Federal criminal charges have been filed by New Mexico United States Attorney Alexander Uballez against two former Albuquerque DWI police officers in the largest corruption case in the history of the Albuquerque Police Depart (APD). Officers with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and the New Mexico State Police have also been implicated.
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 those targeted with a search warrant are allegedly involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme spanning at least 15 years to dismiss DWI cases. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman ordered the dismissal of over 200 DWI cases because of the scandal due to police officer credibility being called into question in cases they made DWI arrests.
FORMER APD OFFICERS PLEAD GUILTY
On Friday, February 8, former APD Officers Honorio Alba Jr. and Joshua Montaño were arraigned in U.S. District Court on federal charges and entered guilty pleas in negotiated Plea and Disposition Agreements. Both Montaño and Alba pleaded guilty to racketeering, bribery, extortion and conspiracy-related charges and face potentially more than 100 years in prison. Alba and Montaño plead guilty to the charges two weeks after a private investigator, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, who worked for DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear, III plead guilty to 1 count of racketeering, 5 counts of bribery, 1 count of extortion, aiding and abetting and 1 count of conspiracy. The APD officers allegedly took kickbacks to help local criminal DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear, III to dismiss DWI cases.
Alba and Montaño are the first of 13 APD police officers to be charged in the FBI’s ongoing investigation into what prosecutors call the “DWI Enterprise.” Both admit that they took thousands in cash and gifts from Mendez and Clear and admitted recruiting other police officers into the scheme, and asked supervisors to help keep the criminal enterprise under wraps. Clear has not been charged, but the federal and state courts are seeking his disbarment and forfeiture actions have been bought against a home and his law offices.
The Albuquerque Police Department has placed 12 officers on leave. Ten have resigned, retired or been fired as APD conducted its own Internal Affairs probe into the allegations. BCSO has placed one deputy on leave, and State Police has said it has not determined any of its officers were involved.
Alba and Montaño were identified as among the most prominent targets in the FBI corruption investigation. News source have determined Alba was responsible for dismissal of 67 DWI cases while Montaño had 41 DWI dismissals.
U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander Uballez said this to news media outlets about the charges:
“This is neither the end of the investigation nor the end of the case. This is not how we normally do things. The way we are approaching this very unique case is very different. … Typically, defendants are charged all at once and the resolution of their cases in court can take months. … What we are seeing is falling dominoes of people accepting responsibility and being connected with the facts, not just the allegations. … There’s been calls from the beginning from the community from the beginning for accountability from APD itself and from all of our law enforcement partners. One of our highest missions in the Department of Justice and one of our biggest focuses over the past three years was making sure the public had a reason to trust in its institutions.”
Criminal DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear, III has not been charged criminally. U.S. Attorney Uballez has declined to say whether that will happen. He said his office doesn’t comment “about people who haven’t been charged.”
ALBA AND MONTAÑO PLEAS REVEAL EXTENT OF CORRUPTION
The Alba and Montaño Plea and Disposition Agreements reveal the extent and nature of the “DWI Enterprise” and the corruption.
In his Plea and Disposition Agreement, Joshua Montaño admits that he began working with Ricardo “Rick” Mendez and DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear after joining the DWI unit in 2017. Honorio Alba Jr. admitted in his Plea and Disposition Agreement he became an officer in the DWI unit in 2017 and a year later became involved with the DWI dismissal scheme to accept bribes.
Both officers admit in their plea agreement to “at least two acts of racketeering” and detail four separate instances in which they accepted bribes and were paid by Mendez to let DWI cases be dismissed. One DWI case included where the drunken driver was an acquaintance of one of the officers involved in the scheme and was referred to Clear’s law firm by that officer.
Alba and Montaño both state that as part of the scheme, they would release DWI suspects without booking them into jail or filing charges, often giving Mendez the suspects’ phone numbers. The plea agreements state the criminal DWI Enterprise changed after the courts suspended pretrial interviews in 2022. They would intentionally miss scheduled hearings to get the cases dismissed.
