By Morgan Lee
Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. — Two former Albuquerque police officers pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of racketeering, extortion and accepting bribes in a sweeping corruption investigation into a scheme that allegedly allowed people arrested for driving while intoxicated to evade conviction, according to court records.
The former officers worked under the Albuquerque Police Department’s driving while intoxicated unit and acknowledged conspiring with attorney Ricardo Mendez in a yearslong scheme. Federal investigators say that Mendez’s law firm offered gifts and thousands of dollars in bribes to officers in exchange for having his clients’ cases dismissed.
Officers Joshua Montaño and Honorio Alba signed agreements to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators in exchange for leniency on charges that might otherwise result in lengthy prison sentences. Attorneys for Montaño and Alba did not immediately respond to phone and email messages.
Mendez last month pleaded guilty to a slew of federal charges that include racketeering and bribery.
Clients would pay Mendez or his associate an attorney retainer fee in cash, court records said. Then Mendez would pay officers in cash — $5,000 or more — or in the form of gifts or legal services to not appear in court as a necessary witness to the driving incident, resulting in the dismissal of the case.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina praised the work of the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque on the investigation. He said that Montaño and Alba resigned rather than be interviewed by internal affairs investigators with the Albuquerque Police Department.
“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,” Medina said in an email statement.
Over a dozen officers have either resigned, been placed on administrative leave, been terminated or temporarily reassigned.
