Ankara's National Security Council names Israel as central threat to Turkey's security for first time since 1949, fails to mention Iran, Syria.
By Haaretz Service
Turkey's already tense relations with Israel continued their apparent downward spiral on Saturday as Channel 10 reported that a central Ankara policy paper defined Israel as a central threat to Turkey's security, blaming Jerusalem's policies for destabilizing the entire region.
Tensions between Israel and Turkey peaked earlier this year, following a deadly Israeli raid aboard a Turkish aid ship sailing to Gaza in attempt to violate the Israeli naval blockade. On May 31, Israeli navy commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara and killed nine Turkish activists on board after facing violence from the passengers.
The Channel 10 report on Saturday, citing Turkish media outlets, said Turkey's National Security Council rectified an amendment to Ankara's central policy paper, nicknamed the "secret constitution," defining Israel as "a central threat to Turkey."
"The region's instability stems from Israeli actions and policy, which could lead to an arms race in the Middle East," the paper outlining Turkey's foreign and home policy for the next five years said, adding that those actions posed "a major threat on Turkey."
Channel 10 also said Turkish media dubbed the amendment "historic," as it represented the first time Israel had been seen as a threat on Turkey since 1949. The document fails to mention Iran or Syria as outside threats, apparently as a result of Ankara's recently improved relations with both states.
Earlier this month Haaretz quoted Turkish reports as expecting that, for the first time since the Cold War, Turkey to remove Iran, Iraq, Russia, and Greece from their list of "threatening countries."
The reports claimed that such a move would directly affect Turkey's foreign policy, as laid out by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu, whose goal is to rid Turkey of any problems with its neighbors.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his demand that Israel apologize for its May attack on the Gaza flotilla, saying “Israel must apologize to Turkey and pay compensation for the state terrorism in the Mediterranean."
"If it does not, it will be doomed to remain isolated in the Middle East,” Erdogan added.
The Turkish premier also criticized the United States for continuing to support Israel after the "uncivilized" attack during a recent state visit to Pakistan.
“Nine Turkish martyrs on the ship received 21 bullets from Israeli soldiers in their bodies, we provided post mortem reports and even the pictures to the EU and U.S. but Washington is not ready to condemn the state terrorism of Israel against Turkey which means that the U.S. is supporting an international terrorist who killed our citizens in international waters," Erdogan said.
Source:
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
US Government lies to the US-citizens all the time
Since the Vietnam war, government and media have slowly become merged together in lockstep of deception. From the movie "War made Easy"
Thursday, October 28, 2010
"Conversations with Terrorists"
Reese Erlich: All violence against the U.S. is being defined as "terrorism"
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Remembering Furkan Dogan
Ralph G. Loeffler writing from Kayseri, Turkey, Live from Palestine, 18 October 2010
Furkan Dogan. I'm going to say Furkan Dogan so often that it will sound, as it rightly should, just as "American" as John Smith or Bill Jones. Furkan Dogan was an American, a young American of only 19 years when on 31 May a hail of Israeli bullets ended his life on the Mavi Marmara Turkish humanitarian aid ship. Furkan was filming the Israeli assault when an Israeli commando fired his first shot pointblank hitting Furkan squarely in the face. Four more shots were fired into Furkan leaving him dead and unrecognizable.
The Mavi Marmara, the largest ship of an international flotilla of six vessels that made of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was carrying food, medicine and school supplies to the Israeli besieged Gaza Strip. The Israelis have blockaded Gaza since the Hamas government was democratically elected in 2006. For more than three weeks, in December 2008 and January 2009 the Israelis wantonly attacked Gaza destroying essential infrastructure and killing more than 1,400 citizens, a large percentage of them women and children.
Furkan, who was born in the Albany-Troy area of New York, had gone back to live in his family's hometown of Kayseri, Turkey. His family knew the names of the eight Turkish nationals who had been killed on the Mavi Marmara but one casualty had not been immediately identified. In their normal pattern of lies and misinformation the Israelis had not identified Furkan because he was an American. They waited until the initial impact of their murderous attack on innocent, defenseless humanitarians subsided a bit before confirming the ninth victim was Furkan.
When Furkan's father went to meet the Mavi Marmara's survivors and casualties he had no idea that his son had been murdered. Instead of greeting his son he was taken to the morgue to identify his remains. Surely such a day defies description.
In an immediate reaction to the Mavi Marmara massacre Viva Palestina announced plans for another humanitarian aid mission to Gaza. Viva Palestina, a UK-based charity founded by former Member of British Parliament George Galloway, launched its initial land aid convoy in March 2009 shortly after the Israeli attack ended. On 18 September 2010, four missions later, Viva Palestina 5 left the UK for Gaza.
The Viva Palestina 5 convoy arrived in Kayseri late on 29 September and spent the night on a mountain overlooking the town. We had come to Kaseyri for the sole purpose of visiting Furkan's gravesite and extending our condolences to his family. The following morning we were told that our convoy would be passing by the high school from which Furkan had graduated and that students from the school would be waiting for us. As we began our slow journey down the twisting mountain road the convoy took on the air of a funeral procession. Suddenly, there they were. The students lined both sides of the road standing for who knows how long. Each one sadly, silently, proudly held up Furkan's picture as the convoy rolled by.
Beautiful, moving words were spoken at the gravesite and afterwards we met with Furkan's family at the recently built community center named in Furkan's honor. The grandfather and uncle bore their grief perhaps with the acceptance of mortality that comes with age. But the older brother's grief was palpable. Deep, dark lines were etched under his eyes and he seemed detached from his surroundings. The despair evident on his face made a statement greater than words could ever do.
Any country should be proud to have a promising young man such as Furkan as one of its own. Intelligent and mature beyond his years Furkan had already dedicated his life to the struggle for Palestinian justice. Such a course bears no import with the US Congress, which allows for the US bankrolling of the occupation. And the Israeli thug who gunned down Furkan is no more responsible for murdering him than Furkan's own country which paid for the bullets.
Ralph G. Loeffler is an activist with the International Action Center in New York City.
Source:
Furkan Dogan (http://furkan-dogan.com)
Furkan Dogan. I'm going to say Furkan Dogan so often that it will sound, as it rightly should, just as "American" as John Smith or Bill Jones. Furkan Dogan was an American, a young American of only 19 years when on 31 May a hail of Israeli bullets ended his life on the Mavi Marmara Turkish humanitarian aid ship. Furkan was filming the Israeli assault when an Israeli commando fired his first shot pointblank hitting Furkan squarely in the face. Four more shots were fired into Furkan leaving him dead and unrecognizable.
The Mavi Marmara, the largest ship of an international flotilla of six vessels that made of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was carrying food, medicine and school supplies to the Israeli besieged Gaza Strip. The Israelis have blockaded Gaza since the Hamas government was democratically elected in 2006. For more than three weeks, in December 2008 and January 2009 the Israelis wantonly attacked Gaza destroying essential infrastructure and killing more than 1,400 citizens, a large percentage of them women and children.
Furkan, who was born in the Albany-Troy area of New York, had gone back to live in his family's hometown of Kayseri, Turkey. His family knew the names of the eight Turkish nationals who had been killed on the Mavi Marmara but one casualty had not been immediately identified. In their normal pattern of lies and misinformation the Israelis had not identified Furkan because he was an American. They waited until the initial impact of their murderous attack on innocent, defenseless humanitarians subsided a bit before confirming the ninth victim was Furkan.
When Furkan's father went to meet the Mavi Marmara's survivors and casualties he had no idea that his son had been murdered. Instead of greeting his son he was taken to the morgue to identify his remains. Surely such a day defies description.
In an immediate reaction to the Mavi Marmara massacre Viva Palestina announced plans for another humanitarian aid mission to Gaza. Viva Palestina, a UK-based charity founded by former Member of British Parliament George Galloway, launched its initial land aid convoy in March 2009 shortly after the Israeli attack ended. On 18 September 2010, four missions later, Viva Palestina 5 left the UK for Gaza.
The Viva Palestina 5 convoy arrived in Kayseri late on 29 September and spent the night on a mountain overlooking the town. We had come to Kaseyri for the sole purpose of visiting Furkan's gravesite and extending our condolences to his family. The following morning we were told that our convoy would be passing by the high school from which Furkan had graduated and that students from the school would be waiting for us. As we began our slow journey down the twisting mountain road the convoy took on the air of a funeral procession. Suddenly, there they were. The students lined both sides of the road standing for who knows how long. Each one sadly, silently, proudly held up Furkan's picture as the convoy rolled by.
Beautiful, moving words were spoken at the gravesite and afterwards we met with Furkan's family at the recently built community center named in Furkan's honor. The grandfather and uncle bore their grief perhaps with the acceptance of mortality that comes with age. But the older brother's grief was palpable. Deep, dark lines were etched under his eyes and he seemed detached from his surroundings. The despair evident on his face made a statement greater than words could ever do.
Any country should be proud to have a promising young man such as Furkan as one of its own. Intelligent and mature beyond his years Furkan had already dedicated his life to the struggle for Palestinian justice. Such a course bears no import with the US Congress, which allows for the US bankrolling of the occupation. And the Israeli thug who gunned down Furkan is no more responsible for murdering him than Furkan's own country which paid for the bullets.
Ralph G. Loeffler is an activist with the International Action Center in New York City.
Source:
Israel releases papers detailing formula of Gaza blockade
Since Hamas took control of Gaza, officials have employed mathematical formulas to monitor goods from aid groups entering the Strip to ensure amount was in line with what Israel permitted.
By Amira Hass
In the three years since Hamas took control of Gaza, Israeli officials have employed mathematical formulas to monitor foodstuffs and other basic goods entering the Strip to ensure that the amount of supplies entering was neither less nor more than the amount Israel permitted, according to documents released last week.
The documents - released Thursday in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition by the non-profit group Gisha - were drafted while Amos Gilad served as interim coordinator of government activities in the territories, heading the body that checked the goods.
The formulas used coefficients and a formulation for "breathing space," a term used by COGAT authorities to refer to the number of days remaining until a certain supply runs out in Gaza, to determine allowed quantities.
In September 2007, the Israeli government ordered a tightening of the blockade on Gaza, a closure first put in place in 1991. COGAT, in conjunction with other authorities, drafted "Rules for permitting the entry of goods" and "Regulation, supervision and evaluation of supply inventories in Gaza."
Both documents were classified as drafts, but in effect served as instructions for Israeli authorities and were considered valid until a government-implemented policy change following the May raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine people dead.
Officials from COGAT, a Defense Ministry unit that coordinates activity between the government, military, international groups and the Palestinian Authority, told Haaretz that it had actually been responsible for releasing the documents, given that in the wake of the government decision the directives for keeping the files classified were no longer in force.
A high-ranking COGAT officer told Haaretz that "Regulation, supervision and evaluation of supply of inventories in Gaza" is a method of quickly identifying a shortage of any basic item in Gaza, and that despite the mathematical equations contained in the document, he had never intentionally limited the amount of goods allowed to enter, but on the contrary, verified whether inventories of certain basic supplies in Gaza were full.
The COGAT spokesman said that the regulations were formulated "based on well-known basic foodstuffs, in consultation with the Israeli Health Ministry and in consideration of family consumption habits in Gaza, as published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2006."
The document contained "warning lines," which were defined as "the days of [remaining] inventory beyond which the relevant official must pay attention to the deviation from reasonable norms and examine the correctness of the model."
There were two types of warning lines. The "upper warning line," which identified surpluses, was defined as an inventory exceeding 21 days for products with short shelf lives or 80 days for those with long shelf lives.
The "lower warning line," which identified shortages, was defined as an inventory of less than four days for products with short shelf lives and of less than 20 days for those with long shelf lives.
The senior COGAT official said the upper warning line was never actually used and the lower line was an important tool for identifying and averting impending shortages.
The "rules for permitting the import of goods" was drafted pursuant to a cabinet decision to restrict "the quantity and type of merchandise" entering Gaza. Its stated purpose was to define the "procedure, rules and method under which permission will be granted" for goods to enter Gaza.
These rules, the draft continued, were meant to allow in goods that would "supply the basic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population." It then listed seven considerations to weigh when determining which goods should be permitted.
Security was one. The others were as follows:
* "The necessity of the product for meeting humanitarian needs (including its implications for public health in both the Strip and Israel )."
* "The product's image (whether it is considered a luxury )."
* "Legal obligations."
* "The impact of the product's use (whether it is used for preservation, reconstruction or development ), with an emphasis on the impact of its entry on the Hamas government's status."
* "The sensitivities of the international community."
* "The existence of alternatives."
These rules explain why, for example, imports of cloth and thread, which were considered "development" products, were barred, thereby destroying Gaza's textile industry.
The document states that many outside parties affected Israel's decisions: The Strip's needs will be determined not only by the relevant government agencies, it read, but by the Palestinian Authority, international agencies, the media and petitions to the courts by nongovernmental organizations, among others.
The third document that COGAT gave Gisha was the official list of products allowed into Gaza prior to May's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Following that raid, the list was significantly expanded. But the senior COGAT official said that even before then, the list of products actually allowed into Gaza was always longer than the written list.
Source:
By Amira Hass
In the three years since Hamas took control of Gaza, Israeli officials have employed mathematical formulas to monitor foodstuffs and other basic goods entering the Strip to ensure that the amount of supplies entering was neither less nor more than the amount Israel permitted, according to documents released last week.
The documents - released Thursday in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition by the non-profit group Gisha - were drafted while Amos Gilad served as interim coordinator of government activities in the territories, heading the body that checked the goods.
The formulas used coefficients and a formulation for "breathing space," a term used by COGAT authorities to refer to the number of days remaining until a certain supply runs out in Gaza, to determine allowed quantities.
In September 2007, the Israeli government ordered a tightening of the blockade on Gaza, a closure first put in place in 1991. COGAT, in conjunction with other authorities, drafted "Rules for permitting the entry of goods" and "Regulation, supervision and evaluation of supply inventories in Gaza."
Both documents were classified as drafts, but in effect served as instructions for Israeli authorities and were considered valid until a government-implemented policy change following the May raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine people dead.
Officials from COGAT, a Defense Ministry unit that coordinates activity between the government, military, international groups and the Palestinian Authority, told Haaretz that it had actually been responsible for releasing the documents, given that in the wake of the government decision the directives for keeping the files classified were no longer in force.
A high-ranking COGAT officer told Haaretz that "Regulation, supervision and evaluation of supply of inventories in Gaza" is a method of quickly identifying a shortage of any basic item in Gaza, and that despite the mathematical equations contained in the document, he had never intentionally limited the amount of goods allowed to enter, but on the contrary, verified whether inventories of certain basic supplies in Gaza were full.
The COGAT spokesman said that the regulations were formulated "based on well-known basic foodstuffs, in consultation with the Israeli Health Ministry and in consideration of family consumption habits in Gaza, as published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2006."
The document contained "warning lines," which were defined as "the days of [remaining] inventory beyond which the relevant official must pay attention to the deviation from reasonable norms and examine the correctness of the model."
There were two types of warning lines. The "upper warning line," which identified surpluses, was defined as an inventory exceeding 21 days for products with short shelf lives or 80 days for those with long shelf lives.