Alba and Montaño admit they would target DWI suspects they believed could pay expensive retainer fees, then funneled those people to Defense Attorney Thomas Clear, III and his paralegal Rick Mendez. The officers would conspire to miss court hearings that resulted in dismissals of cases where briberies had been paid.
Alba and Montaño admit they “worked out another method” with Clear and Mendez to miss DWI motion hearings or trial settings. Both officers said they coordinated with Mendez and Clear to schedule what hearings or interviews they would miss for the DWI case to be dismissed. Montaño stated that Mendez was his go-to for arranging payments through the scheme, and he was paid in cash as well as free hotel rooms, meals and “free legal representation for my family and friends” by Clear.
Alba admits that he, Clear and Mendez asked senior APD officers who had been involved in the scheme “to use their positions and influence” to ensure the officers involved were not caught. Alba says he asked these senior officers for help in the fall of 2023 when a complaint was filed against him with the Civilian Police Oversight Agency. Alba said Mendez paid him in cash, tires and at one time a diamond ring. Alba admitted that “on at least one occasion” he was paid by attorney Tom Clear directly.
In his plea agreement, Alba admits that he would deliver payments to other APD officers involved on behalf of Clear and Mendez. Alba admits he helped recruit officers into the scheme and personally introduced them to Mendez and Clear and warned the pair which officers to “avoid attempting to recruit” as they may report the activity.
It’s unclear how much money was made from the scheme. Both former officers admit that from 2019 to 2024, they accepted a “series of transactions [bribes] involving $5,000 or more during each year.”
FEDERAL CIVIL FORFEITURE ACTION FILED AGAINST CLEAR’S LAW OFFICE
On February 7, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) filed a “Complaint for Forfeiture” of a home containing attorney Clear’s law offices located on Aztec Road in the middle of a Northeast Heights neighborhood. In the forfeiture complaint, the FBI names for the first time Thomas Clear III as a main player in the “DWI Enterprise” criminal organization. The FBI is seeking to seize Clear’s property and get title where they believe the crimes took place. The court filing is the first mention of Clear by name, usually identified as “co-conspirator 1,” allegedly engaging in the criminal enterprise.
The FBI want to seize the home and office property because they believe it is where Clear laundered money and used it to “conduct, conceal, and otherwise assist himself and other members and associates of the DWI Enterprise in their criminal activities.”
The forfeiture complaint alleges that one goal of the DWI Enterprise was to “grow a client base willing to pay higher fees in exchange for the successful resolution” of the suspect’s DWI offense. Another purpose was to develop a client referral system based on the illegally obtained dismissals of DWI cases. Moreover, the enterprise intended to “protect, preserve and enhance Clear’s status and reputation as an attorney, thereby allowing Clear to continue growth of the DWI enterprise.”
The civil forfeiture complaint alleges that cash payments were made to law enforcement members of the enterprise at Clear’s Albuquerque law office, which had been Clear’s former family home. Recruitment meetings were held at the law office. During these meetings, Mendez “would convey the rules for participating in the DWI Enterprise, and one of the rules was to avoid depositing cash into the Officer Members’ bank accounts.” Cash payments from Clear and Mendez were also made to officer members at locations other than the law office, according to the complaint.
CLEAR REPONDS TO ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE
On January 29 Chief U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales for the District of New Mexico issued an “Order to Show Cause” to DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear III to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court and disciplined for his alleged role in the racketeering scheme involving bribery and kickbacks to a group of law enforcement officers.
On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, Clear’s attorney Thomas M. Clark (Clark & Ruyle, LLC) filed a formal written response to the “Order to Show Cause” filed by Chief U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales. According to the response filed, Clear notified the court that on January 24, 2025 he changed his status as a member of the New Mexico State Bar from active to in active. Clear is asking Judge Kenneth Gonzales to either allow him to resign as a member of the bar, be suspended for an indefinite period of time or hold off taking any disciplinary action until any criminal matters are resolved.
