On Tuesday March 26, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced it has fired one commander, one lieutenant and that one sergeant has resigned with all three implicated in the federal DWI Enterprise to accept bribes from DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendes to secure dismissal of DWI cases.

APD announced it has fired Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez, who was placed on leave on October 16, 2024 and Lieutenant Matthew Chavez who was  placed on leave January 24, 2025. They were both placed on leave after they were targeted in the federal investigation in which officers took bribes to get DWI cases dismissed. APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez and Lieutenant Matthew Chavez were fired for violating policies “related to the DWI investigation” but Gallegos declined to elaborate on the specifics of the violations.

APD announced that Sergeant Lucas Perez has resigned. It was on March 24, APD announced it had  placed Sergeant Lucas Perez on leave as a part of its internal investigation into its DWI unit and the federal investigation. Perez was placed on leave after APD officials were notified by the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office that Perez, a former DWI unit sergeant, was under scrutiny as part of the FBI’s continuing investigation into what they refer to as the DWI Enterprise. Federal prosecutors identified Perez as one of those under criminal investigation whose credibility could be challenged if asked to testify in court on other cases. Perez has been with the department since 2016 and served in the DWI unit to become the unit sergeant.

All three had previously been in the DWI unit and were placed on paid leave in the past year. None of the three have been charged criminally in the FBI’s ongoing investigation.

Links to relied upon or quoted news sources are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-dwi-officers-fired/64290852

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/albuquerque-police-fires-two-more-officers-involved-in-dwi-deception-scandal/

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_ab198a9a-d039-41fa-8328-1b3cf4f91ba4.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block

 FORMER LAW ENFORCEMENT WHO HAVE PLEAD GUILTY AS CHARGED

Thus far, four APD officers and one Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office Deputy have pleaded guilty to taking bribes from defense attorney Thomas Clear III and paralegal Ricardo “Rick” Mendez to let their client’s DWI cases get dismissed. Those former law enforcement officers are:

1. On February 7, 2025 former APD Officer Honorio Alba plead guilty to racketeering, bribery, extortion and conspiracy. (Article link: Took a plea deal on February 7, 2025.)
2. On February 7,  former APD Officer Joshua Montaño, Montaño plead guilty as charge to  racketeering, bribery, extortion and conspiracy. (Article link: Took a plea deal on February 7, 2025.)
3. On February 12, former APD Officer Neill Elsman plead guilty as charged  to 5  counts of  conspiracy, extortion, and bribery.  ( February 12, 2025.)
4. On March 24, former APD officer Nelson Ortiz admitted to his role in the DWI Enterprise bribery scandal and  pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Interference With Commerce By Extortion Under Color of Official Right. He faces 20 years in prison. (https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/albuquerque-police-department-dwi-investigation/fourth-former-apd-officer-admits-to-role-in-dwi-scheme/)
5. On February 25, 2025  BCSO Deputy Jeff Hammerel resigned from BCSO and  plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of extortion and two counts of bribery. (Took a plea deal on February 25, 2025.)

RING LEADERS PLEAD GUILTY AS CHARGED

Former DWI Criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear III and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez have also plead guilty as charged to paying bribes to law enforcement to get their client’s DWI cases get dismissed.

On February 12, DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear III, 67 plead guilty as charged to nine federal charges including racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, bribery, and extortion. Clear faces up to 130 years in prison and $2 million in fines. Clear admits in his Plea Agreement that for nearly 30 years he led a criminal racketeering enterprise that paid off generations of law enforcement officers to get his clients’ DWI cases thrown out. Clear  admits to running the “DWI Enterprise” since at least 1995. The DWI Enterprise scheme was run out of Clear’s law office.  According to Clear’s plea agreement, prior to 2022, Clear and his para legal Ricardo “Rick” Mendez  would arrange for officers to intentionally fail to appear at required pretrial interviews involving DWI offenders the officers arrested. Clear would file motions to dismiss the proceedings, claiming the officers were necessary witnesses who didn’t show up as required. The courts would dismiss the cases as a sanction against the prosecution.  Clear has been permanently disbarred from the practice of law by the New Mexico Supreme Court and the Federal Court.

On January  24, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, 53, the investigator for attorney Thomas Clear III, plead guilty to all the charges contained in the criminal Information including racketeering, bribery of an agent receiving federal funds, aiding and abetting, interference with commerce by extortion under color of official right and to conspiracy.  According to the criminal Information filed, for the past 15 years, at least one lawyer and officers from the Albuquerque Police Department, New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office ran a racketeering enterprise taking bribes in exchange for dismissing drunk driving cases. Mendez was arrested, plead guilty to all the charges and  was released on his own recognizance. Mendez is facing 110 years in prison on the charges. State court records show he was arrested multiple times in the 90s for driving drunk. His sentencing is set for April 29 before a Federal Judge.

