It was on Friday January 19, 2024 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed search warrants and raided the homes of 3 Albuquerque Police officers and the home and law offices of prominent DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear, III. All 6 of those targeted with a search warrant are allegedly involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme spanning a decade to dismiss DWI cases. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman ordered the dismissal of over 200 DWI cases because of the scandal due to the main witness’ credibility being called into question which in all the cases are APD officers.
The bribery and conspiracy investigation has evolved over a year into the largest corruption case in APD’s history. A total of 12 APD Police officers have been implicated in the scandal. Seven have resigned during the Internal Affairs investigation, 3 are on paid leave and one has been terminated. One by one, the accused Albuquerque police officers have been turning in their badges and resigning rather than talking to Internal Affairs investigators about their involvement in the scheme to dismiss DWI cases.
On January 24, a federal criminal Information charging document was filed identifying and charging only one person, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, 53, the private investigator for attorney Thomas Clear II, who plead guilty on the same day. The 8 count criminal Information charges:
- 1 count of a RICO Conspiracy
- 5 counts of Bribery of an Agent of an Organization Receiving Federal Funds
- 1 Count of Interference With Commerce by Extortion Under Color of Official Action; Aiding and Abetting
- 1 Count of Conspiracy To Commit Interference With Commerce By Extortion Under Color of Official Right
According to the criminal Information filed, Mendez and officers and deputies at the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, and New Mexico State Police worked with defense attorneys in a “DWI Enterprise” to ensure drunk driving suspects would get their cases dismissed in exchange for money and other favors. No APD, BCSO nor State Police Officers were named in the charging document nor have they been charged to date with the FBI and US Attorney saying the investigation is ongoing and charges will be filed against others when the investigation is completed.
JANUARY 24 KRQE NEWS REPORT
On January 24, APD Chief Harold Medina was interviewed by KRQE Investigates Reporter Ann Pierret to discuss how APD officers were able to get away with their DWI Bribery and Dismissal scheme. Medina said the scheme changed over time and only became known once those involved “got sloppy”. Medina said this:
“I look at what I know and how it was generational, and I see how it just got passed down from one generation to the next generation to the officer to the next. But I also don’t think this was very blatant. … I think they had a very tight-knit group of individuals that didn’t talk about it. Of those that APD announced were under investigation, personnel files show that Honorio Alba Jr., Harvey Johnson, and Neill Elsman went through the police academy together. … So these individuals knew each other and they trusted each other for a long time, since academy days.”
Chief Medina said he believes officers filed lapel video under an incorrect case number so it couldn’t be provided as evidence. And for some arrests, they did not file a criminal complaint. Chief Medina said the scheme ultimately wasn’t sustainable, especially with the policy changes APD had to make under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) with the U.S. Department of Justice dealing with reforms to address APD’s use of excessive force and deadly force. Among those changes, booking someone into jail is mandatory, and mailing criminal summonses is only allowed in “unique circumstances.” Lapel camera footage is now auto-indexed and supervisors review it monthly.
JANUARY 29 KRQE NEWS REPORT
On January 29, KRQE News published a revealing report on the bribery scheme to dismiss DWI Cases. Chief Medina discussed what he knew and how the investigation unfolded. Following is the transcript of the entire news report:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s been a year since the public learned of the massive corruption scandal involving a scheme to make DWI cases disappear. Federal documents last week, shed more light on the conspiracy involving police officers and attorneys that dates back more than two decades.
So when did the Albuquerque Police Department’s leadership start to get wise? KRQE Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret sat down with the chief about what he knew and when.
A conversation at a bar is what APD Chief Harold Medina said eventually led to the criminal investigation into the department’s DWI unit. In December of 2022, thirteen months before the community learned of the corruption scandal, a five-page “intel file” showed that APD received a tip from a concerned citizen who shared “DWI officers described how some members of the unit would get paid to get a case dismissed.”
The caller claimed workers at three bars in the northeast heights tipped off officers about customers leaving their establishments. “We did an analysis, and we looked at traffic stops, and we looked to see if we saw traffic stops that were condensed around certain liquor establishments. And we didn’t see that pattern,” said Chief Medina.
So what now? “I knew something was going on. I just didn’t know what. And that’s when the decision was made that we’re going to keep this as quiet as possible,” said Chief Medina.