ANATOMY OF A BRIBERY AND DWI DISSMISSAL SCANDAL
The criminal Information filed on January 24 in Federal Court against Ricardo “Rick” Mendez charges that the “DWI Enterprise” dates to back to 2008 and described its operation like that of a gang involving law enforcement using coded language, teaching the scheme to new recruits and asking supervisors to make sure it stayed under wraps. At least two former-DWI officers placed on leave in the case had worked at Internal Affairs.
Prosecutors allege as fact in the federal Criminal Information charging document that “as part of the racketeering conspiracy, each member and associate of the DWI Enterprise served a different role” to subvert the criminal justice system.
As to attorneys, federal prosecutors allege that a criminal defense attorney, presumably Thomas Clear, III, who “specialized in DWI defense”, and his private investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez “handled the day-to-day coordination of the scheme.”
The federal Criminal Information pleading filed alleges law enforcement participants changed over time as they came and went from the APD DWI Unit.
In his Plea and Disposition Agreement, Mendez admits the bribery scheme began in 2008, a year after he was hired by Clear. Mendez admits that police officers who arrested drunk drivers would take their driver’s licenses rather than arrest them for DWI. Those licenses were handed off to Mendez who would contact the driver and tell them they could get off the hook if they paid him several thousand dollars in cash.
Part of the money would go to the arresting officer. In some cases when charges were filed, Mendez said he worked with officers to make sure he and Attorney Clear scheduled court hearings at times that the officers were busy. Besides cash police officers and their family members received free legal advice and representation, gift cards, and hotel rooms.
When law enforcement involved in the scheme arrested someone or pulled them over for DWI, they would pass the person’s driver’s license and telephone number to him. Mendez would contact the charged Defendant and tell them, if they hired Clear, “they would not have to worry about the DWI arrest.” If Clear was hired, Mendez said, the pair “strongly encouraged” the person to pay their retainer in cash and then officers would intentionally fail to appear at required hearings. Prosecutors allege Clear would move to dismiss the DWI case “even though (he) was aware” the officer had been paid to not show up.
Mendez said the officers were often paid in cash, up to $5,000 per case, but also received other benefits. Those benefits included free legal services, gift cards, hotel rooms and other gifts. Mendez typically handled paying off law enforcement but, on occasion, Clear paid them directly. If the person didn’t retain Clear as an attorney, Mendez said, the officer would go about the case as normal, “usually securing a DWI conviction against the offender.” There were times police officers would let the DWI offender go without filing charges so Mendez could contact them and secure money to ensure the case would never be filed.
Mendez said the scheme “evolved over the years” within the APD DWI Unit, which had the most officers involved. They made sure to recruit and train new officers in the scheme and to personally introduce them to Mendez, giving him their phone numbers. Federal prosecutors allege that APD officers would be paid a “referral fee” by Mendez or Clear for a new recruit and those who were veterans in the scheme would warn Mendez which officers he should avoid, as they might report the activity to Internal Affairs. Prosecutors allege:
“This generational participation, particularly within APD, allowed the DWI Enterprise to take root amongst almost the entire APD DWI Unit over a lengthy period of time.”
Federal prosecutors allege Mendez and Clear asked senior members of the scheme to “use their positions and influence within APD” to try to ensure that involved officers “were not investigated or disciplined in connection with their illegal activity.”
The bribery and conspiracy scheme adapted to changes in the judicial system, such as when DWI case pretrial interviews were done away with in 2022. According to the plea agreement, police officers would skip the pretrial interviews to get the DWI cases dismissed. After pretrial interviews were discontinued, assigned APD police officers started missing motion hearings or trial settings that resulted in the courts dismissing the cases. Federal prosecutors assert law enforcement involved would use coded language in emails and phone communications with each other as they coordinated their scheme.
In his guilty plea, Mendez said some DWI offenders were aware they were paying bribes to get a case dismissed, while others were not. In several cases, Mendez said he never told Clear about the bribes.
OFFICERS IDENTIFIED
The bribery and conspiracy investigation has evolved during the last year into the largest corruption case in APD’s history. A total of 13 APD Police officers have been implicated in the scandal and 7 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 an alleged public corruption scheme involving DWI cases. The names and dates of the 12 officers who have resigned, placed on leave or who have been terminated 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.
