In response to the resignation letter, APD issued the following statement:
“Our administrative investigation remains ongoing and focuses on anyone, including officers who are now retired, who may have been involved in the alleged scheme.”
MONTAÑO’S DEFENSE ATTORNEY IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION OFFERS EXPLANTION
Private Attorney Thomas Grover, who is a retired former APD Officer, is representing Joshua Montaño in his defense in the Internal Affairs Investigation and has not said if he is representing him in the Federal criminal investigation. In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal done after the release of his clients letter of resignation, Grover had this to say:
[The resignation letter shows the conduct] didn’t happen within a cell or a silo. … [My client’s decision not to give a statement to Internal Affairs when requested was]… absolutely not … [an admission of wrongdoing]. … My advice, my counsel, was, ‘You can’t give a statement. It’s patently unfair and inappropriate.’ … [APD’s Internal Affairs inquiry was] inept because there was so much sloppiness in how they … were issuing target letters. … Because of various defects in the city’s investigation, he was left with no choice but to resign. … Nothing that I’m saying discounts the expectations that the public has of police officers, but there’s even greater expectations of the agencies and departments that lead those officers to do proper and effective Internal Affairs investigations.”
Grover noted the public statements made by Chief Medina and Mayor Tim Keller after the sandal broke. Both released statements in January when the story first broke. Mayor Keller for his part said this:
“This investigation involves a handful of long-time officers at APD, going back a decade; if true, what these individuals did is a disgrace to the badge, and erodes faith in law enforcement. APD leadership fully supports this investigation and continues to work with our partners to serve justice. Any individuals who engaged in this conduct will never work for the City again, and should be held accountable to full extent of the law. The department’s willingness to drive accountability, especially on its own, reflects how far we have come.”
Grover told the Albuquerque Journal:
“Here the city and APD’s command staff failed my client and, frankly, the citizens, with an investigation that was … irresponsible because of the public statements by Medina and Keller that essentially made these ‘investigations’ a sham with preconceived conclusions.”
APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos responded to Grover’s comments saying this:
“If the investigation was flawed, why did five officers resign?”
APD Spokesman Gallegos said the department is looking at others in its internal probe of DWI corruption allegations, including retired officers.
Links to quoted news sources are here
https://www.koat.com/article/fifth-albuquerque-officer-resigns-investigation/60270854
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/fifth-apd-officer-resigns-amid-investigation-into-dwi-unit/
MONTAÑO CAUGHT ON TAPE MAKING HIDEOUS SHAKEDOWN
On February 22, it was widely reported that APD lapel camera video as well as a recording by a victimized citizen gave insight to some extent into just how the APD DWI dismissal and bribery scheme worked with the defense attorney. The lapel camera video and private citizen recording involved APD Joshua Montaño and combined give insights in a hideous shake down of an innocent citizen by APD Police Officer Joshua Montaño .
On June 25, 2023 Officer Joshua Montaño stopped Carlos Sandoval Smith on suspicion of drunk driving and Sandoval Smith had his niece in the vehicle with him. Officer Montaño has Sandoval Smith do a field sobriety test and he makes the decision to make an arrest and takes him to be booked. Montaño takes Sandoval Smith’s Apple watch and gold rope bracelet while booking Sandoval Smith. Two breath analyzer tests were administered to Sandoval Smith and he was found below the legal limit for DWI but Sandoval Smith was still charged with DWI by Montaño and then released.
The next day, Officer Montaño calls Sandoval Smith to tell him his jewelry was not tagged into evidence and misplaced but he could get back his personal belongings from an attorney friend of Montaño’s who was identified as DWI Defense Attorney Tom Clear. Smith goes to the law offices of Clear where he meets paralegal Rick Mendez. Suspicious, Smith goes to the law offices with a hidden recorder. Rick Mendez returns the personal items to Sandoval Smith and tells him that he has a guarantee way to avoid a DWI conviction and that is to hire Tom Clear for $8,500. The arrangement was to be that Officer Montaño would not appear for court and the case would be dismissed. Sandoval Smith did not take the offer and he hired a public defender and the case was dismissed.
TAPED RECORDING INTEREACTIONS
A 71-minute video from Montaño’s lapel camera shows Sandoval-Smith being pulled over, taking field sobriety tests on the street and being prepared for booking at a Downtown prisoner transport facility. Following is the narrative:
APD Officer Joshua Montaño’s lapel video shows that on June 25, 2023, the 42-year-old Carlos Sandoval Smith was stopped near I-25 and Central. The conversation between Albuquerque Police DWI Officer Joshua Montaño and Sandova Smith on the lapel camera is as follows:
Officer Montaño: “I’m Officer Montaño with APD, I stopped you for speeding.”