Chief Medina said at that point only a handful of his staff knew. Without explaining, he asked to change his Monday meeting agenda to include an update from Internal Affairs. “Every week I get a case – a list of cases that came in and I would look through that list to see if there’s anything related to this DWI scheme because I knew that something was going to come in,” said Chief Medina.
But he said the FBI would call first, nearly a year later in October 2023 letting him know they’ve been investigating. KRQE News 13 learned at least one of their tips came from Albuquerque Attorney Daymon Ely. “I was outraged. I mean, I should be. We should all be outraged,” said Ely.
Ely told KRQE News 13 that two people contacted him separately sharing the details we now know made up the scheme. “The day they came in I let the FBI know. And I didn’t contact APD because they obviously have a conflict,” said Ely.
The chief later learned the FBI contacted APD’s Internal Affairs Unit in June of 2022. APD said IA Commander Mark Landavazo told the feds it wasn’t a case he’d handle, it was a citizen complaint. However, because there were criminal allegations, APD said Landavazo should have moved it up the chain. The department fired him over this in February of 2024.
A month after the FBI filled in Chief Medina, in November of 2023, more evidence. Another citizen complaint had been filed. This one to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency from a district court employee. In her letter, she shared a former coworker received a DWI and “there may be questionable conduct by the arresting/citation officer” who put the driver in contact with a specific attorney “who if hired, would ensure that no court case would be filed in court by APD.”
Since officers are informed about citizen complaints, the department jumped to quash that investigation which Chief Medina said prompted an “emergency meeting” with the FBI.
Still, no officers have been charged, but the feds just secured a plea deal with a paralegal who admitted to helping run the scheme from an Albuquerque law firm. In his confession, Rick Mendez mentioned mainly working with APD officers but said members of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico State Police played along too.
APD went back through its record to look into former members of the DWI unit. The department provided us with a timeline of the evolution of the scheme.”
The link to the KRQE New report is here:
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Both KRQE interviews taken together are about as damning as it gets revealing ineptness. The interviews call into question the ability of an APD Chief to manage his department. They reveal a Chief of Police who was obsessed with trying to keep under wraps a major scandal involving criminal activity by APD Officers in an effort to allow APD to investigate its own, that he failed to quickly act, that his hand was forced to act by an FBI investigation and that he failed to turn the criminal investigation over to federal authorities in a timely manner.
JANUARY 24 KRQE MEDINA INTERVIEW
APD Chief Harold Medina is very quick to proclaim the DWI bribery scandal is “generational”. Medina’s explanation of how the bribery scheme happened rings hollow. Medina points out that the DWI bribery and conspiracy scandal went “undetected” for 20 years. The blunt truth is Medina has been part of APD’s “generations” of cops for well over 30 years. He retired from APD after 30 years of service having come up through the ranks as a patrolman, sergeant and lieutenant.
Seven years ago Medina returned to APD as the Deputy Chief of Field Services, appointed by then Chief Michal Geier, who was later fired by Mayor Tim Keller and who Keller replaced Geier with Medina. Deputy Chief Medina was in charge of the DWI unit and it was he who assigned officers to the DWI unit. Given Medina’s reputation for micro management, its likely he knew or should have known what was going on with the DWI unit. At least one of the 12 APD Officers implicated in the DWI scandal has said Chief Medina knew what was going on and that Medina did nothing to stop it.
JANUARY 29 KRQE MEDINA INTERVIEW
Medina revealed in his January 29 interview that he knew about the corruption back in December 2022, thirteen months before the community learned of the corruption scandal, when a five-page “intelligence file” showed that APD received a tip from a concerned citizen who shared “DWI officers described how some members of the unit would get paid to get a case dismissed.”
The intelligence report said “workers at three bars in the northeast heights tipped off officers about customers leaving their establishments.” The acting sergeant for the Criminal Intelligence Unit in his December 10, 2022 Intelligence memo to the Commander of the Investigative Services Division specifically requested permission to gather intelligence on the 7 APD Officers then assigned to the DWI unit to identify further criminal activity or other parties involved. Ostensibly, no effort was made by APD to contact the workers at the 3 bars to verify the information nor to try and identify the APD officers involved. Instead, Medina ordered an analysis of “traffic stops condensed around the liquor establishments” to determine if there was a pattern of DWI arrests.