- On May 9, 2024, Matthew Trahanwas placed on paid leave as the investigation plays out. Trahan has been with APD since 2006, was with the DWI unit from 2014-16 and recently worked as a detective.
- On July 30, 2024 APD Officer Neill Elsman, who had worked in the DWI unit within the past several years, resigned before returning to work from military leave.
- On August 1, APD announced that it fired APD Commander of Internal Affairs for Professional Standards Mark Landavazo. He started with APD in 2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013.
- October 16, Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez with APD’s Internal Affairs Force Division was placed on paid administrative leave. Gomez was with the DWI unit from 2010 to 2013
- On January 24, 2025 APD announced they placed officers Matthew Chavez and Lieutenant Kyle Curtis on paid leave.
- On February 28, Lieutenant Kyle Curtis announced his retirement amid being targeted in the Internal investigation involving DWI arrests.
- In 2022, APD Police Officer Timothy McCarson retired from the department.
On February 24, Bernalillo County Sherriff John Allen announced that BCSO Deputy Jeff Hammerel was immediately placed on administrative leave. The New Mexico State Police has not announced if any State Police Officer has been placed on leave in that no State Police Officer has yet to be identified as being involved in the bribery and conspiracy scandal.
STATEMENTS ISSUED
Attorneys for Honorio Alba and Ricardo “Rick” Mendez could not be reached by news media outlets for comment.
On February 7, Joshua Montaño’s attorney Lisa Torraco issued the following statement:
“Today, Joshua Montaño appeared in Federal Court and fully admitted his involvement in the DWI scandal. … He regrets his actions and is deeply remorseful. He knows he let down his community and he failed to uphold his duty as a police officer. He apologizes to the community and to his friends and family.”
On February 7, APD issued the following statement on behalf of APD Chief Medina:
“It has been exactly one year since the first officer resigned from APD as a result of this investigation. … Shortly after that, Officers Alba and Montaño resigned, rather than being interviewed by our investigators. As I initially told the FBI and said when this investigation became public, a key turning point appears to be the procedural changes made by the Supreme Court in 2022. Mayor Keller and I advocated for those changes. Officers Alba and Montaño now admit they purposely missed pre-trial interviews in exchange for cash and gifts, and they had to modify the conspiracy after those procedural changes by the Supreme Court.
I had faith that the federal investigation would get to this point and hold these officers accountable for their criminal conduct. I appreciate the hard work of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I wish I could say this is the end point, but we continue to discover details of this conspiracy and those who participated in it. We will leave no stone unturned. I hope others who were part of this conspiracy pay close attention to the prison sentences these officers agreed to serve in exchange for their cooperation.”
On February 7, Mayor Tim Keller issued the following statement:
“The actions by those involved in this decades old scheme are a betrayal of public trust and law enforcement integrity. While we won’t realize full justice until everyone involved in this conspiracy is held accountable, all known participants at APD are no longer serving with the department, and today brings us closer to justice. I appreciate the thorough investigation by the FBI and the leadership at APD, who worked with the FBI since day one to get to the bottom of this corruption and make reforms to protect against future misconduct.”
Links to relied upon or quoted news sources are here:
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/2-former-apd-officers-reach-plea-deal-in-federal-dwi-investigation/
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-police-officers-guilty-federal-dwi/63707482
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
FINALLY, FINALLY, after over a full year, the New Mexico United States Attorney and the FBI are moving forward with charges in the largest corruption case in APD’s history. The prosecutions are being done piecemeal one or two at a time. U.S. Attorney for Alexander Uballez put it this way:
“This is not how we normally do things. The way we are approaching this very unique case is very different. … Typically, defendants are charged all at once and the resolution of their cases in court can take months. … What we are seeing is falling dominoes of people accepting responsibility and being connected with the facts, not just the allegations.”
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR UBALLEZ
The U.S. Attorney and the FBI should have more than enough evidence to charge the other 12 former APD officers and they should move quickly to do just that in that time is running out. The current U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alex Uballez will likely be fired by President Donald Trump within weeks now that new Attorney General Pam Bondi has been confirmed by the US Senate. It could take months to replace Uballez and the decision to go forward with pending charges will likely be left to the next U.S. Attorney, and that could delay prosecutions.
COURTS TAKING AGGRESSIVE ACTION AGAINST CLEAR
The federal court and the New Mexico Supreme Court are taking aggressive steps to disbar, suspend or discipline attorney Thomas Clear III with the filing of Order To Show Cause pleadings. What makes the “Order To Show” pleadings filed by both the New Mexico Supreme Court and Chief U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales so remarkable is that they were done “sua sponte”, meaning on their own initiative without any prompting by any source or party to litigation and before Clear has been charged with any crimes. Both actions are truly remarkable and unheard of in their own right. The court’s actions reflect, as they should, just how serious the federal and state courts take attorney nefarious or criminal conduct that cannot be tolerated at any level.
HOW FAR UP APD’S CHAIN OF COMMAND DOES CORRUPTION GO?
The most troubling question that remains and that must be answered to restore confidence in APD is just how many APD supervisors knew of the corruption and how far up APD’s existing chain of command does the corruption go?
In the Criminal Information filed against Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, and to which Mendes plead guilty to the alleged facts in all the counts, federal Prosecutors allege Mendez and Clear asked senior members of the scheme to “use their positions and influence within APD” to try to ensure that involved officers “were not investigated or disciplined in connection with their illegal activity.”
Honorio Alba also admits in his plea that he, Clear and Mendez asked senior APD officers who had been involved in the scheme “to use their positions and influence” to ensure the officers involved were not caught. Alba said he asked these senior officers for help in the fall of 2023 when a complaint was filed against him with the Civilian Police Oversight Agency.
On March 20, 2024, it was announced that Joshua Montaño had resigned from APD. Montaño at the time of his resignation was an 18-year veteran of the department having joined APD in January 2005 and served on the DWI unit since 2015. On March 20 Montaño sent his letter of resignation to Police Reform Superintendent Eric Garcia and the letter was released to the public. A damning portion of the resignation letter states as follows:
“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.”
On August 1, 2024, APD announced that it fired APD Commander Mark Landavazo, the APD Commander of Internal Affairs for Professional Standards. Landavazo had been with APD since 2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013. The on line news outlet City Desk ABQ reported 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 told the FBI agent that Internal Affairs does not handle such private civilian complaints and that it is the Civilian Police Oversight Agency that handles civilian complaints. Chief Medina later learned the FBI contacted APD’s Internal Affairs Unit in June of 2022. APD said Internal Affairs Commander Mark Landavazo told the feds it was not a case Internal Affairs would handle because it was a citizen complaint. However, because there were criminal allegations, APD said Landavazo should have moved it up the chain of command. The department fired Landavazo over in February of 2024. When Landavazo was initially placed on administrative leave, an unnamed Lieutenant was temporarily reassigned from the Internal Affairs Department to another unit as well.
On October 16, APD Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez, with APD’s Internal Affairs Force Division was placed on paid administrative leave in relation to the DWI dismissal and bribery scandal. Gomez was named Deputy Commander of the Internal Affairs Force Division by Chief Harold Medina. Gomez has been with APD since 2008 and was a DWI officer from 2010 to 2013.
It was APD Chief Harold Medina who promoted both Mark Landavazo and Gustavo Gomez into high ranking positions of Internal Affairs and who were part of the DWI Enterprise. The number of APD Officers Chief Medina has promoted to high-ranking positions during his tenure that were involved in the DWI Enterprise over the years remains unknown.
It is Internal Affairs that investigates nefarious conduct of police officers. It’s about as corrupt as it gets when at least two high ranking APD Internal Affairs officers are identified as being a part the largest corruption scandal in the department history.
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 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”.
There is no 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 with aggressive prosecutions, convictions, and lengthy prison sentences for the law enforcement officers and attorneys involved are imposed in the “DWI Enterprise” scheme.