Court filings accusing Albuquerque Police, state police, and Bernalillo County deputies of taking bribes to have DWI cases dismissed. More than 10 officers are accused of being involved in what is called “an infection of corrupt police officers.”
“The documents filed today [Friday] show this is essentially an infection within not APD, but apparently with Bernalillo Sheriff’s Office and state police,” John Day, KOAT’s legal expert, said. “Crooked cops who were being protected by other crooked cops.”
According to the court filings, the scandal goes back to 2008. Day is a former prosecutor. He pointed out that the court filings show that Ricardo Mendez, a private investigator with a law firm, pleaded guilty to several charges, including racketeering and bribery of an agent receiving federal funds.
“He gets a break for his testimony,” Day said. “How big of a break will depend on what a judge thinks of it at sentencing, but the U.S. attorneys agreed we need this player in this corrupt scheme to build a case against the other participants.”