Medina said in his interview “I knew something was going on. I just didn’t know what. And that’s when the decision was made that we’re going to keep this as quiet as possible.” Medina said only a handful of his staff knew what was going on and that he wanted to keep it as quiet as possible. In other words, Medina did not want anyone outside of his department to know what was going on with the DWI unit and he had no intention of calling in another law enforcement agency to investigate to avoid the appearance of a conflict.
Medina did not order the immediate suspension of the DWI unit nor order an immediate active Internal Affairs Investigation. Instead, he had Internal Affairs give him a weekly update on DWI arrests hoping a pattern would emerge on the DWI scheme.
In his January 29 KRQE interview, Medina revealed that it was the FBI that called him first, nearly a year later in October 2023, letting him know they had been investigating the case and APD Officers. Medina also said he learned the FBI contacted APD’s Internal Affairs Commander Mark Landavazo in June of 2022.
Landavazo told the FBI it was not a case he would handle because it was a citizen complaint. Landavazo had to know what was going on for some time in that Medina had ordered updates of DWI cases to try and determine a pattern of arrests himself. Because there were criminal allegations involving police misconduct, APD said Landavazo should have moved it up the chain of command. The department fired Landavazo in February of 2024.
In November of 2023, a month after the FBI contacted Chief Medina about its investigation, more evidence of the bribery scheme was given to Medina in the form of a citizen complaint to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency from a district court employee. It was reported that a court employee was arrested for DWI by an APD cop and that “there may be questionable conduct by the arresting/citation officer” who put the driver in contact with a specific attorney “who if hired, would ensure that no court case would be filed in court by APD.”
Quoting the KRQE report:
Since officers are informed about citizen complaints, the department jumped to quash that investigation which Chief Medina said prompted an “emergency meeting” with the FBI.
HOLDING MEDINA ACCOUNTABLE
Ultimately, Chief Harold Medina must be held accountable for the scandal and what happened under his watch for a full 6 years. Chief Harold Medina has been in full fledge “politcal spin cycle” of “pivot, deflect and blame” since the news broke and since the Albuquerque City Council accused him of failed leadership in dealing with the scandal. Chief Medina has attempted to take credit for the federal investigation and for taking action to hold bad cops accountable for the corruption when it was in fact the FBI that forced his hand and as he allowed the problem to fester for 6 years under his watch.
Chief Medina has made more than a few stunning admissions throughout this sordid APD bribery and corruption scandal. He admitted that the APD bribery and conspiracy scheme to dismiss DWI cases went on the entire time he has been in charge of APD, but he never detected what was going on. Medina admitted that only after he 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 back in December 2022 when APD first received a complaint related to the department’s DWI unit yet he waited and essentially did nothing for a full year.
Chief Medina’s admissions come from a chief who claims he has never looked the other way when it comes to police corruption. Medina has looked the other way on documented corruption involving overtime pay abuses by police officers. There have been 7 audits in 8 years documenting 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. It was nothing but a lie when Chief Medina 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.
In both interviews, Medina makes no mention if and when he told Mayor Tim Keller what was going on with respect to the APD bribery scandal. It is Mayor Tim Keller who must hold Chief Harold Medina accountable, but no one should expect that at all to happen given that Mayor Keller has said “Chief Medina is arguably the most important person right now in these times in our city.” Mayor Keller is seeking a third four year term as Mayor. The APD bribery scandal calls into question Keller’s management of APD, who he has appointed Chief of Police and if he should be elected to a third term.
BASTION OF 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 who was the very commander who should have caught and perhaps prevented the corruption. APD is viewed by many as again having just another bastion of “dirty and corrupt cops” who have brought dishonor to their department and their badge and to the department’s professed values of “Pride, Integrity, Fairness and Respect”.
This is so even before any criminal charges have been filed against any law enforement office, before anyone else 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 attorneys be charged and convicted of the crimes, they are 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 and APD to its core. Now the public is learning that BCSO and New Mexico State Police Officers may also be involved. The only way that any semblance of faith can be restored and for people to begin trusting APD and law enforcement again is if all the police officers involved in this scandal are held accountable and 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.
The link to a related blog article is here: