By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque police dispatcher was suspended for four weeks and an officer was given a letter of reprimand in connection with a 2010 incident in which another dispatcher allegedly created a fake call and sent the officer to her ex-boyfriend’s home to arrest him, according to redacted documents released by the city on Friday.
Dispatcher Monica Moya, is still employed by APD, officials said. She was notified of her suspension, two weeks of which was held in abeyance, in a letter from Police Chief Ray Schultz dated Feb. 2, 2011.
A civil lawsuit claims Moya assisted then-APD dispatcher Nicole Breese in doing illegal searches in the National Crime Information Centers database, where they found an expired warrant for Mario Garcia’s arrest, then dispatching officer Jonathan Overson to Garcia’s home.
Breese resigned from APD last year, officials said.
Overson was given a letter of reprimand dated Jan. 14, 2011, for his role.
And on Feb. 20 of this year, Overson resigned from APD, officials said. City officials would not say whether his resignation had anything to do with the 2010 incident.
Deputy City Attorney Kathy Levy would not provide information about the discipline passed down to Moya and Overson in advance of a Journal story about the lawsuit published last week.
But an opinion from City Attorney David Tourek, which followed an additional public records request from the Journal, says the fact of final discipline for city employees should be released.
“While such disclosures may result in certain claims being brought against the city, there is no strict statutory prohibition against the disclosure of the fact of employee discipline,” Tourek wrote in an inter-office memo to city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry dated Thursday.
The unions that represent Albuquerque firefighters and police officers have a combined three prohibitive practice complaints pending against the city before the personnel board for releasing discipline.
Garcia’s attorneys claim Breese conspired with Moya and another dispatcher to fabricate the call that sent Overson to Garcia’s home as a way to get a leg up in a custody battle.
The lawsuit claims unreasonable search and seizure, false arrest, assault and battery, intentional spoliation of evidence and violations of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. It names Breese, Overson, Moya as “Jane Doe Dispatcher” and the city and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys fees and $100 per day for the IPRA violations.
In a response to the lawsuit filed in federal court, the city acknowledges that Overson went to the house but denies that dispatchers conspired to create a fake call or that Overson placed Garcia in handcuffs.
Copyright 2012 Albuquerque Journal