The "lower warning line," which identified shortages, was defined as an inventory of less than four days for products with short shelf lives and of less than 20 days for those with long shelf lives.
The senior COGAT official said the upper warning line was never actually used and the lower line was an important tool for identifying and averting impending shortages.
The "rules for permitting the import of goods" was drafted pursuant to a cabinet decision to restrict "the quantity and type of merchandise" entering Gaza. Its stated purpose was to define the "procedure, rules and method under which permission will be granted" for goods to enter Gaza.
These rules, the draft continued, were meant to allow in goods that would "supply the basic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population." It then listed seven considerations to weigh when determining which goods should be permitted.
Security was one. The others were as follows:
* "The necessity of the product for meeting humanitarian needs (including its implications for public health in both the Strip and Israel )."
* "The product's image (whether it is considered a luxury )."
* "Legal obligations."
* "The impact of the product's use (whether it is used for preservation, reconstruction or development ), with an emphasis on the impact of its entry on the Hamas government's status."
* "The sensitivities of the international community."
* "The existence of alternatives."
These rules explain why, for example, imports of cloth and thread, which were considered "development" products, were barred, thereby destroying Gaza's textile industry.
The document states that many outside parties affected Israel's decisions: The Strip's needs will be determined not only by the relevant government agencies, it read, but by the Palestinian Authority, international agencies, the media and petitions to the courts by nongovernmental organizations, among others.
The third document that COGAT gave Gisha was the official list of products allowed into Gaza prior to May's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Following that raid, the list was significantly expanded. But the senior COGAT official said that even before then, the list of products actually allowed into Gaza was always longer than the written list.
Source:
Monday, October 25, 2010
VATICAN MIDEAST SYNOD ENDS WITH CRITICISM OF ISRAEL
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land or a chosen people to justify new settlements in Jerusalem or territorial claims, a Vatican synod on the Middle East said on Saturday.
In its concluding message after two weeks of meetings, the synod of bishops from the Middle East also said it hoped a two-state solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians could be lifted from dream to reality and called for peaceful conditions that would stop a Christian exodus from the region.
“We have meditated on the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem. We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance,” the message said.
U.S.-brokered peace talks have stalled since Israel rejected appeals to extend a temporary moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank that expired last month.
Since the freeze expired, Israel has announced plans to build another 238 homes in two East Jerusalem neighbourhoods, drawing the condemnation of Palestinians and world leaders.
In a separate part of the document — a section on cooperation with Jews — the synod fathers also took issue with Jews who use the Bible to justify settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.
“Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable,” the document said.
Many Jewish settlers and right-wing Israelis claim a biblical birthright to the occupied West Bank, which they call Judea and Samaria and regard as a part of historical, ancient Israel given to the Jews by God.
“THERE IS NO LONGER A CHOSEN PEOPLE”
Asked about the passage at a news conference, Greek-Melchite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, said:
“We Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.
“The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians,” he added. “The justification of Israel’s occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures.”
The synod’s concluding message repeated a Vatican call for Jerusalem to have a special status “which respects its particular character” as a city sacred to the three great monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Jerusalem remains a key issue of dispute. Palestinians want East Jerusalem for capital of a future state. Israel has annexed the area, a move never recognised internationally, and has declared Jerusalem to be its “united and eternal” capital.
Israel did not include East Jerusalem as part of its 10-month building freeze, though most plans there were put on hold in March, when the U.S. protested reports of a new housing project leaked during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.
East Jerusalem was also captured by Israel in 1967.
While recognising “the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live” and the need for Israel to enjoy peace within internationally recognised borders, the document was much more expansive and detailed on the situation of Palestinians.
It said Palestinians “are suffering the consequences of the Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the demolition of homes, the disturbance of socio-economic life and the thousands of refugees.”
It urged Christians in the region not to sell their homes and properties. “It is a vital aspect of the lives of those who remain there and for those who one day will return there.”
It condemned terrorism “from wherever it may proceed” as well as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and discrimination against Christians.
Source: Reuters
Freedom Flotilla song - Doc Jazz
This music video is dedicated to all the brave people who set sail to break the siege of Gaza, and to the nine martyrs of the Mavi Marmara, who were brutally murdered by the Israeli navy. Hopefully this song helps to inspire more and more flotillas! Free Palestine, Free Gaza !
Words, music, performance and production: Doc Jazz
All rights reserved.
Freedom Flotilla - Doc Jazz
In the memory of those who fell
Their story we'll always tell
Heroes and martyrs for the cause of peace
In the memory of those who died
Nine names are glorified
We will continue until Gaza's release
For the mothers and children living desperately
In the largest concentration camp in history
We're sailing on the Freedom Flotilla
For the sake of justice we'll be facing the killers
We're armed with nothing but the will to bring peace
To break the siege and seal a victory
We will sail on
Sail on, Sail on
Freedom Flotilla
There will be no compromise
On the crimes that we despise
Years of siege can't break the people's will
They can sink our vessels
But we'll go on and wrestle
Against the forces who are trained to kill
For the fathers and brothers living steadfastly
In the largest concentration camp in history
We're sailing on the Freedom Flotilla
This is our fleet, our non-violent guerilla
We stand for the right of everyone to be free
And an end to crimes against humanity
We will sail on
Sail on, Sail on
Freedom Flotilla
To Gaza
IDF prosecutors chided for using testimony of mentally disabled Palestinian witness
Account by young man puts resident of Palestinian West Bank village of Na'alin behind bars for nine months for a crime he did not commit.
By Amira Hass
A military judge has criticized the military prosecutor's office for relying on the testimony of a mentally challenged young man who referred to events that never took place. In doing so, the witness put a resident of the Palestinian West Bank village of Na'alin behind bars for nine months for a crime he did not commit.
The judge, Maj. Amir Dahan, acquitted Ahmed Nafa, a 29-year-old high school teacher, of all charges against him. The indictment accused Nafa of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and rolling an Israeli car into a canal late last year. He was also indicted for being one of a group that later threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and gas canisters at an Israel Defense Forces jeep.
The indictment also said Nafa took part in an incident in which Molotov cocktails and gas canisters were thrown at an Israeli infantry unit "in or around July 2009."
The prosecution, however, failed to give evidence that these high-profile events took place. The prosecution and police investigators did not provide the court with any independent evidence other than the testimony of a mentally disabled young man, Mustafa Amira. Amira testified to the Shin Bet security service and police after several days speaking with an informer.
Amira contradicted himself during questioning several times and later said he had admitted to acts he did not commit to bring his interrogation to an end.
28 arrested
Nafa was one of 28 Na'alin residents whom the IDF arrested in January, based on Amira's testimony, in an effort to halt demonstrations in the area against the construction of the separation barrier.
Most of the detainees struck a plea agreement in the belief that their detention before trial would exceed any jail time they might receive.
Nafa, however, demanded an evidentiary hearing. In his opinion acquitting Nafa, Judge Dahan said he was surprised that despite the precision of the accusation, "the investigators did not make any effort to identify the victims or soldiers" to gather additional information.
In the cases of Nafa and three defendants accused of membership in a local village committee, the prosecution called another witness, Hamed Sarur, but Dahan discounted his testimony after finding that Sarur was promised release from detention if he "came to a mutual agreement with" his interrogators.
Dahan said such improper methods cast a shadow over the investigation. In acquitting Nafa, Dahan wrote: "It is not possible that this court would fail to employ the same minimum standards of proof of harm to persons or property that is customary in Israel even in civil cases."
Two military judges had decided to leave Nafa in custody until the end of proceedings. Nafa's lawyer, Nery Ramati, said Dahan's criticism of the prosecution and police that resulted in Nafa's acquittal was also relevant to the cases of the other defendants implicated by Amira.
Source:
By Amira Hass
A military judge has criticized the military prosecutor's office for relying on the testimony of a mentally challenged young man who referred to events that never took place. In doing so, the witness put a resident of the Palestinian West Bank village of Na'alin behind bars for nine months for a crime he did not commit.
The judge, Maj. Amir Dahan, acquitted Ahmed Nafa, a 29-year-old high school teacher, of all charges against him. The indictment accused Nafa of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and rolling an Israeli car into a canal late last year. He was also indicted for being one of a group that later threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and gas canisters at an Israel Defense Forces jeep.
The indictment also said Nafa took part in an incident in which Molotov cocktails and gas canisters were thrown at an Israeli infantry unit "in or around July 2009."
The prosecution, however, failed to give evidence that these high-profile events took place. The prosecution and police investigators did not provide the court with any independent evidence other than the testimony of a mentally disabled young man, Mustafa Amira. Amira testified to the Shin Bet security service and police after several days speaking with an informer.
Amira contradicted himself during questioning several times and later said he had admitted to acts he did not commit to bring his interrogation to an end.
28 arrested
Nafa was one of 28 Na'alin residents whom the IDF arrested in January, based on Amira's testimony, in an effort to halt demonstrations in the area against the construction of the separation barrier.
Most of the detainees struck a plea agreement in the belief that their detention before trial would exceed any jail time they might receive.
Nafa, however, demanded an evidentiary hearing. In his opinion acquitting Nafa, Judge Dahan said he was surprised that despite the precision of the accusation, "the investigators did not make any effort to identify the victims or soldiers" to gather additional information.
In the cases of Nafa and three defendants accused of membership in a local village committee, the prosecution called another witness, Hamed Sarur, but Dahan discounted his testimony after finding that Sarur was promised release from detention if he "came to a mutual agreement with" his interrogators.
Dahan said such improper methods cast a shadow over the investigation. In acquitting Nafa, Dahan wrote: "It is not possible that this court would fail to employ the same minimum standards of proof of harm to persons or property that is customary in Israel even in civil cases."
Two military judges had decided to leave Nafa in custody until the end of proceedings. Nafa's lawyer, Nery Ramati, said Dahan's criticism of the prosecution and police that resulted in Nafa's acquittal was also relevant to the cases of the other defendants implicated by Amira.
Source:
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Interior Ministry's Oz police unit accused of beating U.S. immigrants
Their lawyer: Police yelled at them, 'Afro-Americans, kushim [darkies], we don’t need you here.'
By Bradley Burston
The Interior Ministry's controversial Oz immigration police unit has been accused of beating and verbally abusing members of an African-American family from Kansas City whose members converted to Judaism several years ago, and are living in Ashkelon pending a decision on their citizenship request.
Kristien Garrett, 24, who is seven months pregnant, was taken by ambulance to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital after the Oz unit operation. During the operation, several officers detained her husband Sean, telling family members that his name did not appear "in the system" of the ministry's Population Registry.
Witnesses said Kristien Garrett's one-year-old daughter and Garrett's mother Trina Woodcox were struck a number of times as the officers moved to detain Garrett's husband. Sean Garrett was allegedly handcuffed, beaten repeatedly and subjected to racial slurs while in custody; he was later released when ministry officials determined that his visa was valid.
The Oz unit, which spearheads a high-profile Interior Ministry campaign to track and expel foreign nationals who lack valid permits to remain in Israel, admitted to having detained a family member in error, but denied allegations of use of physical force. It countered that family members had attacked them with "cursing and swearing."
The family had come to Israel at the invitation of the Interior Ministry, which asked to interview them prior to a final decision on their request for immigrant status. Ministry officials held a hearing on their case last month, a step in the process toward receiving citizenship.
When Woodcox, who held the family's documents, asked to accompany Sean Garrett in the police van, "officers grabbed her by her hair and her head, and pulled her by her leg," dragging her out of the vehicle, Kristien Garrett told Haaretz Thursday, after her release from the hospital.
The officer with her mother "turned around and started hitting me and my child in the face," she said. Her husband tried to help her, "but two other officers jumped on him, handcuffed him, and beat him up while the other officer was hitting me and my daughter."
Neighbors left their houses to come to the family's aid. "Everything was just a big frenzy," Garrett said. "One of the neighbors came and took my daughter away from me, so that she wouldn't be hit any more. The police officer was kicking me and hit me in my stomach, and I hit him back, to get him off of me."
Another neighbor called an ambulance. Kristien Garrett was taken to Barzilai with cramps, and hospitalized overnight. She has now been discharged on bed rest.
The lawyer for the family, Nicole Maor of the Israel Religious Action Center, said that they had been subjected to racial abuse by the police officers, who reportedly yelled at them: “Afro-Americans, kushim [darkies], we don’t need you here.”
Family members said the officer who had struck Kristien Garrett later returned and apologized to Sean for beating his wife. "He said that he had never hit a woman before, and that he felt bad for the mistake that had been made," Woodcox said.
Oz unit official Yehuda Ben-Ezra denied that the officers had used physical force against the family, saying that his inspectors had filed a police complaint alleging that the family had attacked them with profanity.
Questioned regarding Garrett's hospitalization, Ben-Ezra told Army Radio, "The woman is not in the hospital because of violence by inspectors. Really not." Pressed by news anchor Yael Dan, Ben-Ezra said "I have no idea why she was hospitalized - why she went to the hospital."
"You mean there was no violence there?" Dan asked.
"Not on the part of my inspectors. On the part of the residents, yes. On the part of my inspectors, truly no."
The morning after the incident, Trina Woodcox went to the Ashkelon police station to file a complaint against the police, but was rebuffed.
"They called her a liar, and said that they couldn't accept her complaint," said Maor.
Wilcox wrote Kansas City Reform Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff, who had converted the family to Judaism, "My heart is breaking right now.
"We have so much love for Israel. But it seems like Israel does not love us back."
Source:
By Bradley Burston
The Interior Ministry's controversial Oz immigration police unit has been accused of beating and verbally abusing members of an African-American family from Kansas City whose members converted to Judaism several years ago, and are living in Ashkelon pending a decision on their citizenship request.
Kristien Garrett, 24, who is seven months pregnant, was taken by ambulance to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital after the Oz unit operation. During the operation, several officers detained her husband Sean, telling family members that his name did not appear "in the system" of the ministry's Population Registry.
Witnesses said Kristien Garrett's one-year-old daughter and Garrett's mother Trina Woodcox were struck a number of times as the officers moved to detain Garrett's husband. Sean Garrett was allegedly handcuffed, beaten repeatedly and subjected to racial slurs while in custody; he was later released when ministry officials determined that his visa was valid.
The Oz unit, which spearheads a high-profile Interior Ministry campaign to track and expel foreign nationals who lack valid permits to remain in Israel, admitted to having detained a family member in error, but denied allegations of use of physical force. It countered that family members had attacked them with "cursing and swearing."
The family had come to Israel at the invitation of the Interior Ministry, which asked to interview them prior to a final decision on their request for immigrant status. Ministry officials held a hearing on their case last month, a step in the process toward receiving citizenship.
When Woodcox, who held the family's documents, asked to accompany Sean Garrett in the police van, "officers grabbed her by her hair and her head, and pulled her by her leg," dragging her out of the vehicle, Kristien Garrett told Haaretz Thursday, after her release from the hospital.
The officer with her mother "turned around and started hitting me and my child in the face," she said. Her husband tried to help her, "but two other officers jumped on him, handcuffed him, and beat him up while the other officer was hitting me and my daughter."
Neighbors left their houses to come to the family's aid. "Everything was just a big frenzy," Garrett said. "One of the neighbors came and took my daughter away from me, so that she wouldn't be hit any more. The police officer was kicking me and hit me in my stomach, and I hit him back, to get him off of me."
Another neighbor called an ambulance. Kristien Garrett was taken to Barzilai with cramps, and hospitalized overnight. She has now been discharged on bed rest.
The lawyer for the family, Nicole Maor of the Israel Religious Action Center, said that they had been subjected to racial abuse by the police officers, who reportedly yelled at them: “Afro-Americans, kushim [darkies], we don’t need you here.”
Family members said the officer who had struck Kristien Garrett later returned and apologized to Sean for beating his wife. "He said that he had never hit a woman before, and that he felt bad for the mistake that had been made," Woodcox said.
Oz unit official Yehuda Ben-Ezra denied that the officers had used physical force against the family, saying that his inspectors had filed a police complaint alleging that the family had attacked them with profanity.
Questioned regarding Garrett's hospitalization, Ben-Ezra told Army Radio, "The woman is not in the hospital because of violence by inspectors. Really not." Pressed by news anchor Yael Dan, Ben-Ezra said "I have no idea why she was hospitalized - why she went to the hospital."
"You mean there was no violence there?" Dan asked.
"Not on the part of my inspectors. On the part of the residents, yes. On the part of my inspectors, truly no."
The morning after the incident, Trina Woodcox went to the Ashkelon police station to file a complaint against the police, but was rebuffed.
"They called her a liar, and said that they couldn't accept her complaint," said Maor.
Wilcox wrote Kansas City Reform Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff, who had converted the family to Judaism, "My heart is breaking right now.
"We have so much love for Israel. But it seems like Israel does not love us back."
Source:
IDF Soldiers Torture Palestinians - WARNING: This Video Contains VERY DISTURBING Images
This is what our tax dollars are going for? THESE BASTARDS DON'T NEED TO BE GETTING OUR MONEY. As far as I am concerned the U.S. is every bit as guilty for letting the torture continue.
WARNING: The following video contains EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES!
WARNING: The following video contains EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES!
Delayed Exit of a Toddler from Gaza Results in Death
Nasma Abu Lasheen died on Saturday, October 16, 2010 in Gaza. Israel failed to issue her an urgent entry permit for life-saving medical treatment at Ha-Emek Medical Center in Afula, Israel. She was two years old.
Abu Lasheen, a young resident of Gaza diagnosed with Leukemia, was referred for emergency treatment in Israel on October 6, 2010. When requests to the Israeli Army for an entry permit went unanswered for several days, by way of B'tselem, the family contacted Physicians for Human Rights- Israel (PHR-Israel) for additional help. That very same day, on October 13, 2010, PHR-Israel contacted the Gaza District Coordination Office (DCO) demanding a permit be issued immediately to the baby and her father to enable their entry into Israel. A military approval was finally granted the next afternoon, October 14, 2010.
Abu Lasheen's medical condition had been deteriorating rapidly and by the time the permit was received, the treating doctor in Gaza, Dr. Mohammad Abu Sha'aban, said she was too sick to travel. Nasma died in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010.
PHR-Israel immediately lodged a complaint with the head of the Israeli DCO, demanding an immediate inquiry into those responsible for the delayed response.
Abu Lasheen's death comes just days PHR-Israel testified to the Israeli Turkel Commission which investigates the Flotilla incident, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's closure policy. In their October 13th testimony, PHR- Israel pointed to the rising numbers of Gaza patients denied exit for treatment in hospitals outside the Strip, a phenomenon that has intensified since Israel's tightened closure took effect June 2007. PHR-Israel emphasized that for the patients, a delayed or non-approved permit could mean the difference between quality of life and preventable pain and suffering, and in many cases, even the difference between life and death, as demonstrated by the Abu Lasheem case.
PHR- Israel calls on the Israeli authorities at Erez Crossing to investigate those responsible for delays involved in Nasma Abu Lasheen's case. PHR- Israel reiterates its demand that Israel fulfill its obligations vis-à-vis the residents of Gaza by ensuring them full and timely access to medical treatment unavailable in the Gaza Stip.
For more information, please contact Ran Yaron, Director of PHR-Israel's Occupied Territories Department by telephone: +972-54-7577696, or via E-mail ranyaron@phr.org.il
Source:
Abu Lasheen, a young resident of Gaza diagnosed with Leukemia, was referred for emergency treatment in Israel on October 6, 2010. When requests to the Israeli Army for an entry permit went unanswered for several days, by way of B'tselem, the family contacted Physicians for Human Rights- Israel (PHR-Israel) for additional help. That very same day, on October 13, 2010, PHR-Israel contacted the Gaza District Coordination Office (DCO) demanding a permit be issued immediately to the baby and her father to enable their entry into Israel. A military approval was finally granted the next afternoon, October 14, 2010.
Abu Lasheen's medical condition had been deteriorating rapidly and by the time the permit was received, the treating doctor in Gaza, Dr. Mohammad Abu Sha'aban, said she was too sick to travel. Nasma died in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010.
PHR-Israel immediately lodged a complaint with the head of the Israeli DCO, demanding an immediate inquiry into those responsible for the delayed response.
Abu Lasheen's death comes just days PHR-Israel testified to the Israeli Turkel Commission which investigates the Flotilla incident, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's closure policy. In their October 13th testimony, PHR- Israel pointed to the rising numbers of Gaza patients denied exit for treatment in hospitals outside the Strip, a phenomenon that has intensified since Israel's tightened closure took effect June 2007. PHR-Israel emphasized that for the patients, a delayed or non-approved permit could mean the difference between quality of life and preventable pain and suffering, and in many cases, even the difference between life and death, as demonstrated by the Abu Lasheem case.
PHR- Israel calls on the Israeli authorities at Erez Crossing to investigate those responsible for delays involved in Nasma Abu Lasheen's case. PHR- Israel reiterates its demand that Israel fulfill its obligations vis-à-vis the residents of Gaza by ensuring them full and timely access to medical treatment unavailable in the Gaza Stip.
For more information, please contact Ran Yaron, Director of PHR-Israel's Occupied Territories Department by telephone: +972-54-7577696, or via E-mail ranyaron@phr.org.il
Source:
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Mother of Five Gets FBI Visit for Exercising First Amendment
http://revolutionnews.us/ ~ In his book Friendly Fascism, author Bertram Gross argues that when fascism comes to America it will be "friendly" and lack the overt brutality of the classic varieties of German and Italian fascism.
Richard Nixon once said that average American is like a child in the family.
Nixon was merely expressing the dominant opinion of the ruling elite who consider us contemptible children in need of adult supervision. Hitler, too, considered the German people children in need of adult supervision.
For the elite, a political activist is the worst sort of unruly child, one that directly challenges the authority of the father who represents the state. In order to modify the behavior of a rebellious child the state must instill fear. It must intimidate but — as Gross noted — it must do this with a friendly face. It must uphold the pretense of "democracy." A frog must be boiled slowly.
"No truly sophisticated proponent of repression would be stupid enough to shatter the facade of democratic institutions," wrote Murray B. Levin.
In the once great United States, circa 2010, the state, the father authoritarian figure, does not generally send Gestapo thugs in leather trench coats at three o'clock in the morning to the doorstep of those bold enough to challenge the authority of the state. It may send a SWAT team of trained killers after a suspected drug dealer, but this is the exception and not the rule.
Naked brutality is reserved for al-Qaeda patsies, Iraqi children, Afghan wedding parties, Pakistani villagers, and on occasion those of us who directly challenge the state through armed resistance and self defense. Ed Brown, Randy Weaver's wife, David Koresh and the incinerated children of Waco come to mind.
In the video below, agents of friendly fascism — who resemble a insurance salesman and his dowdy wife — visit a woman in Austin, Texas, and attempt to ask a few friendly questions about her rebellious behavior during a pro-Palestinian demonstration. Her rebellion did not consist of bomb-making or even inappropriate jokes about the president. Her crime was to display organized outrage over the murder and mistreatment of an entire people, a crime supported by and paid for by the U.S. government.
The FBI agents asked: Did she know anybody who would engage in violence or property damage? In other words, does she admit to being a terrorist and does she know of any terrorist plots ongoing?
At first glance, this line of questioning seems patently absurd. But it has a deeper purpose unstated and denied by the FBI — to inculcate fear of the state and intimidate and modify the behavior of an unruly and rebellious child. It is a routine designed to shut down opposition and discourage troublemakers from exercising their First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
Government will decide what is appropriate and what verges on a crime against the state. The First Amendment now has circumscribed areas of practice surrounded by men in black ski masks and Darth Vader storm trooper uniforms.
The intimidation process did not work on this brave woman. She knows her rights and she was not afraid to tell the FBI in a polite way to shove it where the sun does not shine.
---==
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
- James Madison
Monday, October 18, 2010
NEW MEXICO CITIZENS LIVE IN FEAR OF THEIR POLICE
When the supervisor of the Albuquerque Police Department’s Cold Case Squad criticized the grieving mother of a homicide victim for questioning the actions of “an impeccable police department,” the families of over a dozen New Mexico murder victims decided to take a long look at that “impeccable” department, as well as other investigative agencies in the Albuquerque area. What that group has uncovered underscores the headline in the Albuquerque Journal, “THE CITIZENS OF ALBUQUERQUE ARE AFRAID OF THEIR COPS.” Honest police officers are almost as intimidated as the public -- afraid to speak out against their colleagues and supervisors for fear of retaliation against themselves or their loved ones.
Police in New Mexico have a long and on-going track record of murder, bank robbery, kidnapping, extortion, sex crimes, burglary, drug dealing, aggravated battery, auto theft, fraud, brutality, entrapment, the planting and/or destruction of evidence, intimidation of witnesses, and – above all – the cover-up of crimes committed by police officers. According to the battered wife of Deputy Scott Finley, a member of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department’s elite Crime Suppression Unit, when she threatened to call 911 to report a vicious beating, her husband’s response was: “Go ahead and call. How can you break the law when you are the law?”
This corruption is in no way limited to cops on the street. It exists at management levels and extends to the very top echelons of New Mexico law enforcement:
*Lt. John B. Gallegos, supervisor of the APD Internal Affairs Unit, was caught burglarizing a liquor store while on duty.
*Deputy Darryl Burt, senior officer in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department Gang Unit, was charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration, and other felonies in connection with the traffic stop of a 24-yr-old male, as well as 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy. He was also found guilty of drug trafficking charges.
*APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his 80-pound attack dog on a homeless woman who was asleep at the time. This was the same Andrew LeHocky who had just been named “Officer of the Month.”
*APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, supervisor of officers assigned to public schools, was indicted on sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl who was staying the night with one of his daughters. (When he was tried in 2004, the jury was deadlocked, and the prosecutors did not seek a retrial.)
*The APD Intelligence Unit, under the supervision of Sgt. Joseph Polisar, was accused of illegally creating and maintaining secret dossiers on innocent political figures. The only possible use for such dossiers would be to exert influence and pressure on those politicians. When the existence of the dossiers became known, they were burned to prevent their inspection. Sgt. Polisar was subsequently elevated to Chief of Police.
The following abbreviated overview of corruption in New Mexico law enforcement is merely the tip of the iceberg. Since information from Internal Affairs investigations is not available to the public, and a 1997 study revealed that the City of Albuquerque routinely set aside $4 million a year to settle malfeasance claims out of court, there has never been a way for the average citizen to have any idea of the full extent of what goes on beyond the “Blue Wall of Silence.” It’s our hope that the families who have contributed cases to this report may be able to shine a pinpoint of light on those activities by sharing their personal horror stories, which are set in the framework of this overview. Copies of individual reports can be obtained as e-mail attachments from justiceproject@earthlink.net.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE “LAND OF ENCHANTMENT”
Highlighted entries represent a selection of cases from the New Mexico Justice Packet, a compilation of reports by families of New Mexico homicide victims who contend that their loved ones’ cases were not thoroughly and/or honestly investigated by New Mexico law enforcement – local police, state police, or sheriff’s department. Copies of individual reports in their entirety may be obtained without charge as e-mail attachments from justiceproject@earthlink.net. Professional writers, publishers, and TV producers, who have an authentic interest in doing stories based on individual cases or on the Justice Project as a whole, can be placed in touch with the families through their private investigators.
9/80: APD Officer Joseph Polisar, (who later became Albuquerque Police Chief) was assigned to investigate the death of his friend, Phil Chacon, killed in the line of duty during a bank robbery. Polisar’s two-day investigation led to a civil rights suit against him and two other officers for planting evidence and coercing witnesses in an attempt to convict Van Robinson, a black male. In 1985, Robinson was acquitted, and a Federal Grand Jury awarded him $75,000. (Before Polisar was made police chief, the findings against him were reversed.)
1/1/81: Governor Bruce King pardoned former APD Officer Robert Earl Davis for 1970’s offenses, some committed while he was a police officer. In 1976, Officer Davis was arrested in a stolen car and in possession of drugs. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 5 years, (changed to probation by DA Steve Schiff, who said Davis was unlikely to repeat such an offense). Later Davis was charged with operating a crime ring with three other APD officers fired in the 1970s for ripping off people they arrested. Davis was also a suspect in several 1970's homicides. The four ex-cops admitted to a 6-year, multi-state crime spree, involving more than $1,000,000. The over-1,000 crimes they committed included robberies, auto theft, homicides, and drugs. This time Davis was sentenced to 14 years. Gov. King later rescinded the Davis pardon.
9/81: APD undercover officers, John Hearn and Greg Avila, were working a suspected vehicle theft ring when they got into a shootout with one of the suspects, Frank Minott. Minott testified that he shot at Officer Avila in self-defense after Avila fired at him. Officer Avilla’s blood alcohol level was three times higher thaN the legal requirement for intoxication. A female witness testified that Avila tried to force his way into her bedroom, tried to grope another girl present, and tried to stab a cat with a pitchfork, saying he “was hungry.” Minott testified that he told Avila to stop hurting the women and Avila said, “What are you going to do about it?”, Minott pushed Avila away, and Avila pulled a knife. Then Hearn got involved, and Minott said he feared that Hearn would hold him down while Avila cut him, so he ran to the house and Avila fired a gun at him. Minott got to a gun and fired back at Avila, wounding him twice. Minott was found guilty of assault with intent to commit a violent felony. Chief Whitey Hansen told the press (in regard to the actions of the two officers), “When you’re in Rome, you do as the Romans do.” He said there are no guidelines or rules for undercover officers
1/30/84: Criminal Case: State v. Charles William Holman, et al., Sex Club of Albuquerque: A list of people involved in this party/prostitution club included police officers, state legislators, lawyers, and judges. APD Officer John Carillo testified about his participation in the sex club.
Thanksgiving Day, 1984: State Police Officer Matt Griffin attempted to force his way into Febye Garcia’s mobile home as the family was sitting down to dinner. When Garcia resisted, Griffin pulled out his can of Mace, struck the woman on the nose with it, and then sprayed her directly in the eyes. Griffin then resigned from the State Police and joined the Albuquerque Police Department.
2/16/85: CURTIS LINDSEY HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Curtis was stabbed in the back in broad daylight. He stumbled across the street to a 7-11 store and collapsed on the floor. APD Officer Ronald Merriman (see “Kaitlyn Arquette Case” and “Benny Esquivel Case”) was dispatched to the scene, as was the Fire Department. The medics later testified that Officer Merriman refused to allow them to treat Curtis until he finished interrogating him. Curtis bled to death at the scene. Curtis was schizophrenic and used marijuana as a type of self-medication. His father, Victor Lindsey, says APD shrugged off the murder as “just one drug addict killing another.” When it became apparent there would be no investigation, Victor set out to solve the case himself. Witnesses and informants led him to the killer, Javier Escalera. Victor gave his information to a friend in law enforcement, who pressured the case detectives to follow up on it. Eventually Escalera was arrested and convicted. Victor sued the City of Albuquerque, the Fire Department, and Officer Merriman for medical malpractice at the scene. The case was settled out of court.
1/12/86: LINDA DANIELS ABDUCTION AND HOMICIDE: Linda was abducted for use in porno films, raped, tortured, and then shot to death. James Scartaccini, the one of Linda’s abductors that evidence indicated was her killer, was allowed to plea bargain by testifying against his companions. The police and the DA prosecutor “lost” all evidence against Scartaccini, including his sperm sample, which was later found on the DA prosecutor’s desk. Scartaccini served no time at all.
10/31/86: APD Officer Matt Griffin knocked on the apartment door of Ralph Narducci in response to a loud noise report. When Narducci asked to see his identification, Griffin beat him on the head and face. Narducci was hospitalized. His lawsuit against the city was settled for $35,000.
3/1/87: APD Officer Matt Griffin, moonlighting as night manager at Pinon Trails Apts., refused to cooperate with APD officers executing a warrant for Sam Elliott, a suspect in the drug murder of Bobby Dytzel. Griffin refused to identify the apartment where Elliott was staying. Elliott later pled guilty to murdering Dytzel. Griffin was suspended for one day without pay for his refusal to help the officers and for failing to disclose his outside job.
1987: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was given a 20-day suspension for unjustifiably shooting a teen-ager he was chasing on foot.
5/10/87: Albuquerque Journal: Land Commissioner, Jim Baca, former candidate for mayor of Albuquerque, disclosed that during his campaign Albuquerque Police Chief Sam Baca had offered to show him a secret intelligence file on his opponent, Ken Schultz. (Chief Baca denied that.) Jim Baca said he refused to accept the file. He said there was a need for exposure of rampant politics within the Albuquerque Police Department and that APD Chief Sam Baca was a victim of that “incestuous” system.
7/4/87: Convicted APD Officer Robert Earl Davis and four other men escaped from Santa Fe Prison. Davis later stated that Corrections Officer Lt. David Owens smuggled in a gun to help with the escape.
10/1/87: Former Chief Justice William Riordan, the City’s first independent councilor, found that the APD Intelligence Unit, under the supervision of APD Sgt. Joseph Polisar, had been secretly stockpiling information on local residents not suspected of wrong doing. (The Unit was supposed to be gathering intelligence on motorcycle gangs, organized crime, terrorists and other criminal activity.)
10/6/87: Gene Romo, City Councilor, ordered APD Chief Sam Baca to “fix” APD’s problems and gave him 120 days to do so, at which time Chief Baca’s performance would be evaluated by a special panel. Chief Baca termed Romo’s plan “harsh.”
10/22/87: City Attorney Pat Bryan told investigators that he was present when APD Chief Sam Baca offered secret intelligence file information to Jim Baca. Tapes of investigators’ interview with Chief Baca suddenly became “missing.”
11/18/87: APD Officer Matt Griffin was fired by Police Chief Sam Baca for refusing to return a $75 witness fee for a case in which he never testified.
1/29/88: SPRING MILLER HOMICIDE: (Albuquerque PD) Spring, 16, was run down by a truck. Spring’s younger sister, April, (see “April Miller Case”), was with her at the time. The girls had gone for a walk, and as they approached the entrance to an apartment complex, they noticed a truck poised to leave the parking lot. They stopped, but the driver motioned them to cross in front of him. When they reached the middle of the driveway, he grinned and stomped on the accelerator. He ran over Spring’s head with both front and rear right tires, and ran over April’s legs. At that time, the APD Homicide Unit was involved with several high profile murders, (including the Darcy Pierce case), so the investigation of Spring’s death was relegated to traffic officers. Although there were a number of witnesses and the suspect matched the description of Martin Martinez, who was arrested several month later for deliberately running down joggers in that same area of town, Martinez was not charged with Spring’s death.
1/2/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin, disguised as a ninja, robbed NM Federal Savings and Loan and fled in a stolen Camero with a National Guard license plate.
3/88: APD rehired Officer Matt Griffin after his attorney cut a deal with the city. Police Chief Sam Baca later stated that he didn’t want to rehire Griffin, but did so on the advice of his legal adviser and the city Legal Department.
6/28/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin, the “Ninja Bandit,” committed another bank robbery and made his getaway in a stolen Camero with Colorado Tags.
7/88: A 9 mm Glock semiautomatic handgun disappeared from the Police Department’s evidence room while APD Officer Matt Griffin was assigned to guard it.
9/21/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin committed another bank robbery and made his getaway in a stolen Camero.
1/19/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin robbed First Interstate Bank and made his getaway in a stolen Camero.
1989: The Albuquerque Police Department was sued by a citizen’s group that wanted access to the APD intelligence files to see whether they contained evidence of unconstitutional police investigation of political figures who were not under suspicion of wrong doing. The police had the intelligence files burned one half hour before a federal judge issued a restraining order to prevent their destruction.
1/27/89: PETER KLUNCK KILLING (Albq. PD): Peter was shot by three members of the APD ROP Team – Robert Valtierra, Paul Heatley, and Matt Griffin -- on the day he was scheduled to appear in court and had told people he was planning to “blow the lid off APD.” Friends assert that Peter had been involved in criminal activities with Officer Griffin and now wanted out. Police released a statement that Peter was shot in the chest in self-defense. In truth, he was shot three times in the back. Officer Steve Nakamura, who did not fire at Peter, said Peter was unarmed. “These guys shot him in the back and I don’t know why!” he told his sergeant. After a seven-hour search, a derringer turned up 15 feet from Peter’s body. Peter’s prints were not on it. A tipster from within APD informed the AG’s Office that the gun was planted to support the self-defense claim. Former Chief Justice Rheardon, who conducted the Internal Affairs investigation, stated in his report, “I believe there is a question about whether Mr. Klunck was armed at the time he was shot and, even if he was, whether it was necessary to shoot him.” APD reacted by issuing an official statement that Rheardon had concluded the shooting was justified. Six months later, Officer Griffin, who fired the death shot, was revealed to be the notorious “The Ninja Bandit” who had been terrorizing Albuquerque for months. Griffin was sentenced to life for multiple bank robberies and murder of a witness. Even so, law enforcement continued to refuse to consider the possibility that Griffin killed Peter to keep him from talking. In 1990, Peter’s parents filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights suit against the police chief and several police officers. The judge ordered them to settle out of court with no admission that Peter’s civil rights were violated. The Kluncks brought in the FBI, but by the time the case went to the Grand Jury so much time had passed that witnesses’ memories had faded. The Jury, while not exonerating the police, handed down no indictments.
4/3/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin shot and killed Michael Howard, a resident of Cibola Village Apts., when Howard caught Griffin in the parking lot attempting to steal his car.
4/18/89: The “Ninja Bandit” robbed Sun County Savings a second time.
7/10/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin was revealed to be the “Ninja Bandit,” and was arrested for five bank robberies and the slaying of Michael Howard.
7/16/89: KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Kaitlyn, 18, was chased down in her car and shot to death. The first officer at the scene, Det. Ronald Merriman, (see “Benny Esquivel Case” and “Curtis Lindsey Case”), called in a report of an accident with no injuries. Police allowed Paul Apodaca, a man with a record of violent assaults on women, who was at the scene when Merriman arrived, to leave the scene without questioning or even getting contact information. Police then left the scene themselves. Rescue almost missed the scene because there was no one there to wave them over – just Kaitlyn all alone in her car with her brains blown out. Kaitlyn’s death was classified as a “random drive-by shooting,” despite strong physical evidence that Kaitlyn was deliberately murdered and strong indicators that she was preparing to blow the whistle on interstate crime that involved her estranged Vietnamese boyfriend, Dung Nguyen, and his cohorts. The activities of that group included car wreck insurance fraud, drug dealing, arson, the theft and sale of computer chips, and illegal naturalization. When APD dropped off the unsolved case in 1991, Kaitlyn’s mother, Lois Duncan, wrote a book, Who Killed My Daughter?, to prevent the facts of the case from becoming buried. The media blitz that followed led to an influx of new information, which APD has declined to follow up on because it doesn’t support their random shooting scenario.
12/89: Police Chief Sam Baca informed an INS agent that Kaitlyn Arquette was killed by a Vietnamese gang. The homicide department then closed the Arquette case as a random shooting by Hispanic subjects. DA Bob Schwartz refused to prosecute the Hispanics due to a lack of evidence and because APD’s “eye-witness” was in jail on the night of the murder. Schwartz directed the police to investigate the Vietnamese suspects. The police did not do so.
Chief Sam Baca left APD, and was replaced by Chief Bob Stover.
10/5/90: APD Narcotics Det. Stan Gloria stated that he had knowledge of drug activity at a particular address. He applied for a warrant for a nighttime search of the residence of “Manuel (LAST NAME UNKNOWN), Description: "Spanish" (sic) male, 40-45 years old, medium height, heavy set,” claiming this man had a long criminal record, although – not knowing the man’s name, DOB, or SS# -- there was no way Gloria could have known about any criminal record
10/12/90: Armed with a warrant obtained thru false information, Narcotics Detective Stan Gloria, Lieutenant Hughes, SGT Bartram (sic- Bertram), Officers R. Vasquez, R. Jeffrey, W. Jones, E. Sauer, B. Snow, A. Lehocky, Lieutanant Bourgoine, S. Gray, S. Rodriguez, H. Terry, T. McWhorter, C. Lopez and four US NAVY SEALS went to the home of Manuel Ramirez, at about 4:30 a.m. There they attached a cable to a tow truck and pulled the wrought iron front door off the Ramirez residence, while other personnel simultaneously broke all of the windows of the Ramirez home. As Ramirez reached for a handgun, (which wasn’t loaded), the collection of officers entered unannounced and dressed in black and shot Ramirez twice in the chest. They ransacked the family home, while Ramirez lay dead in his living room and his grieving family sat in the back of an APD Patrol Car. No drugs were found in the residence until 48 hours after the break in. The Ramirez's infant was injured in his crib by flying glass. Ramirez’s widow filed a lawsuit against the City in 1992 and received a $275,000 settlement.
4/7/91: Albuquerque Journal: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy, Darryl Burt, recently named senior officer in the BCSO Gang Unit, was accused of forcing a 24-yr-old, male, Mexican national to submit to forced sex acts in a BCSO vehicle and threatening the victim with a gun.
4/23/91: APD Officers James Torres and Stan Gloria went into an apartment to sell 100 lbs. of marijuana for $60,000. They were posing as drug dealers in order to take the money of real drug dealers. Torres went into the apartment alone and the suspects pulled a gun on him and tied him up. A suspect then pulled a gun on Gloria, who was waiting in the parking lot. Nearby police were alerted and came to the rescue. The suspects were tried and convicted. In 1997, Torres and Gloria were awarded medals.
5/31/91: Albuquerque Tribune: Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office investigated allegations made by a convicted drug dealer that Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies provided drugs to transvestite prostitutes in return for sexual favors. The drug dealer, serving a sentence in federal prison, has a history of cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
9-10/91: LINK TO THE KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE: An informant told APD that the auto-body shop on Arno, (hangout for APD Officer Matt Griffin and fellow officers), was a distribution point for large amounts of cocaine. The informant identified a subject, Maria Alcala, as making deliveries in a truck with an unknown male, later identified as Michael Arellano, son of the owner of the body shop. Alcala and Arellano were surveilled to 824 Arno NE, as were Consuela Santillanes and Pedro Alcala Jr. Surveillance also noted a high level of traffic in/out of the business within a short period of time, consistent with narcotics trafficking.
10/3/91: LINK TO THE KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE: Execution of search warrant for cocaine trafficking were executed at 824 Arno NE and 332 Estancia NW. Pedro Alcala was arrested at 332 Estancia NW and later pled guilty. Michael Arellano (son of the owner of the body shop) and Maria Alcala had apparently been alerted to the raid and left the shop, heading to Nevada, just before APD, FBI, ATF officers arrived to execute the search warrant. Cocaine, trafficking paraphernalia and money were seized at 332 Estancia NW. Drugs and guns were seized at 824 Arno.
1/29/92: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sued for violating the civil rights of Kenneth Wayne Tortolita. Although no further information regarding this case is available, the case was settled for an undisclosed sum of money on 9/10/1992.
2/22/92: Albuquerque Journal: District Court Judge ordered Bernalillo County Sheriff Ray Gallagher to keep members of his Crime Suppression Unit away from witnesses in the sexual assault case against BCSO Deputy Darryl Burt and asked prosecutors to prepare written court orders to be served on Detectives Ed Pacheco and John Sharkey. Witnesses, Willie and Daniel Apodaca, complained of witness intimidation. Sheriff Gallagher admitted to having destroyed evidence in the case against Deputy Burt
5/13/92: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sued when his police dog attacked Sheldon Waddles, a peaceful demonstrator at a rally (and the son of a local fire chief). The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
6/19/92: Former APD Officer Robert Davis assisted murderer, Thomas Wayne Crump, to escape from Torrance County Jail. Crump used a car owned by Davis’s wife, in exchange for a promise that Crump would kill Davis’s enemies on the outside.
1993: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was fired by Police Chief Bob Stover for hitting a car-chase suspect in the back of the head with his nightstick. Gallegos said he didn’t remember doing that, and the firing was rescinded in favor of a 60-day suspension.
5/28/93: SAL MARTINEZ HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Sal had to work late and arrived at a bachelor party close to midnight. He was shot as soon as he walked in the door. Sal was still alive when police got there, but the officers would not perform CPR because they had forgotten their plastic mouthpieces. Sal’s killer, Darryl Fowler, fled the party, but later turned himself in on the advice of his attorney, who assured him nothing would happen to him. The attorney was right. APD said they couldn’t charge Fowler because he claimed self-defense, although Sal wasn’t carrying a weapon, nor was anyone else at the party except Fowler. Informants told Sal’s mother that Fowler was a drug supplier for a VIP in law enforcement and had many friends at APD. Since police refused to arrest Fowler, Sal’s parents sued him for wrongful death. At the hearing, Fowler admitted to shooting Sal, but said, “I didn’t know I killed him and I don’t know where the gun is.” In 1999, Sal’s parents were awarded a settlement, but the DA dismissed criminal charges. The DA wouldn’t say why. The family says he refused to talk to them at all.
8/29/93: NATHAN ROMERO HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Nathan was chased down by three vehicles, stabbed, and left to die in the street. He was found with a Vietnamese medallion clutched in his hand, apparently snatched from his killer during the struggle. APD did not collect that evidence from the coroner, who gave it to Nathan’s mother, Linda Gutierrez. Linda rounded up witnesses to the stabbing, who identified members of the Asian gang that killed Nathan. Police found a couple of the gang members that same day, still wearing the same clothes from the night before, but did not arrest them or process their clothing for DNA evidence. For two years, the killers taunted and harassed Linda. They asked Nathan’s friends, “Do you want to be killed next?” Linda kept calling APD to ask why nothing was being done, until finally a homicide captain bellowed, “We know who killed your son, just like we know who killed Kaitlyn Arquette! This is police business – butt out!” (See “Kaitlyn Arquette Case”) Linda made numerous calls to the mayor’s office, which were not returned. Finally an assistant agreed to deliver the message personally. The mayor then called Linda’s PI to ask how much evidence Linda had. The PI responded that she had enough to file a civil suit against the city of Albuquerque for wrongful death. Then wheels started turning. The case detective, (who was also the lead detective in the Arquette case), was transferred out of the department. In 1995, the killers – Song Boutavong, Anacheck Boutavong, Shervin Mowzoun and Michael Frias -- were arrested and convicted. They were allowed to plea bargain.
7/5/94: APD Joseph Polisar, (supervisor of the APD Intelligence Unit when police burned the controversial Intelligence Files), was appointed Police Chief.
8/24/94: Albuquerque Journal: City Counselor M. Brasher requested a new investigation into a federal informant’s claim that four APD narcotics detectives were involved in drug-trafficking, rape, planting evidence and murder of a drug trafficker and prostitutes. The four were investigated in the fall of 1993 by APD Chief Bob Stover.
4/25/95: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Darryl Burt, who was acquitted in Nov. 1992 of sex related charges, was indicted on 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy over a number of months and a number of different encounters. (These charges were unrelated to the sex charges filed against him previously.) Burt was placed on unpaid leave from BCSO. He later pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to 728 days in jail.
1995: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was fired by Chief Joseph Polisar, who labeled him a “brutal cop” for hitting a suspect several times with his large metal flashlight and kicking him in the groin. A city hearing officer ruled the firing justified, but it was later overturned. Gallegos returned to work and collected $35,627 back wages from his termination date to his reinstatement date.
6/2/95: Albuquerque Journal: APD LT. FACES PROBE: Lt. John B. Gallegos, 14-yr veteran of APD and supervisor of Internal Affairs division, faced criminal investigation for burglarizing a liquor store in May, 1995. He was on duty at the time of the burglary.
7/19/95: Albuquerque Journal: APD INVESTIGATES SERGEANT’S ACTIONS - Internal Affairs investigated Sgt. Stan Gloria in connection with a drug situation. Gloria, a former narcotics officer, was current supervisor of field services on the West Side.
7/21/95: Albuquerque Journal: CITY TO PAY FIRED COP $450,000, BUT WON’T SAY WHY-- A legal settlement by the City of Albuquerque awarded Bruce McAllister, fired APD narcotics detective accused of robbing drug dealers and raping a prostitute, $450,000.00. McAllister said he was set up.
8/5/95: MELANIE MCCRACKEN HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Melanie died under strange circumstances in her home in Bosque Farms. There was no official determination of cause of death, although the OMI chief has opined it was "violent assault." Melanie’s husband, NMSP Sgt. Mark McCracken, (see “Stephanie Houston Case”), placed her in the family car, drove onto the Isleta Indian Reservation, and ran the car into a tree. McCracken’s own department investigated the case and announced that Melanie was killed in the car wreck. Sgt. McCracken told the media Melanie died of cancer, although the autopsy revealed no cancer. APD Det. Damon Fay (see “Stephen Haar Case”) threatened to have Melanie’s mother, Nancy Grice, arrested for obstructing justice if she continued to question the circumstances of Melanie’s death. In 1998 Nancy filed a federal civil rights suit against McCracken and the State Police. Expert witness Dr. John Smialek opined that the cause of death was “homicidal suffocation.” When it started to look like the case would turn into a murder case, Nancy’s court appointed attorney succumbed to pressure to settle out of court. NMSP promoted McCracken to lieutenant. In Oct. 2003, Lt. McCracken was indicted for first degree murder and evidence tampering. Grand jurors also requested that another grand jury be empanelled to review the conduct of the NMSP investigators. In Dec. 2003, Valencia County Magistrate John Sanchez, a former State Police officer himself, filed a federal civil rights suit against NMSP for harassment of him and his family in retaliation for his attempts to persuade authorities to investigate McCracken. Oct. 31, 03, McCracken was indicted for first degree murder and evidence tampering, but charges were dismissed because an investigator for the prosecution was in the grand jury room during testimony. Dec 2004, Judge David Bonem ruled McCracken would not have to stand trial. He stated that, “while a violent and natural death cannot be excluded” there was not enough evidence to try mcCracken. He chastised the NMSP for not allowing an outside agency to do the investigation.
9/2/95: KRISTOPHER GRAY DEATH (Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators): Kris was found dead by a pump jack at an oil well location on the south side of Farmington. Although police told Kris’s mother, Marie Lope, that Kris was beaten to death and there were four vehicles at the scene, they collected no evidence from the scene or from Kris’s vehicle, which was hot-wired and driven to a different location. The night before Kris’s body was found, he attended a party on a bluff on the Reservation. Witnesses told Marie that Kris was trying to break up a fight and got killed in the process. Despite their initial statement that it was murder, police closed the case as an accident. The OMI report speculates that Kris “accidentally fell from a height.” The FBI contends that Kris walked into a revolving pump jack, (although the pump jack was not in operation). The embalmer informed Marie that Kris had a fresh stab wound under his rib cage that had to be patched to prevent leakage. The OMI report makes no mention of that stab wound.
9/20/95: APD Lt. John B. Gallegos, supervisor of APD Internal Affairs Division, was indicted on counts of commercial burglary, evidence tampering and larceny. APD said Gallegos was no longer with the department but refused to say if he was fired or resigned.
1/6/96:TYRONE TSOSIE SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators): Tyrone was found comatose on the side of the Frontage Road just off of I-40 fifteen miles east of Gallup. His wallet was missing. He was flown to the UNM Hospital in Albuquerque where he was pronounced brain dead. Police told Tyrone’s mother, Bertha Begay, that her son “got tired and lay down on the side of the side of the road and a car ran over him.” They said the car was so hot that his nylon jacket melted onto his body. Bertha obtained a copy of the autopsy report and discovered the cause of death was “undetermined” and Tyrone’s only injury was a blunt force blow to the back of the head. Tyrone’s family believes he was killed during an argument with someone he knew and that family members of the killer dumped his body. Police said they were “too swamped” to investigate the case, so Bertha hired private investigators. Tyrone’s wallet was eventually found in the possession of his estranged girlfriend, Veronica Scott. Bertha is a single parent of four, and Tyrone’s medical and funeral bills drained her financially. She spent her weekends fund-raising at flea markets in order to pay her private investigators. She couldn’t keep it up, and they dropped off the case.
03/27/96: APD Officer Andres Lehocky was sued for allowing or ordering an attack dog to bite and maul Isaac Ortiz. As with the two previous suits, this lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
8/96: Former BCSO Deputies Darryl Burt, (once an undercover narcotics agent) and Michael Disney were taken into federal custody as the result of drug raids in their homes, after being videotaped selling drugs in a parking lot across from Eldorado High School. Both men were working at The Wild Side, Disney’s drug paraphernalia shop. At the time of the raid at Burt’s house, Burt and a 17-yr-old male took off through the bedroom window, both wearing only boxer shorts. A loaded 45-caliber handgun, a Fix-A-Flat can filled with cocaine, and a BCSO badge and credentials were among the items found in Burt’s garage. Both Burt and Disney later pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute. The men were described as partners in a heavily armed El Paso-to-Albuquerque drug trafficking operation. Burt was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months on a cocaine distribution conviction in US District Court.
9/5/96: Albuquerque’s Public Safety Advisory Board said it planned to find out if the Albuquerque Police Department's SWAT Team had a pattern of using excessive force.
11/6/96: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield stopped motorist Kevin Lamkin and informed him there were warrants out for his arrest. Lamkin presented paperwork that proved the warrants had already been cleared up, but Ahrensfield allegedly crumbled them up, resorted to name-calling and abusive handling of Lamkin, and arrested him anyway. Lamkin’s case against Ahrensfield was settled out of court for $2,000.
3/18/97: The City Council commissioned an independent study to be undertaken “in the context of a serious and ongoing community crisis regarding the performance of the APD, particularly with reference to the fatal shootings of citizens.” The report confirmed that "The City of Albuquerque suffers from serious problems related to fatal shootings by APD officers and extremely high tort claims involving police officers.” The study also disclosed that the city set aside $4 million a year to settle claims against APD, “which is way out of line with larger cities with larger forces.”
APD Chief Polisar disputed the 163 page report, but said he did not read it all the way through.
5/25/97: APRIL MILLER DEATH (Albq. PD): Nine years after the death of her sister, Spring, (see Spring Miller Case”), April Miller vanished. April last visited her mother, Dianna Miller, on May 15, upset and crying, because her boyfriend had been arrested. April called her mother twice during the following week, just to check in. In her second call, on May 23, she said she was at the home of a friend named “Roland.” Dianna never heard from her again. On June 11, Dianna called APD to report April missing. Police took her information but did not inform her that an anonymous caller had reported April dead in an alley behind the parole office on May 25. APD Officer Todd Babcock, who knew April from a recent encounter, had identified April at the scene. April also had her name tattooed on her neck. The tags on April’s belongings bag and toxicology report all indicate that she was immediately identified as April Miller. Yet, the police report listed April as “Jane Doe,” and Dianna was not informed of her daughter’s death for six weeks. April reportedly died of a drug overdose. There was no investigation. The mysterious “Roland” was not interrogated, although the tipster’s call to police was made from a gas station a couple of blocks from Roland’s residence.
1997: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Estrada was convicted of embezzlement for taking more than $730 worth of shirts from Dillard’s Department Store where he was moonlighting as a security officer.
6/14/97: The District Attorney’s office entered into the investigation of APD Chief Joseph Polisar after a city worker, Victor Gallegos, filed a criminal complaint that Polisar cursed at him and handcuffed him too forcefully during a traffic stop. Chief Polisar denied that accusation.
10/12/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield stopped at a scene where a vehicle was stopped on a median, used pepper spray on the passenger, Steven Salazar, and allegedly kicked him in the stomach when Salazar refused to lie on the ground. The incident was settled for $10,000.
10/26/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was one of several officers outside an Albuquerque home during the arrest of Jim Vigin Jr. Virgin’s father protested the rough treatment of his son and decided to get a video camera from inside the house. Ahrensfield allegedly tackled Vigil Sr. “with such force that he was thrown into the bushes” and stepped on his hand and wrist, causing a wrist fracture. The City settled the suit for $25,000.
12/5/97: Albuquerque Journal: COP UNION GIVES BACA WARNING -- Albuquerque Police Officers Association President Alex Marentes said of new mayor Jim Baca, “If he screws with us, we will do everything possible to defeat him in the next election.”
12/9/97: Incoming Bernalillo County DA Jeff Romero claimed his office was forced to drop prosecutions because his predecessor, DA Bob Schwartz, never sent the cases for indictment. Romero said about 200 outdated drug cases that should have been sent to the Grand Jury were found “rat-holed” in Schwartz’s former office, a fact that almost caused the DA’s office to lose a $200,000 federal grant for drug prosecutions. Schwartz denied any knowledge of the stash of drug cases.
11/19/97: PAUL FITZJERRELL HOMICIDE, (Gallup PD): Paul was shot and killed. Gallup Police Officer Mike Brandau was indicted. The ranking officer at the scene, Calvin Wiggins, conducted both the homicide investigation and the internal affairs investigation. When the case went to court, police mixed information from Brandau’s Garrity-protected Internal Affairs statement in with the case information, thereby contaminating the case and making it impossible for Brandau to be prosecuted. Brandau stated that the Fraternal Order of Police counsels all their members to insist on Garrity whenever they are accused of crimes. “By doing so you will ensure that your statements and reports cannot be used as evidence against you in any proceedings,” says the FOB guide sheet. “Our advice is that we all use the procedure all the time.” Special prosecutor, Bob Schwartz, stated on television, “Because the police didn’t keep the Internal Affairs investigation and the criminal investigation separate, this case is so infected that you can never disinfect it. It may not be possible for this case to ever go forward again because of the actions of the police department.” (Details about this case must be withheld at this time because the family of the victim has launched a civil suit.)
12/21/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was alleged to have dragged a patron out of a nightclub, used pepper spray on him, and shoved him to the ground with such force that he shattered the man’s right wrist. The case was settled for $40,000.
12/26/97: Mayor Jim Baca announced his plan for a Citizens Review Board to investigate complaints against the Albuquerque Police Department. “The police department has to be accountable to somebody besides themselves,” Mayor Baca said. Alex Marentes, the police union president, argued that citizen review boards were “ineffective” and could be “bureaucratic, expensive and potentially controversial … Civilian investigators may lack an understanding of police sub-cultural norms.”
1/10/98: JOSH VIHEL SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Albq. PD): Josh, 16, died at a party. The official cause of death was “alcohol poisoning,” but he also had a bruise on his forehead, his nose was leaking blood, and money was missing from his wallet. Josh’s body was removed from the party house and taken to the apartment of one of the party guests, who didn’t report the death until the next afternoon. The first officer at the scene called in a report of a “suspicious death” and criminalistics was dispatched to the scene. An informant contacted the family with information that GHB (date rape drug) was slipped into Josh’s drink. Since GHB leaves the victim’s system in twelve hours, it would not show up in an autopsy. The family located the party house, which police said they couldn’t find, and were told by neighbors that the adult males who lived there, Chris and Scott Leonard, threw frequent parties where they charged cover fees and sold liquor and drugs to minors. APD refused to interrogate the Leonard brothers, explaining that the DA advised against it. Josh’s parents filed a civil suit against the Leonards and insisted on taking the case to court in order to learn more about what happened. In a deposition, Chris Leonard stated that he had several friends and a cousin on the police force. (For personal reasons, this family does not wish to be interviewed.)
1/14/98: GABINO GEORGE VENEGAS HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Gabino was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle home from work. Gabino’s parents, who lived out of state, asked Gabino’s sister in Albuquerque to keep them advised about the progress of the investigation. The NM State Police reacted with hostility to the sister’s questions and attempted to intimidate her by accusing her of interfering with the investigation. In truth, there was no investigation. The family’s PI discovered that three witnesses had seen two vehicles speeding from the scene. Evidence indicated that the first vehicle struck Gabino on his bicycle and knocked him into the path of the second vehicle. Witnesses identified the first car as a law enforcement vehicle, possibly Sheriff’s Dept. The PI was able to match the paint transfer on the bicycle with the make and year of the second vehicle and submitted a request for an MVD printout of the owners of such cars in a two-county area. NMSP ordered MVD not to comply with that legal request. The family filed a tort claim notice against NMSP, as they suspected investigators were covering up for a fellow cop. Police promised the family and their attorney that, if they withdrew the tort claim notice, NMSP would thoroughly investigate Gabino’s death. The family withdrew the notice. The case was not further investigated. The family’s PI believes that he has now identified and located the car that killed Gabino, but the DA’s office won’t agree to reopen the case.
1/15/98: STEPHEN HAAR HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Steve died from gunshot wounds to the stomach and back. Two guns were used. The OMI has stated that one shot was fired by someone standing over him when he was already down. Police released a statement that Steve was found dead in the street with a shotgun lying next to him. In truth, he was found inside the residence of a man who is reportedly an APD snitch. Steve’s mother, Carmen Haar, found a note in Steve’s pocket warning him about a contract and naming the alleged snitch. In the course of an arrest by a Valencia County detective for an unrelated shooting, Travis Dally (a friend of the alleged snitch) confessed to killing Steve. APD dismissed the shooting as self-defense without even obtaining Dally’s taped confession from Valencia County. APD homicide Det. Damon Fay (see “Melanie McCracken Case”) told Carmen that APD would not charge Dally, but would forward the case to the DA’s Office. In Sept. 02, Carmen contacted the DA’s Office to inquire why charges hadn’t yet been filed. She was told the DA’s Office had no file on Steve’s case. As of today, Dally still has not been charged. Steve is the third of Carmen’s children to be murdered.
2/16/98: APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his Belgian Malinois attack dog, Bart, on Nestor Chavez, a fleeing suspect. After the dog bit Nestor Chavez once and Lehocky had verified that Chavez was unarmed, Lehocky ordered Bart to attack a second time causing serious damage to Chavez’s right lower leg. In the interim Albuquerque mayor, Martin Chavez, declared that no police misconduct cases would settle. The case went to trial and, on April 25, 2003, a jury in the federal court in Albuquerque found Lehocky liable for violating Mr. Chavez’s Fourth Amendment rights and awarded nominal damages. In Aug., 03, a federal judge overturned the jury verdict, because Chavez had lied about being a suspect in a break-in earlier that morning.
4/14/98: Incoming Albuquerque mayor, Jim Baca (the same person who blew the whistle on the APD Intelligence Unit, see 5/10/87) replaced APD Chief Polisar (former officer in charge of that Intelligence Unit) with Gerald Galvin, police chief from Toledo, Ohio, in a reported effort to “clean up the Albuquerque Police Department.”
4/23/98: Chief State District Judge John Brennan criticized the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department for losing evidence in a first-degree murder case, including the victim’s clothing and five bullets pulled from his body.
4/25/98: Lawrence Candelaria, Identification Tech at APD, (processes fingerprints and takes mug shots), was charged with intent to distribute narcotics. Earlier in the year, Candelaria compromised an arrest warrant when he warned the target, his brother Leonard, that police were about to search his home. When a second warrant was served, police found heroin packaged for distribution. Lawrence Candelaria was arrested for conspiracy to traffic in heroin; Leonard Candelaria was booked for possession of heroin.
6/18/98: Albuquerque Journal: THE CITIZENS OF ALBUQUERQUE ARE AFRAID OF THEIR COPS -- That was the message the City Council heard during a special meeting to get public input on a recently completed study of who should police the Albuquerque Police Department … Paul Harper, co-director of Albuquerque Citizens on Police Accountability, said APD has proven cops can’t police themselves. “It’s like having the fox guard the hen house” said Harper, whose son Larry was killed by police officers.
6/25/98: Katherine Teupell was awarded a $235,000 settlement for claims against the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and the Albuquerque Police Department for their use of a “We don’t do blue” policy in dealing with an officer accused of beating his wife. Teupell alleged police extended “professional courtesy” to her husband, Scott Finley, a member of the Sheriff Department’s elite Crime Suppression Unit. Teupell testified she fled from her home with her children, 6 and 2, still in pajamas, on the night of Oct. 18, 1993, after Finley beat her. Teupell said that when she threatened to call police, Finley responded, “Go ahead and call. How can you break the law when you are the law?" Although the APD officer who responded to the call confiscated Finley's police revolver, other officers who took over at the scene returned it.
6/28/98: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was alleged to have punched motorist Kippy Rhoten in the face five times after pulling him over to tell him to turn his car stereo down. A Metro Court judge ruled Ahrensfield innocent, but the City Attorney’s office ended up paying a settlement of $20,000
7/1/98: TERESA REYES, MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD (Albq. PD): Teresa, 17, disappeared from the family home during the night. Police dubbed her a run-away, despite the fact that she took nothing with her, not even her wallet or crucially important medications. Since APD refused to investigate, Teresa’s mother, also named Teresa Reyes, sought help from other sources – ID Resource Center, Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Mayor’s Office, and the FBI. Those agencies would contact APD, who would assure them Teresa was a runaway and would come home when she was ready. In 2002, a PI received information that, on the night Teresa vanished, she met three strange men in a parking lot, who invited her to a party. Teresa wrote their phone number on a paper napkin with her lipstick. Teresa’s parents believe that Teresa sneaked out later to attend the party and met with foul play. Soon after that, Mrs. Reyes was mending a hole in Teresa’s favorite stuffed doll and found the napkin with the phone number hidden in the doll. The number was unlisted and no longer in service. The APD Missing Persons Dept. told Mrs. Reyes to have her PI fax all the case information to an APD detective. The PI did so, but nobody responded. Mrs. Reyes wrote to the police chief, begging his assistance. He didn’t respond. She, then, appealed to the Police Oversight Commission, and the police finally came to pick up the napkin. Three more years have now passed. Mrs. Reyes says, “Every time the phone rings my heart starts to pound, and I tell myself, ‘Maybe the police have been able to trace that phone number!’ But it’s never the police. I don’t think they remember who we are.”
8/19/98: The City of Rio Rancho settled with Bob and Frances James for an undisclosed amount after four police officers shot their son David to death as he stood on his parents’ front porch. Officers said they believed David was brandishing a gun. In truth he was holding a ceramic cross.
9/2/98: The family of Larry Harper was awarded a $200,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit claiming excessive force by police after family members called police to the Elena Gallegos picnic area for aid in subduing Harper, who was threatening to kill himself. After assuring the family that they were there only to talk to Harper, the APD SWAT-team shot Harper to death. “They told us the officers were only carrying ‘non-lethal rounds,’” said Larry’s brother, James Harper.
9/98: Albuquerque Tribune: The newly formed Police Oversight Commission is unable to function because of lack of cooperation from the Albuquerque Police Department. Although citizens have the right to appeal to the commission, which can offer its recommendations to the police chief, the chief does not have to act on those recommendations. Chief Galvin has never once gone along with a commission recommendation for increased discipline of an officer, and no officer named in a citizen complaint has ever shown up for a hearing. “We’ve been stonewalled,” the commission chairman told the media.
10/16/98: Albuquerque Journal: Former BCSO deputy Darryl Burt, now a federal inmate, has instigated a civil rights suit against the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department claiming he is owed back pay and benefits denied him after he was charged with 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy. In 7/99 a federal judge dismissed the suit.
10/24/98: Albuquerque Police Detective Cisco Martinez was accused of entrapment for hiring two girls from an escort service to come to his motel room and dance nude, which is not illegal. However, he then attempted get the women to touch his genital area and to allow him to fondle them. When they refused, stating that this would be illegal, he had them busted for prostitution anyway. The women were found innocent in court.
12/13/98: RAMONA DURAN SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Albq. PD) – Ramona was found dead of a drug overdose in the apartment of Thomas Green and Ricky Pike. The men told police the three had drunk beer and smoked crack all night. Yet an autopsy revealed no alcohol in Ramona’s system. The first officer at the scene reported a strong odor of gas and advised his sergeant it was a suspicious death. Two officers reported bruises on Ramona’s arms above the elbows, and a neighbor reported hearing a woman screaming. Ramona’s sister, Valerie Duran, believes Ramona was sedated with gas and forcibly injected with a lethal drug overdose. She confirms that Ramona once had a drug problem, but says she had turned her life around. At the time of her death Ramona was on supervised probation and enrolled in an out patient substance abuse program with regular testing. Her probation officer has stated that Ramona remained clean. Ramona had told family members that she feared for her life because she had fingered certain VIPs in the drug trade and police had leaked information that she was a snitch. Police will not allow Ramona’s family to view the scene photos or to speak with the officers at the scene or to the men in whose apartment Ramona died.
12/27/98: JOHN SHERMAN SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Sandoval County Sheriff’s Dept.): John was found in Rio Rancho, slashed and stabbed to death in the front seat of his van. Members of the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department transferred John’s body to the back of the van before taking crime scene photos and insist his death was a suicide, despite the finding of “homicide” by the former head of forensics at the Menninger clinic, who stated, “This wasn’t just murder – this was over-kill!” When John’s mother sought to have the case reopened she was informed that John’s case file had been destroyed.
2/26/99: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky released his police dog, Bart, on an unarmed teenager, Moriah Smith, who was hiding in a school yard after a boy she met at a party fired a gun and frightened her. Bart was supposedly sent in to locate Moriah and “guard and bark” to let Officers know where she was hiding. Instead, Bart ran into the schoolyard, located Moriah and immediately attacked her. Bart never bothered—or was ordered not—to bark. The attack left Moriah with four deep wounds that required three surgeries and a skin graft. Lehocky stated his supervisor, Sgt. Tom Garduno, told him, "Good job. I'm glad nobody died." A federal jury subsequently found Lehocky liable for the Moriah Smith attack. Lehocky was ordered to pay the $50,000 necessary to partially remove scars. Lehocky contended that Moriah must be a “bad” girl because his dog, Bart, would only bite “bad” people.
4/3/99: Albuquerque Journal: Former Sheriff’s Deputy, Michael Lee Disney, appeared before a US Magistrate on charges that he threatened DEA Agent Mike Marshall because of Marshall’s testimony against him.
4/15/99: STEPHANE MURPHEY HOMICIDE: Stephane was raped and strangled to death in her home in Rio Rancho. Her decomposed body was found four days later in her car, which was parked at an apartment complex in Albuquerque. APD and the Rio Rancho DPS were in conflict over who had jurisdiction. Eventually the Rio Rancho DPS claimed the case, despite the fact that they had no homicide department. It was only after years of relentless pressure by Stephane's family that RRDPS replaced the case investigator with one who was willing to submit the DNA evidence for testing. As a direct result of that testing, David F. Bologh was arrested and arraigned. Bond has been set at $1 million. (The family does not wish to be interviewed until after the trial.)
7/99: Albuquerque Journal - APD MODIFIES USE OF RUSE OPERATIONS – The APD SWAT-team had an officer pose as a burglar holed up in a car near the home of a murder suspect (a 12-year-old girl, Jade Gonzales, who had shot her father and claimed it was an accident). The SWAT team used the ruse of the fictional burglar to evacuate residents and secretly place an electronic eavesdropping device inside the Gonzales home. APD Chief Galvin said no officers were disciplined over the Jade Gonzales incident because they were following the department's standard operating procedures, but promised those procedures would be changed. Det. Steve Hall, one of the officers involved in that ruse, was named “Officer of the Month.”
Children’s Court Judge Tommy Jewell sharply criticized APD for stripping the 12-yr-old of her basic rights. Jewell found that the detectives didn't advise Jade of any rights, before or after they interrogated her without her mother or attorney present. Jewell wrote that Jade was the victim of "shocking, outrageous, and clearly intolerable" violations of her rights.
8/31/99: Former Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Estrada was convicted of retaliating against a witness who testified against him in 1997, when he was convicted of embezzlement.
9/3/99: Albuquerque Tribune: Retired APD Officer Philip Otero was arrested for impersonating an on-duty officer, stealing a motorist's money, and trying to bilk a 76-yr-old woman out of $2,000 casino earnings by going to her door and telling her to hand over the money because it might be counterfeit.
11/20/99: Albuquerque Tribune: A boot mark across the bridge of her boyfriend’s nose, due to a beating by Albuquerque Police Officers, caused Diane Holquist to call a special meeting of the Police Oversight Commission. Holquist charged excessive brutality that went unpunished when the officers were cleared by a police internal affairs investigation. Holquist attempted to enlist the help of the Commission to mandate that all officers involved in internal affairs complaints take lie detector tests. “It is the last chance for citizens to be assured of credibility from the police force,” she said. Holquist had gathered over 1,000 signatures on a petition seeking mandatory lie detector tests. The Police Oversight Commission did not have the power to help her in this matter.
12/7/99: BENEDICT ESQUIVEL HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Benny, 14, was the victim of a gang-related shooting in 1992. He was shot in the neck and survived seven and a half years as a quadriplegic before he died of complications from respirator use. Benny’s father, Juan Esquivel, says two girls came to the hospital immediately after the shooting and told him the names of the killers and the motel where they were holed up. Juan gave that information to Det. Ronald Merriman, (see “Kaitlyn Arquette Case” and “Curtis Lindsey Case), who told Juan he hand-delivered the information to the APD Gang Squad. No investigation was done, and police now claim they never received the information. After Benny died, police told reporters they would reopen the case as a homicide and start tracking down witnesses. They now claim that the case is too old to investigate.
2/27/00: STEPHANIE HOUSTON HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Stephanie died when her jealous and abusive boyfriend, Patrick Murillo, ran her over with his truck after he saw her dancing with another man. OMI urged that the death be investigated as a homicide. Within days, scene investigator, Mark McCracken, (see “Melanie McCracken Case”), was telling the media that NMSP had fully investigated the case and Stephanie caused her own death because she was falling-down drunk. In truth, they had questioned no witnesses, done no reconstruction, and the toxicology test showed Stephanie had consumed about one beer. Stephanie’s father, Bill Houston, conducted his own investigation, questioning witnesses and accumulating information. In July 2002, Bill was charged with stalking because of his efforts to acquire information about Murillo. In May 2003, an investigative reporter exposed NMSP’s mishandling of the case, accusing them of glossing over possible domestic violence and failing to follow fundamental investigative techniques including never conducting an accident reconstruction. The case was then reopened and in Dec. 2003, Murillo was indicted for vehicular homicide
4/10/00: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sent with other officers to respond to a call that resident Jimmy Castillo had threatened to commit suicide. As Mr. Castillo walked from his residence, unarmed, on the order of the police (who had promised him that his pastor was outside waiting for him), Lehocky unleashed his attack dog, Bart, and issued the “fass” (attack command). The attack resulted in serious bites on Mr. Castillo’s ankles, thighs, and calves.
4/23/00: APD Officer Tom Benard committed “aggravated battery with a deadly weapon” by beating a handcuffed homicide suspect with a metal baton. (It was later confirmed that the suspect was the wrong person.) The suspect sustained head injuries. A police belt tape recorded Benard telling a colleague, “I popped him one good in the head for you.” An Internal Affairs Investigation found sufficient evidence to support allegations of excessive force.
4/25/00 APD Officer Andrew Lehocky burst into a private residence, with no search warrant, because a “meth” lab was supposedly inside. His attack dog, “Bart,” was then sent in and attacked Maureen Patterson-Montgomery, while she was sitting in her bathtub, terrified.
