On August 1, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced that it has fired an APD Commander of Internal Affairs for Professional Standards and that another DWI officer has resigned as a result of the ongoing Federal Investigation into corruption involving the bribery of APD officers in exchange for the dismissal of DWI cases . Both are being investigated as part of an APD probe and FBI investigation into allegations that DWI officers worked with prominent DWI Criminal Defense Attorney Thomas Clear to get drunken driving cases dismissed in exchange for money and other favors. Six other APD officers implicated in the scandal have resigned during the Internal Affairs investigation bringing the total number to 8.
Commander Mark Landavazo was the Commander of the Internal Affairs Professional Standards Division. He has been on administrative leave and under investigation since February 13. Landavazo started with APD in 2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013. APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said, Landavazo was fired after the internal investigation found he had violated 3 policies. Gallegos said he was disciplined for two of the policies and fired after the third investigation was completed.
The on line news outlet City Desk ABQ reported earlier this summer that it had obtained emails that showed the FBI had forwarded a tip in June of 2022 to Landavazo about an officer working with attorney Thomas Clear III and his paralegal to guarantee a DWI charge would go away if the defendant paid $10,000. According to those emails, Landavazo suggested the special agent contact the Civilian Police Oversight Agency and an APD spokesperson said he did not tell the chief about the allegations.
APD Officer Neill Elsman who had worked in the DWI unit within the past several years resigned on July 30 before returning to work from military leave. He had been on military leave since October which was before the investigation began and after he was told he had to return to the department, he resigned.
APD Chief Harold Medina said this in a news release announcing the termination:
“I said we would leave no stone unturned with these investigations. … We will continue to follow the evidence and ensure everyone is held accountable.”
Landavazo is the first officer to be fired related to APD’s internal probe. Including Landavazo, 9 officers have been placed on leave, and 7 of those have resigned or retired in the past several months, including Elsman and officers Daren DeAguero, Alba, Joshua Montaño, Nelson Ortiz, Johnson and Lt. Justin Hunt. No one has been charged in the case. The FBI is investigating the allegations as a criminal matter. U.S. Attorney Alex Uballez has said the probe focuses on alleged wrongdoing by “certain” APD officers and others.
Links to quoted and relied upon news sources are here:
https://citydesk.org/2024/apd-officer-connected-to-dwi-scandal-fired-another-resigns/
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-police-commander-fired-officer-dwi/61768455
APD BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN A NUTSHELL
It was on Friday January 19 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed search warrants and raided the homes of 3 Albuquerque Police officers and the home and 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. Bernalillo County District Attorney 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 opened its own Internal Affairs investigation. APD Chief Medina appointed Commander Kyle Hartsock of the Criminal Investigations Division to lead the internal investigation into officers’ conduct as well as into whether anyone else at the department knew about wrongdoing but did not report it.
6 other APD Police officers implicated in the scandal have resigned during the Internal Affairs investigation. The names and dates of the other 6 resignations are:
- On February 7, 2024 Justin Hunt,who started at APD in 2000, resigned.
- On February 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.
- On March 20, 2024 Joshua Montaño, who started at APD January 2005, resigned.
- On May 2, 2024 Daren DeAguero,who started with APD in 2009, resigned.
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 the federal investigation involving the dismissal of hundreds of pending DWI criminal cases by the APD Officers for remuneration to have the cases dismissed by the officers failing to appear for hearings. No one has yet to be charged as the federal investigation is ongoing.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
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 to dismiss DWI cases 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. Keller and Medina 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. One of those audits was done by none other than New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller.
Chief Medina went so far as to blame the Bernalillo District Attorney’s Office for a failure to advise APD when officers did not appear for court. Medina also accused the Public Defender’s Office of being aware of complaints that Public Defender Board of Director member Tom Clear, III was involved with nefarious conduct and that the Public Defender’s Office did nothing.
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. It’s downright disgusting that the APD Commander for Internal Affairs for Professional Standards was fired leading, the very commander who should have prevented the corruption. 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 in prison 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 egregious 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.