15 APD OFFICERS IMPLICATED,  CHARGED OR PLEAD GUILTY

During the past year, a total of 15 APD Police officers have been implicated in the largest corruption scandal in APD’s history. APD Commander Kyle Hartsock is overseeing the Internal Affairs  investigations. One by one, the accused APD officers have been turning in their badges and resigning or retiring  rather than talking to Internal Affairs investigators about an alleged public corruption scheme involving DWI cases. The names and dates of the 15 officers who have resigned, placed on leave, who have been terminated, retired, charged or plead guilty are:

1. On February 7, 2024  Justin Hunt, who started at APD in 2000, resigned.
2. On February 29, 2024, Honorio Alba, who started at APD in 2014, resigned. On February 7, 2025 he plead guilty to racketeering, bribery, extortion and conspiracy. (Article link: Took a plea deal on February 7, 2025.)
3. On March 13, 2024, Harvey Johnson, who started at APD in 2014, resigned.
4. On March 15, 2024, Nelson Ortiz, who started at APD in 2016, resigned. On March 24, Nelson Ortiz admitted to his role in the DWI Enterprise bribery scandal and  pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Interference With Commerce By Extortion Under Color of Official Right. He faces 20 years in prison.
5. On March 20, 2024 Joshua Montaño, who started at APD January 2005, resigned. On Friday, February 8, Montaño plead guilty as charge to  racketeering, bribery, extortion and conspiracy. (Article link: Took a plea deal on February 7, 2025.)
6. On May 2, 2024 Daren DeAguero, who started with APD in 2009, resigned.
7. On May 9, 2024, Matthew Trahan was placed on paid leave as the investigation playsout. Trahan has been with APD since 2006, was with the DWI unit from 2014-16 and recently worked as a detective.
8. 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 February 12, Elsman plead guilty as charged  to 5  counts of  conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. ( Article: February 12, 2025.)
9. On August 1, APD announced that it fired Mark Landavazo,the APD Commander of Internal Affairs for Professional Standards, who started with APD in  2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013.
10. October 16, Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez placed on paid administrative leave. Gomez was with the DWI unit from 2010 to 2013.
11. On January 24, 2025 APD announced they placed officers Matthew Chavez on    leave.
12. On February 28, Kyle Curtis announced his retirement after he was placed on leave on February 24 amid being targeted in the Internal investigation involving DWI arrests.
13. In 2022, Timothy McCarson retired from the Albuquerque Police Department  and he has been implicated in the DWI scandal. The last week of January, 2025,  the FBI asked that he be added to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office‘s Giglio list, which classifies potential court testimony as unreliable.
14. On March 7, 2025 BCSO Jeffry Bartram was placed on leave on March after he was involved in the DWI Enterprise to dismiss cases. He has been with BCSO since February 2010 and was on the BCSO DWI Unit from July 2014 to August 2020.
15. On March 24, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announce it  has  placed Sgt. Lucas Perez on leave as a part of its internal investigation into its DWI unit and the federal investigation. Perez has been with the department since 2016 and served in the DWI unit to become the unit sergeant.

TWO BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERRIFF DEPUTIES

On February 25, 2025  BCSO  Deputy Jeff Hammerel  resigned from BCSO and  plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of extortion and two counts of bribery. (Took a plea deal on February 25, 2025.)

On February 24, 2025, BCSO  Undersheriff Johann Jareno was asked to resign by  Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen. (Articles: – named and resigned)

NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE

On February 14, 2025 the New Mexico State Police announced it placed Sgt. Toby LaFave on administrative leave after he was implicated by the FBI as accepting bribes in the  DWI Enterprise to dismiss cases. Sergeant Toby LaFave is on paid leave as the agency does its own internal investigation into allegations. LaFave was featured for years in state ENDWI campaigns and was referred to as the DWI King.

LaFave, who joined State Police in 2012, said in an online video that he has made 3,000 arrests during his 20 years in law enforcement. Court records show LaFave has filed at least 1,300 felony and misdemeanor DWI cases from 2009 to February, 2025. Of the 31 DWI cases where LaFave was the arresting officer and Clear was the defense attorney, 17, or 57%, were dismissed by the courts.

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_97483524-eb17-11ef-9c15-8320a7b16191.htm/

DWI CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

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 and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez. All those targeted with a search warrant are accused of being involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme to dismiss DWI cases.

Over the last year, the investigation has evolved into the single largest law enforcement corruption case in the city’s history involving APD, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico State Police with no end in sight.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman has had to dismiss more than 272 DWI cases involving law enforcement officers linked to the federal case and due to police officer credibility being called into question in the cases where they made the DWI arrests.

More than a year into their investigation, the FBI  continues  to seek out those who participated in the near 30-year criminal enterprise in which law enforcement officers coordinated with defense attorney Thomas Clear, III and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez to get drunken driving cases thrown out of court by paying  bribes to arresting officers.

According to  criminal complaints, indictments and plea agreements filed in Federal District Court by the New Mexico United States Attorney and the US Department of Justice, DWI officers would give contact information on motorists they arrested to Mendez and Clear. In exchange, they would receive cash, gifts and legal services and intentionally fail to show up to required pretrial interviews, court hearings. They would also withheld evidence in cases where the suspects hired Clear. Clear would then file motions to dismiss the charges, and judges would dismiss cases as a sanction against the prosecution.

Clients whose cases were dismissed would typically pay more in legal fees of between $5,000 and $10,000 depending on if the charges were DWI or aggravated DWI. Law enforcement officers would be recruited by Clear and Mendez to participate in the scheme over many years. The conspirators would also profile people as to their ability to pay higher fees. Defense attorneys customarily charge between $3,000 and $6,000 to defend DWI cases depending on if the case is a person’s  first, second, third or even the fourth offense, misdemeanor or felony DWI,  while there is no charge if a person qualifies and is defended by the Public Defender’s Office.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

There is 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 little doubt that this whole DWI dismissal bribery scandal has shaken the public’s faith in our criminal justice system to the core with law enforcement officers from the state’s three largest law enforcement agencies of APD, BCSO and NMSP being involved.

The only way that any semblance of faith will be restored and for people to begin trusting APD and law enforcement in general again is if all the police officers and the lawyers involved in this scandal go to jail and thereby held accountable for what they have done

It is only a matter of time before others are implicated and those identified are charged.