Smith replied: “Yes sir.”
Officer Montaño: “Carlos, why you going so fast, man?”
Smith: “I apologize, I was just trying to get over in the lane and get on the freeway. My bad.”
Officer Montaño examined Sandoval Smith’s eyes to see if they were blood shot and ran Sandoval Smith through a series of field sobriety tests. “I’m nervous,” Smith admitted, adding he was concerned about his 16-year-old cousin who was watching from the car. “I don’t wanna leave my cousin,” Smith said. “I gotta be a good example. I shouldn’t have sped, I’m sorry sir.” Officer Montaño replied “Well let’s just see how you do, okay?” .
Smith cooperates with the eye examination, walks in a straight line, and mentions problems with his knee when asked to balance on one leg. Smith asks “This is the bad knee, so can I do this leg instead?” Officer Montaño replied. “Any leg you’d like.” Smith then counts backward and successfully recites a portion of the alphabet. After the field tests Officer Montaño tells Smith “I do have to give you the opportunity to do a breath test.” At this point, Sandoval Smith is placed in handcuffs and driven to the Prisoner Transport Center downtown. Sandoval Smith had to leave his 16 old cousin alone to wait for a ride.
At the Prisoner Transport Center, Sandoval Smith willingly took two breathalyzer tests. After blowing below the legal limit of .08 twice, Smith was still arrested and booked into jail for DWI. During the breathalyzer tests, Officer Montaño removed his lapel camera and placed it at a distance while he interacted with Sandoval Smith.
Montaño tells Sandoval Smith “I’m gonna take off your i-watch – your Apple watch.” The Video shows Officer Montaño taking off Smith’s Apple watch and gold braid bracelet. The fact that Montaño took off his APD lapel camera to interact with Carlos Sandoval Smith while he was effectuating the arrest was improper and it violated APD’s standard operating procedures.
The next day DWI Officer Joshua Montaño called Sandoval Smith and left a voice message. The phone message was:
“Hey Carlos, this is Officer Montaño with APD. I was just giving you a call because I – I don’t know if you realize, but I’m sure you do that – some of your jewelry was missing from the property from Sunday evening. And it looks like the PTC officers didn’t put that in your bag, but I have it.”
In a follow-up phone call, Smith says Officer Montaño told him he could get his watch and gold bracelet back from his attorney friend DWI Defense Attorney Thomas Clear and he was given Clear’s address.
Becoming suspicious, Sandoval Smith contacted Clear’s office and made arrangements to pick up his property but also decided to record the interaction. Smith recorded his interaction with Clear’s Paralegal Ricardo ‘Rick’ Mendez the day he retrieved his bracelet. Below is a transcript of a portion of Smith’s interaction with who he says is Rick Mendez:
Smith: How are you sir?
Paralegal: You Carlos?
Smith: Yes I am, sir.
Smith: What is my next best step to try and not get this on my record, what do you recommend I do?
Paralegal: If you need to get off of this –
Smith: I do.
Paralegal: Okay. You’re at the right place. If you’re one of those people that can live with it, then go hire a cheap attorney. … We’re not the cheapest.
Smith: Okay.
Paralegal: So we charge $8,500 and you could do it in payments.
Smith: And with you representing me, that would guarantee that this doesn’t go on my record?
Paralegal: Yes.
Smith: Okay. And the odds of me not going with you and going with a public defender, what do you think about that?
Paralegal: Roll of the dice.
Links to quoted news sources are here:
Throughout his entire interaction with Officer Montaño, Carlos Sandoval Smith was honest, very polite, very cooperative and even apologetic, he did everything he was told to do and answered all questions. Ultimately, he participated in two field sobriety tests that he passed but he was still charged and booked. To add to his victimization, and attempt was made to shake him down even further for $8,500.
What is so very disgusting is that this entire interaction between Carlos Sandoval Smith and APD Police Officer Joshua Montaño amounts to nothing more than a hideous “shake down” of an innocent man by a sworn APD Police Officer who violated his oath of office to protect and defend. It was nothing more than a complete abuse of power by law enforcement to effectuate a crime and to victimize an innocent man.
All people should feel safe when they deal with police, even if they are being pulled over for a traffic stop. No one should ever be subject of extortion nor intimidation by law enforcement or for that matter lawyers. There is no place in the criminal justice system for this type of corruption and behavior.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The FBI investigation, which involves the U.S. Department of Justice, has yet to result in any criminal charges nor indictment. What agents found and their rationale for the searches remain under seal. It is likely the FBI and the United States Attorneys Office will view Joshua Montaño’s letter of resignation as an admission against interest or an admission of guilt by former Police Officer Joshua Montaño. Now that the letter has been made public, there is little doubt federal authorities will likely use it as leverage against Montaño to secure his complete cooperation against the others implicated in the scandal.
Do not be surprised if the Feds offer Joshua Montaño immunity from prosecutions in exchange for whatever information he has, especially on Chief Harold Medina and his upper command staff. Least anyone has forgotten, Chief Medina was the Deputy Chief of Field Services under Chief Geier and as such had direct supervisory control over the DWI unit and could have easily have know what was going on and gave his blessings on cops not showing up for court hearings.
Montaño’s letter of resignation is astonishing, damning and sweeping in its scope on a number of levels that the federal authorities will demanding explanations and elaboration from Montaño:
- Montaño proclaims he let himself “get caught up in the actions within the DWI Unit that were generational” and claims he is being made a scapegoat for the city’s failures. Montano worked in the DWI Unit for 10 years and likely can name names of supervisors involved with any cover up.
- Montaño alleges in his resignation letter that APD’s leadership knew about the misconduct within the DWI unit but does not say how and for how long. He says “Chief Medina has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own. This is far from the truth. None of [the] allegations against myself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. And they didn’t just happen over a few years ago.”
- Montaño says he wanted to talk about all the “other people who should be on administrative leave as well, but aren’t” yet does not identify who they are in his letter. He asserts none of allegations against himself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. He claims during the time he has been a DWI Officer all officers conduct was watched over and monitored.
- Montaño says he was denied the opportunity to talk about the events, yet he himself declined to be interviewed at least 4 times proclaiming it was not a fair process.
- Montaño proclaims APD’s investigations of himself have been unfair, and because of Chief Medina’s public statements, the outcome of these investigations is already set.
- Montaño alleges other, unidentified APD personnel were involved going so far as saying “None of (the) allegations against myself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. And they didn’t just happen over a few years ago.”
Although in the last paragraph Montaño writes “I take responsibility for my actions” and said it was “such a difficult moment for me” he offers absolutely no apology to the citizens of Albuquerque in general for what he and the other officers did by taking bribes to get DWI cases dropped and no apology to the citizens, such as Carlos Sandoval Smith, he shook down in the scheme.
It is not until the final sentence of Officer Joshua Montaño’s resignation letter that his real motives for it are fully revealed. He writes that he did not waive his employee benefits, listing out “earned and accrued sick, vacation, or comp time and respectfully request that I be out-processed as any other employee would be upon resigning from the department.” Under the city’s personnel rules and regulations as well as the APD police union contract earned and accrued sick, vacation, or comp time can be accumulated and become vested property rights upon being earned.
It very common for retiring police officers to have anywhere between a full one year to two years of earned and accrued sick, vacation, or comp time that must be paid in full in payments or in a single lump sum which can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The argument that Mayor Tim Keller’s and Chief’s Medina’s statements about the officers when the scandal broke some how “taints” the investigation and makes the “investigations” a sham with preconceived conclusions can only be considered defense posturing to lay or shift blame elsewhere for the criminal conduct and the accusation should not be taken all seriously by the public. Under the city personnel rules and regulations and the union contract especially, police officers personnel rights and appellate remedies are highly protected and vested. No APD Chief and no Mayor can order nor dictate the findings nor outcome of any Internal Affairs Investigations for misconduct without violating the law and being accused of obstruction of justice.
IMPACT ON MAYOR TIM KELLER
Mayor Tim Keller has already indicated he is running for a third term in 2025. Mayor Keller and Chief Medina have made more than a few stunning admissions throughout this sordid APD corruption scandal and they seem joined at the hip. They admit that the APD bribery and conspiracy scheme went on the entire 6 years they have been in charge of APD, but they never detected what was going on.
Both admitted that only after they found out the FBI was investigating APD, the decision was made to initiate a city criminal and internal affairs investigation and to proclaim cooperation with the FBI. Medina admitted that he knew about the corruption as far back as December 2022 when APD first got a complaint related to the department’s DWI unit in December 2022, yet he waited and essentially did nothing for a full year.
Keller’s admissions come from a person who was first elected as the white knight state auditor who stopped “waste, fraud and abuse” and held people accountable for government corruption. Medina’s admissions come from a chief who claims he has never looked the other way at police corruption. Both have looked the other way on documented corruption involving overtime pay abuses by police officers. There have been seven audits in eight years documenting the corruption, waste, fraud and abuse in police overtime.