5/29/00 APD Officer Andrew Lehocky intercepted a call for a routine officer response to a reported neighbor disturbance. Arriving on the scene, Lehocky believed that one neighbor, David Chamberlain, threw some garbage at him. Lehocky responded by ordering his dog, Bart, to attack. Bart, however, refused to attack and maul the unresisting man. Lehocky then pulled Mr. Chamberlin out of a parked car, slammed him on the ground, picked Bart up, placed Bart with his muzzle to Chamberlin’s legs and, again, ordered Bart to attack. Bart attacked while Lehocky began dragging Chamberlain on the ground. Mr. Chamberlin received serious injury to his legs, back, and stomach.
6/1/00: Albuquerque Journal: JUDGE REFUSES TO QUASH EX-APD SGT’S SUIT AGAINST CITY-- A federal judge rejected a request to throw out a 1999 lawsuit alleging APD retaliated against former police sergeant David Guzman for speaking out against alleged discrimination and misconduct. Guzman, who took early retirement after 22 years with APD, mostly with a unit dealing with drug interdiction, alleged he was passed over six times for promotion to lieutenant and transferred to a section consisting of street-level detectives because he was an outspoken member of two unions representing Hispanic officers and because he complained about alleged police misconduct. The lawsuit said Guzman told supervisors about an APD captain involved in a domestic dispute involving a gun. He said, during that investigation, he found 58 phone calls made from the captain's home to a known drug dealer and that officers severely beat up a drug informant.
7/9/00: Albuquerque Journal: APD Officer Robert Middleton chased pedestrian, William Lancaster, 18, and ran over him with his police car, causing numerous broken bones and brain damage. Lancaster was suspected of planning to shoplift a six-pack of beer.
9/5/00: APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his 80-pound attack dog, Bart, on Eddie Mae Patterson, an unarmed homeless woman who was asleep at the time. Another city officer allegedly slapped the wounded Patterson, who is black, and used ethnic slurs against her while she was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital. Patterson was left strapped to a gurney for seven hours and wasn’t allowed proper follow-up medical care for the deep gash on her arm after she was booked into Bernalillo County Detention Center. LeHocky and Bart had recently been recognized with an "Officer of the Month" award. This case was settled for $210,000.00
4/15/01: CRYSTAL HOUSTON HOMICIDE (Socorro PD): Crystal was found dead in her home, severely beaten with blunt force injuries to her legs, arms, neck and head, just 14 months after the death of her sister, Stephanie (see “Stephanie Houston Case.”) Crystal’s blouse was pulled up over her head, her bra had been torn off and her pants were pulled down around her ankles. The OMI listed the cause of death as undetermined because Crystal also had some drugs and alcohol in her system. A prison escapee, who had been in Crystal's home on the night of her death, was found in another city with Crystal's car after trying to cash Crystal's checks, but police said that without a definitive cause of death they could not arrest him. It took until June 2003 and extensive pressure from the media for the state lab to ship DNA evidence that had been submitted to the state crime lab at the time of her death to a lab in California to be processed. Final DNA results are still pending, though preliminary tests match the prison escapee. A special prosecutor has finally been appointed after the Socorro District Attorney refused to prosecute.
4/17/01: Deputy Chief Ray Schultz announced that eight to ten APD officers faced punishment for a 1999 plot to illegally steal premium satellite television service by downloading computer software that allowed them to reprogram subscription cards. Schultz stated that none of the officers would be dismissed, but would be “reminded that they shouldn’t do things like that.”
6/6/01: Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy Tom Lujan and other unnamed deputies, seized and arrested Michael Bradford, 16, as he and his sister Robin, 15, waited for their mother to pick them up after a concert. There had been fights at the concert, but the Bradford children were not involved. Deputies arrested and handcuffed Michael, threw him onto the hood of a squad car, kneed him in the groin, knocked him to the ground and kicked and beat him until he lost consciousness. They grabbed Robin, tore her shirt off, and called her a “whore.” A civil rights suit contended the assault occurred "because Michael was a young black man close enough for officers to grab." The charges against Michael were later dropped. The Bradfords’ civil suits claiming excessive use of force, false arrest, malicious prosecution and negligence were settled out for $45,000.
8/15/01: Albuquerque Journal: Former APD Officer Matt Griffin, serving a life sentence in NM State Prison, attacked a guard with a home-made knife. Griffin had at least two dozen other serious misconduct reports involving property damage and attacks on inmates and officers. "He's a repetitive security challenge for this facility," said prison spokesperson, Gerges Scott.
8/29/01: APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, supervisor of officers assigned to public schools, was indicted on sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl who was staying the night with one of Garcia’s daughters. (When he was tried in 2004, the jury was deadlocked, and the prosecutors did seek a retrial.)
8/31/01: APD Officer Cliff Saylor loosed his Belgian Malinois attack dog, Buddy, on Billy Booker and Pauline Extrada, a homeless couple who were sleeping on the porch of a downtown building. The City tried to settle the case with the victims at 4 a.m., three hours after the attack, while the two were at a hospital on pain medication, thus violating a state law that prohibits immediate settlements while a person is hospitalized. Booker couldn’t even read the paperwork he was asked to sign because he is illiterate.
10/31/01: Off-duty Albuquerque police officer, Tom Sholtis, encountered Deena Tanberg, (the wife of an Albuquerque FBI agent), chatting with a woman friend in a public park after hours. Sholtis ordered the two women to come toward him, and when they didn’t instantly comply, Sholtis “violently slammed Deena Tanberg to the ground, fracturing her arm and causing her ligament damage.” The audiotape from Officer Sholtis’s belt-mounted recorder reflects that he grabbed Deena and broke her arm within 20 seconds of first encountering her, before she had even determined that Sholtis was, indeed, a law enforcement officer.
11/01: Three police officers from the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety were investigated for Cable theft after a citywide sting. All three investigations were dropped. One officer, Scott Kellogg, was promoted to lieutenant.
11/9/01: Albuquerque Journal: Department of Justice auditors are questioning how the Albuquerque Police Department spent up to $1.5 million in grant money that was supposed to be used to hire officers.
11/10/01: Albuquerque Journal: The Police Oversight Commission announced that the Albuquerque Police Department has installed an "early warning system" that will identify officers whose behavior or performance may be slipping. The first report indicated that 10 officers and two sergeants should be evaluated. The combined records for the dozen officers identified included 62 uses of force, four lawsuits filed, and nine internal investigations.
11/10/01: Albuquerque Journal: APD MISTREATED MENTALLY DISABLED MAN - The sister of Fred Hildebrandt, a mentally retarded man, is suing Albuquerque police for leaving her brother shackled for almost five hours at his home. The Albuquerque Police Department said they hasn't reviewed the July 16 shackling incident so could not comment.
12/01: Albuquerque Journal: The Albuquerque Police Department admitted to the incoming mayor, Martin Chavez, that they may have gone nearly $6 million over budget this year.
2/7/02: Albuquerque Journal: The budget shortfall that forced city officials to consider layoffs and spending cuts grew by another $1 million as the Albuquerque Police Department found yet another $1 million in over-spending.
2/14/02: Albuquerque Tribune: Two APD officers shot Leon Casey Arthur to death outside a motel when he allegedly make a “threatening approach,” brandishing what officers say they thought was a weapon. The item in Arthur’s hand was a hairbrush.
2/02: Officer Aaron Julian, Rio Rancho Dept. of Public Safety, was indicted for five felony counts of child abuse. The DA failed to send a Grand Jury Target letter so all charges were dropped. Aaron Julian's wife was then arrested and charged with the five felony counts.
4/7/02: APD Officer Craig O'Neil, a seven-year veteran who worked as a field investigator, was booked into the Bernalillo Detention Center on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and false imprisonment.
4/22/02: Albuquerque Journal: Within minutes of initiating a chase of a man suspected of criminal trespass, an unidentified APD officer had the suspect face down and limp, kicking him so many times that a bystander stepped in to stop him. When the officer dragged the suspect backward by the handcuffs, the bystander intervened again, trying to help the man get up and walk. The bystander, who didn't know the suspect, repeatedly asked for the officer's badge number. But the officer wouldn't respond. This same officer was the recipient of three other complaints in two years — improperly macing and punching a suspect; swerving in and out of traffic; and improperly shooting a Rottweiler. He wasn't found to be at fault in any of the cases.
5/23/02: During an arrest by APD, Detective Gerald Hicks observed a bystander taking notes. Hicks asked to see the notes, and the bystander, David Shaw, stated they were personal notes and were none of the detective’s business. Hicks responded by grabbing Shaw in a chokehold and throwing him to the ground, confiscated the notes, and filed a criminal complaint against Shaw for refusing to obey him.
5/26/02, Albuquerque Journal: APD DOG BITES COST CITY MORE THAN $940,000: The city of Albuquerque, over the past decade, has paid more than $725,000 to settle APD dog-bite claims. Meanwhile, private lawyers defending K-9 officers in ongoing lawsuits have billed the city another $217,000 in fees and costs over the past two years. Police dogs have bitten dozens of citizens who were neither armed nor violent. In some cases, police gave no verbal warning a dog would be unleashed. Officers in several cases allowed their dogs to continue biting suspects after the initial apprehension. In one case, an unarmed suspect was ordered to walk toward a police officer with the police dog still clenching her buttock.
6/8/02, Albuquerque Journal: The city-county jail paid former inmate, Vincent Cordova, a $25,000 settlement for injuries sustained in fights between inmates, orchestrated by corrections officers, who arranged the fights and cheered and made bets on the results.
6/11/02: TROY PINO SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Santa Rosa PD): Troy died four days after a brutal assault by his girlfriend’s ex-husband, Edward Lucero. Witnesses reported that the 260-pound Lucero knocked Troy to the floor, beat him with his fists and kicked him repeatedly with steel-tipped shoes. The first officer at the scene was Lucero’s nephew, Officer Justin Anaya. The second to arrive was Officer Anthony Ortega. Neither officer was certified. Although Troy was calling out for help, the officers made no attempt to stop the assault. Instead, Officer Anaya, sprayed him in the face with mace. The supervising officer, Officer Joe E. Martinez, who arrived slightly after that, was Lucero’s best friend. He terminated the assault by physically restraining Lucero. No arrests were made and no charges filed. No medical attention was sought for Troy. Although there were seven other witnesses, police made no mention of Lucero’s assault in their reports. The following day, Officer Martinez forced Troy out of his girlfriend's car as they prepared to drive to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Martinez followed Troy for several hours. Troy went to a friend's house where he fell ill from the beating and was transported to the hospital in Santa Rosa. He was airlifted to UNMH where he died.
7/02. Rio Rancho Observer: Sandoval County Sheriff Deputy Pete Montoya was indicted on 18 counts of criminal sexual contact with a 5-yr-old child. (Montoya was the lead detective in the John Sherman case, 12/27/98.)
1/28/03: RUSSELL CAGE SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Bloomfield PD and Farmington PD): Russell died of a gunshot wound to the head outside the trailer home of his girlfriend, Sylvia Anaya. Police closed the case as a suicide with no investigation and without even seeing the autopsy report. The gun, which was not Russell’s, was not identified or processed for prints. The sizes of the head wounds indicate that the entry wound was most likely on the left side of Russell’s head. Russell was right handed. According to police, the bullet passed through Russell’s head, made an 86-degree turn, and continued on through the wall of the trailer, striking the headboard of Sylvia’s bed and dropping to the carpet. Russell stood 5’10” and the bullet hole in the trailer is less that 4’ from the ground. Sylvia’s brother, Isaac Anaya, is linked to the Eastside Brown Pride Gang. Russell had been telling people that members of that gang were involved in the beating and shooting death of a man named Dominic Martinez. Russell even claimed that the weapons had been hidden in Sylvia’s trailer home. Three weeks prior to Russell’s death, Russell was in a fight with a member of the Brown Pride Gang who threatened to kill him. One gang member reportedly has brothers on both the Bloomfield Police Force and the San Juan Sheriff’s Dept.
5/3/03: Karen Yontz was chased down in her car and shot to death by two Albuquerque Police Officers who suspected her of robbing a bank. Yontz was a longtime criminal investigator with both the Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Office in Santa Fe and a former Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy. At the time of her death, Yontz was building a case against Municipal Judge Charles Maestas, who was facing 28 criminal charges of trading judicial favors for sex with women who appeared before his court. She was also investigating the Russell Cage case (see above).
5/15/03: APD Officer Bryan Killinger was fined $15,000 for unlawful detention and excessive force against a bicyclist, Jackie Shane. Killinger did a U-turn in front of Shane, almost causing an accident. When she called out to him to use a turn signal, he grabbed her by the head and pulled her off her bike, throwing it to the ground and stomping on the rear wheel. He, then, hit her, handcuffed her, and threatened to file false charges against her.
6/20/03: Albq. Journal: APD Officer Duane Currell was indicted on charges he coerced a woman into exposing herself and then grabbed her during a traffic stop.
6/22/03: Bernalillo County deputies were called to the home of police-watchdog activist Gilbert Elizondo and his wife after the death of his wife’s mother, who died of natural causes. Sgt. Natalie Jasler tried to prevent Mrs. Elizondo from viewing her mother's body, and when Elizondo stepped in to block a blow by Jasler to his wife, Jazler slapped and kicked the couple. Elizondo was then arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer. Jasler kneed Elizondo in the groin several times while he was handcuffed and other deputies held him. Jasler’s charges against Elizondo were later dropped
6/27/03: Albq. Journal: APD Officer Christopher Chase was indicted on 32 counts of using his official vehicle to stop motorists for sex. Charges include felony counts of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, criminal sexual penetration of alleged victims of both sexes including minors and eight petty misdemeanor counts of battery. The indictment suggests Chase took care to avoid apprehension, in one instance forcing the victim to wash her hands of evidence with a sanitizer.
7/11/03: Albq. Journal: The Police Oversight Commission discovers that APD Chief Gil Gallegos overstepped his authority by arbitrarily reversing the commission’s findings in two police-shooting cases, exonerating the officers and classifying the shootings as justified. Gallegos said in commission documents that the case files were his and he could change the findings at any time.
8/03: APD has agreed to investigate its evidence unit in regard to the auctioning off of evidence and money missing from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department. An informant has made claims that evidence has been destroyed and that "APD management has helped to cover up the crimes."
10/30/03, Albq. Journal: Albuquerque police and Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies chased Toni Osborn, a 5-foot tall, 50-year-old activist, who had been circulating a petition seeking the removal of the mayor. They pinned her vehicle against an embankment, sprayed her with Mace, and sicced a police dog on her. The dog pulled Osborn half out of her vehicle and, once she was on the ground, remained locked on her arm while she was handcuffed before being taken to the hospital. "They (the police and dog) practically took her left arm off. They beat her. Her face is swollen to twice its size," said her husband, Loyd Osborn.” Police explained they’d been told that Osborn was “armed and dangerous.” Osborn, who was not armed, underwent two surgeries to save her arm.
10/31/03, Albq. Journal: NM State Police Officer Tomas Maes, shot a neighbor child’s Golden Retriever puppy in the face with a 45-caliber handgun, because it wandered into his yard after the neighbor, Vanessa Salizar, 12, accidentally left a gate open. Officer Maes explained he was concerned about the safety of his son who was playing next door at his parents' home. The State Police exonerated Maes of any wrongdoing. The dog survived the shooting but a few days later was poisoned.
