ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Federal prosecutors are echoing the call to the community to come forward if they were involved in the scheme or targeted by officers or attorneys. The state’s chief federal prosecutor sat down with KRQE Investigates, finally speaking publicly about a tight-lipped investigation.
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These federal charges against Rick Mendez outline a corruption scheme that goes beyond just officers within the Albuquerque Police Department and traces back decades. KRQE asked New Mexico’s U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez when the community will see others held accountable.
In the year since the public learned about a federal corruption investigation into Albuquerque Police officers getting paid to get DWI cases dismissed, KRQE Investigates uncovered pieces of the scheme that federal court documents now confirm. “This is an important one,” Uballez told KRQE. “You know, your coverage and the public’s response to your coverage demonstrates that.”
New Mexico’s U.S. Attorney points out this court case is starting with a conviction; an admission of guilt by the first person to take the fall for RICO conspiracy charges, Ricardo ‘Rick’ Mendez. “This is clearly just the beginning of the court side of this investigation, and the public can expect and by looking at the facts, know that more will come,” said Uballez.
Mendez was the paralegal for defense attorney Thomas Clear III’s office. Mendez’s voice is heard in a recording KRQE reported on last year when Carlos Smith came forward saying APD officer Joshua Montaño put him in touch with Clear’s office after a DWI arrest.
Below is a transcript of a portion of that interaction Smith said he had with Mendez:
Paralegal: 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.
According to his federal plea deal, Mendez said that’s basically how the scheme worked. Officers would funnel DWI suspects to Mendez and Clear’s office by confiscating the person’s driver’s license, or in Smith’s case, his bracelet, and passing it along to Mendez.
“Hey Carlos, this is Officer Montaño with APD,” said Montaño in the voice message to Smith. “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 {Prisoner Transport} officers didn’t put that in your bag, but I have it.”
“You know, we’ve figured out how this works, and we won’t let it happen again,” Uballez told KRQE. According to his plea, Mendez explained if a person paid up, he’d conspire with officers to ensure they missed court.
According to the plea, officers were not only paid cash for the DWI dismissal, they “…also received other benefits and things of value, including but not limited to free legal services, gift cards, hotel rooms, and other gifts.”
Court documents go on to state senior officers “…helped recruit and train the next generation of Officer Members…to join the DWI Enterprise.”
Knowing this goes back decades, KRQE asked Uballez how the public can trust New Mexico’s justice system. “Knowing that there are people watching, there are people who care,” Uballez explained.
“Whenever we end up in court on a on a criminal matter, it’s dual evidence, one – of bad things that have happened. But two, and I think the more important and hopeful message, is that people care enough to stop those bad things and that we will hold people accountable,” Uballez added.
As a result of certain officers losing credibility due to this investigation, at least 200 DWI cases were dismissed in Bernalillo County over the last year. What the public doesn’t know is how many cases were never properly filed or dismissed in the decades of this ‘DWI Enterprise’ operating in the shadows.
So far no attorneys or officers at this point have faced federal charges, and it’s unclear when exactly that may happen.