BASTION OF “DIRTY AND CORRUPT COPS”
There is absolutely no doubt that APD’s reputation has been trashed to a major extent because of this scandal. APD will likely be viewed by many as again having just another bastion of “dirty and corrupt cops” who have brought dishonor to their department and to the department’s professed values of “Pride, Integrity, Fairness and Respect”. This is so even before any charges have been filed against anyone, before any one is fired from APD and before any action is brought against the police officers involved for government corruption and criminal conspiracy to dismiss cases working with a prominent criminal defense attorney. Should the criminal defense attorney be charged and convicted of the crimes, he is likely facing jail time as well as disbarment from the practice of law.
There is little doubt that this whole DWI dismissal bribery scandal has shaken the public’s faith in our criminal justice system. The only way that any semblance of faith can be restored and for people to begin trusting APD again is if all the police officers involved in this scandal are held accountable, the lawyers involved are held accountable. That will only happen when there is aggressive prosecutions and convictions, the police officers are terminated and they lose their law enforcement certification and disbarment occurs with the attorney.
Ultimately, it is Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Harold Medina who need to be held accountable with what has happened. Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Harold Medina must ultimately be held accountable and take full responsibility for failed leadership of APD and this most recent APD scandal. Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Harold Medina instead have been in full fledge “politcal spin cycle” of “pivot, deflect and blame” since the news broke and since the Albuquerque City Council accused them of failed leadership in dealing with the scandal as they attempt to get ahead of this most recent scandal involving APD. They both have attempted to take credit for the investigation and for taking action to hold bad cops accountable for the corruption when it was in fact the federal investigation that forced their hand and after they both allowed the problem to fester for 6 years.
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POSTCRIPT
Below is the full, unedited March 20 resignation letter submitted by
March 20, 2024
From: Joshua Montano
To: Eric Garcia, Police Reform Superintendent
RE: PDH Written Statement for March 4, 2024, PDH Letter
Dear Mr. Garcia:
Please accept this letter as my written statement to provide information as requested in your March 4, 2024, Pre-Determination Hearing Notice.
I have served the citizens of the City of Albuquerque beginning in 2005 as a Police Service Aide. I became an APD officer in 2007. I fell in love with this department at the young age of 18. It was the best and most accomplishing thing I had done in my life. There aren’t enough words to describe all of the great and amazing things I have been able to provide to the citizens of this city over the course of my career. During my time as an Officer, I have risked my life on numerous occasions for the safety of others, just like all of the great officers on this department. In 2022 I was nearly killed when I was struck and severely injured by a reckless driver who was impaired by alcohol. It was one of the most difficult challenges of my life and career. All glory to God that I recovered from my injuries and was cleared to come back to work. Yet, I know nothing other than law enforcement and love being a police officer. As you know from your time with APD, police officers get to see the worst of people day after day but every now and then, we get to the see the best of people as well and that makes it easy to gear up and report to work each day.
Unfortunately, following that collision while I was injured and suffering not just from physical pain and anguish, I found myself all but abandoned by the department. I say “all but” because I did find comfort and support from my colleagues in APD’s DWI Unit. They were my family because they cared for me when others didn’t and they supported me when others wouldn’t. However, that support came with a high price and on January 18, 2024, I found out what the cost of that support really meant.
When I was put on administrative leave, I thought there would be an opportunity for me to talk to the department about what I knew regarding the FBI’s investigation. I thought there would be a time where I could disclose what I knew from within APD and how the issues I let myself get caught up in within the DWI Unit were generational. I thought there would be a time where I could talk about all the other people who should be on administrative leave as well, but aren’t.
That opportunity was denied to me though. As I know my lawyer has explained in all his letters to the City, in order for me to talk to the City about what I knew, I needed to not be the City’s scapegoat for its own failures. Instead, Chief Medina has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own. This is far from the truth. None of allegations against myself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. And they didn’t just happen over a few years ago. From my time as a P2/C, officers all know that our attendance, or non-attendance, at Court is watched over and monitored.
I take responsibility for my actions. However, APD’s investigations of me have been unfair, and because of Chief Medina’s public statements, the outcome of these investigations is already set. Therefore, I have no choice but to hereby resign from my position with APD. As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, I fell in love with this department nearly19 years ago and this is such a difficult moment for me. I do not waive any of my earned and accrued sick, vacation, or comp time and respectfully request that I be out-processed as any other employee would be upon resigning from the department. Respectfully,
Joshua Montano, Officer