10/31/03: New Mexico State Police Lt. Mark McCracken was indicted for the “willful, premeditated and deliberate” first degree murder of his wife, Melanie McCracken, and for evidence tampering. (See 8/5/95.) In addition, grand jurors requested that another grand jury be empanelled to "review the conduct" of the State Police in the inquiry.
10/1/03: HARRIET MOLDOV-TAYLOR RAPE AND HOMICIDE: Harriet, a disabled woman who lived alone, was found unconscious, in a diabetic coma, and bleeding from her mouth and rectum in her apartment. She died three days later. The OMI report described deep vaginal tears and ruled the cause of death strokes and blood loss caused by a violent sexual attack. APD refused to accept the possibility that anyone would enjoy raping a woman who was disabled and overweight and insisted Harriet’s injuries had to be self-inflicted. They have threatened to file a complaint against the first doctor who examined Harriet and are trying to convince the Medical Examiner to change her report to mesh with their own speculations.
12/8/03: Former NM Sheriff’s deputy James Trujillo was accused of robbing a woman at gunpoint in front of a Los Lunas bank and taking $20,000.
12/30/03: Albq. Journal-- Valencia County Magistrate John Sanchez, a former State Police officer himself, filed a federal civil rights suit against the New Mexico State Police for harassment of him and his family in retaliation for his attempts to persuade authorities to investigate NMSP Lt. Mark McCracken. (See 10/31/03).
12/31/03, Albq. Journal: Money, jewelry, gold coins, guns, and other items of value are alleged to be missing from the APD Evidence Unit. Chief Gallegos states this could be “anything from theft to poor record keeping.” The issue is classified as “an internal personnel matter.” No employees in the evidence unit had been disciplined or fired.
4/03: Defense attorney Ray Twohig sends a letter to the Attorney General’s Office requesting they investigate $7,000 in gold coins missing from the APD evidence room. He receives no response.
6/5/03: The Holguin family was terrorized by APD officers who stormed the house, guns blazing; blasted the door off its hinges; pelted the home with flash-gun grenades, and handcuffed all five family members. The officers, led by Capt. Robbin Burge, knocked the 80-yr-old grandmother, Carmen Holguin, to the floor and injured her so severely she had to be rushed to the hospital. They, then, swigged drinks from the refrigerator, threw the search warrant on the floor, and left. The Holguins had no criminal history and were never charged with anything. Police had stormed the wrong house. In 2002, Capt. Burge was named APD’s Plain Clothes Officer of the Year.
8/03: Defense attorney Ray Twohig again sends a letter to the Attorney General’s Office requesting they investigate $7,000 in gold coins missing from the evidence room. He again receives no response.
Aug. 2003:
A routine inspection of the evidence unit flags concerns over evidence that was mishandled at a police auction. APD Chief Gallegos orders an internal audit to investigate possible problems.
12/31/03: Nick Bakas, Albq.'s chief public safety officer, tells the press he has no knowledge of any internal audit of the APD evidence unit. However, APD Chief Gallegos confirms that there is such an audit. "We're looking at potential Standard Operating Procedure violations," he tells the media. That could mean anything from theft to poor record-keeping.
1/04: APD removes two employees from the evidence unit, after money is found missing. They are reassigned to a different division of APD.
1/9/04: Albq. Journal--The Police Oversight Commission found APD Officer Jay Rowland guilty of using unreasonable force during an unwarranted attack on Lane Leckman during an anti-war demonstration on March 20, 2003.
1/21/04: Albq. Tribune: DEATH CASES ANGER KIN: VICTIMS’ FAMILIES UNITE, SEEK GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY IN INVESTIGATIONS: Families of 24 NM homicide victims are fed up with law enforcement agencies they say have botched or covered up investigations, allowing dozens of killers to go free. Today they are also fed up with keeping silent.
“Our family is one of many in the Land of Enchantment who are forced to battle the very system that is supposedly here to protect and serve us in order to obtain justice for our murdered loved ones,” said Gabino Venegas Jr., whose son was killed in a 1998 hit-and-run crash that a private investigator claims was caused by a sheriff’s vehicle. Family members are uniting under the name New Mexico Justice Project to demand better accountability from law enforcement agencies. The agencies include the Albq. PD, Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety, NM State Police, Sandoval Co. Sheriff’s Dept, and the police departments of Socorro, Gallup, Santa Rosa, Bloomfield, Farmington and the Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators.
2/04, Albq. Journal: Chris Jones sues APD to get back $10,000 cops seized from him in 2001 in a criminal case he was never charged in. The money, which was in a locked safe in his home, and was from a settlement Jones received from an automobile accident. The lawsuit is asking a federal judge to stop APD and the city from indefinitely holding seized property without following state forfeiture procedures.
2/28/04, Albq. Journal: A surveillance video show nine guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo county beating three shackled inmates as they are being checked into the facility. The inmates were forced into a wall face first, struck in the face with a fist, and viciously beaten for 17 minutes.
3/4/04, Albq. Journal: The Attorney General has initiated an investigation of theft of "thousands of dollars in cash, drugs, guns, jewelry and other high dollar items" from the APD evidence room and is looking at APD’s handling of their own alleged investigation of this situation. An anonymous letter to the AG’s office claims that evidence was destroyed and that "APD management has even helped to cover up the crimes."
3/4/04, KRQE TV Evening News: Total of thefts from APD Evidence Room could equal hundreds of thousands of dollars. “One difficulty in uncovering this story has been the widespread reluctance of rank and file officers to talk about the problem. Again and again officers told KRQE News 13 that they've been warned their jobs are at stake if they talk.”
3/5/04, KRQE TV Evening News: At least a dozen corrections officers are suspected in the repeated and premeditated assault of three inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The Bernalillo County Sheriff's office is investigating the incident at MDC, and Sheriff Darren White says he expects criminal charges to be filed.
3/5/04: City Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland paid a surprise visit to APD’s transfer station to the Metropolitan Detention Center in response to complaints from concerned citizens alleging prisoners were being beaten up by officers. At 11 p.m., Rowland discovered numerous atrocities, including 27 prisoners crammed into a 12x15’ holding room; two prisoners handcuffed outside the facility in the cold, one with his pants down and shoes off for two hours, the other with no coat and no shoes.
3/11/04: The APD transfer center was shut down due to Rowland’s report. Police officers will now have to personally transport prisoners to the Metropolitan Detention Center almost 20 miles west of town.
3/12/04, KRQE TV: Suspended prison guard, Ted Arana, who is under investigation for his role in the brutal beating of inmates, gives a motivational speech to hundreds of students at West Mesa High School, describing how he assaulted inmates regularly. The school district says the Corrections Dept. was responsible for selecting Arana to send to the school.
3/18/04, Albq. Journal: It has now been determined that 12 to 20 jail guards or staff, including supervisors, were involved in the Feb. 24 beating of three shackled inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Mayor Martin Chavez said there is a culture at the jail that allows the mistreatment of prisoners. “These idiots have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars" (in civil suits, etc.)
3/18/04, Albq. Journal: Valencia County sheriff's deputy Michael Gabaldon is indicted on four counts of fourth-degree-felony perjury charges for lying under oath about the results of a breath alcohol test he administered.
4/17/04, KRQE News: Inmate James Barber was hospitalized after Cibola County Center Director John Gould shot him with almost a dozen rounds of from a powerful rubber bullet gun. Barber was naked in his cell when the assault occurred. The company that manufacturers the rubber bullet gun says the weapon is very powerful and used in prison riots and crowd control situations. The F.B.I. says a grand jury indicted Gould on similar charges when he was employed at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces.
4/30/04: Chief Judge John Brennan of Albuquerque was arrested at a DWI checkpoint and charged with drug possession and tampering with evidence.
7/8/04: The arrest of Judge Brennan for drug possession spurred the disclosure of a confidential narcotics report alleging that Brennan’s cocaine use was known by law enforcement officers for years. The report also includes information about drug activities involving numerous other prominent New Mexicans. “It draws on a variety of sources and reads like a Who’s Who of New Mexico drug underworld,” said KRQE TV reporter Larry Barker. “Judges, lawyers, politicians, sports celebrities and prominent businessmen appear in the report right along side the State’s narcotics kingpins.” David Iglesias, US Attorney for New Mexico, called the detailed document about drug smuggling and money laundering in New Mexico “a page-turner I couldn’t put down.”
7/19/04: The trial of APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, indicted for sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl (see 8/29.01) ended in a locked jury. The prosecutor has dropped charges because the girl does not want to go through a retrial.
8/03/04, KRQE News: NM State police officer accused of sexually assaulting a female domestic violence victim in the pack of his patrol car has resigned after a multi-agency investigation into the allegations. His name will not be released.
12/16/04, Albq. Journal: An APD officer stole $700 from a man he arrested for drunken driving, according to an investigation conducted by the city's Independent Review Office. On the day he was to take a polygraph, the officer resigned. APD will not release the officer’s name.
12/21/04, Albq. Journal -- APD officials say they still don't know if guns, weapons, drugs, jewelry and money are missing from their evidence room, despite a nine-month criminal investigation. A review conducted by a private company reports that "no one (in the evidence room) can say that there is not evidence missing at this time." Police officials said it was up to the Attorney General's Office— not them— to figure out what if anything is missing.
12/29/04, Albq. Journal: Lack of action by APD leadership may have allowed employees of APD's Evidence Unit to destroy traces of wrongdoing in order to avoid criminal prosecution, according to Larry Sonntag, commander of APD's Inspections and Accreditation Unit. After problems with the evidence unit came to light, preventive action was not taken to restrict the destruction of evidence for a full year. "During that time period, numerous computer and paper records were lost, altered or destroyed to the extent that limited if any criminal prosecution is possible now," Sonntag stated.
12/2004: Dec. 2004: A teenage male was awarded $17,000 for his claim that APD Officer Christopher Chase beat him with a flashlight in September 2002.
1/20/05, Albq. Journal: A State Police narcotics agent has resigned amid an FBI investigation stemming from allegations he was dealing drugs.
2/05: A brownish liquid is allegedly spotted near a plastic tub used to store evidence from methamphetamine cases. APD hires a hazardous removal company to dispose of contaminated evidence. The chemical damage and cleanup destroy evidence from hundreds of cases.
2/12/05, Albq. Trib.: APD Officer Christopher Chase was found guilty of assault, battery, false imprisonment and loss of due process for raping a woman in the back seat of his squad car. The victim was awarded $ 943,380. "Frankly, I think you can sleep very well with that verdict," Senior U.S. District Judge John Conway told the jurors.
3/9/05: APD officers discover untagged drugs, guns, and money lying around the evidence room with no record of where they came from.
3/05: Capt. Marie Miranda, overseer of the APD evidence unit, writes Chief Gallegos a letter informing him that in Feb., 2005, the cleanup of a hazardous chemical destroyed evidence from hundreds of drug cases. Evidence from homicide and sexual assault cases were also "compromised." At least 20% of those cases are still pending. Miranda insists that the department had an ethical obligation to notify the District Attorney's Office, which it didn’t do.
3/10/05: APD Capt Ron Paiz, who ordered an investigation into high-ranking members of the police department, is removed from his position overseeing the internal affairs unit. Instead, the unit will report directly to the chief. "I don't know why I was removed,” Paiz said. “No explanation was given to me.”
3/05: Chris Jones files a suit against APD and the city asserting that, when her boyfriend was arrested by police in a domestic violence case, police searched their apartment, broke open a safe and took $10,000 in cash. Jones says she has tried to get the money back, but the police refuse to turn it over.
3/05: Three federal lawsuits are filed by attorneys who claim APD lost property belonging to their clients. In all three cases, the attorneys are representing people who were never prosecuted.
3/11/05: A majority of Albuquerque's city councilors say it’s time they stepped in and examine the problems at APD. Council member Eric Griego calls for a city council hearing on the evidence-room problems.
3/11/05: APD Officers Union votes "no confidence" in Deputy Chief Ed Sauer’s leadership because of problems in the APD evidence room.
3/15/05: Police disclose that the chemical leak in the APD evidence unit destroyed evidence in 235 cases, at least 20% of which are still pending.
3/17/05: Whistle-blower, APD Capt. Miranda, who reported the chemical leak, is placed on administrative leave and asked to turn in her badge, gun and squad car.
3/18/05: A gun from a murder case that is supposed to go to trial is missing from the APD evidence room. APD did not inform the prosecutors.
3/19/05: APD Sgt. Cynthia Orr gave a media interview, starting out, “This is probably going to end my career.” Orr said Chief Gilbert Gallegos failed to act despite repeated warnings of evidence theft. Orr said that, in Aug. 2003, she identified two people who were stealing in the evidence room, but Gallegos allowed them to continue to work there, which enabled them to destroy evidence that would have proven their guilt. She said she discovered thefts when property went to auction and the list of property taken out of the evidence room was longer than the list of property the auctioneer received. "Am I implicating the chief is assisting to do this cover-up? Absolutely. Do I know this is a dangerous accusation to make? Absolutely. But I know this is something that needs to be done." Orr said a deputy chief forbade her to send reports of missing evidence to the records department, because they didn’t want it to become public record that things were missing. She said officers under criminal investigations for such things as DUI or domestic violence were allowed to work in the evidence room where they could oversee the evidence in their own criminal cases.
3/22/05: While pounding on a lectern, Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos told city councilors he has been personally attacked over evidence room problems. Cuncilor, Eric Griego, brought to the meeting 15 e-mails from officers who feared speaking out because of possible retaliation.
3/22/05: Charlene Perez filed a suit claiming the APD evidence room “lost” $100,000 worth of her family jewelry wouldn’t return it despite a court order.
3/23/05: Sgt. Orr says deputy chiefs encouraged other officers to retaliate because she spoke out. This occurred at two citywide meetings attended by hundreds of officers who were ordered to be there.
3/25/05: Four Albuquerque police employees— including two officers— are implicated in the disappearance of $75,000-$200,000 in money from the evidence room. Investigators from the state AG Office say drugs may also have been removed because "we have discovered a way that this could have occurred without anyone detecting." Police employees were able to move evidence out of inventory by falsifying auction documents, manipulating APD’s evidence tracking system and using computer access codes of other employees.
3/30/05: The list of valuable property from evidence room that has been sold at auction or “taken to the dump” continues to grow. An example of such items is a $15,000 plasma TV set, evidence in a white-collar crime investigation, which was supposed to be returned to the owner after the trial. Evidence room personnel state they took the TV to the dump because it had a crack in it.
3/3/05: Mayor Martin Chavez tell the media, “"When you have a department where there are accusations, counter-accusations, lieutenants accusing captains, captains accusing deputy chiefs, deputy chiefs accusing captains, that is a department in disarray." Whereupon Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos resigns.
3/31/05: In a furious tirade, laced with profanity, APD Deputy Chief Paul Chavez warned his lieutenants that if they ever openly criticized the administration he would yank them from their command. Lt. Joseph Byers taped the diatribe and filed a complaint with athe city’s Labor Management Board. "He was trying to intimidate us,” Byers said. “Others will not come forward because they are scared."
4/7/03: It’s disclosed that In Feb. 03, an APD freezer containing more than 1,600 samples of blood, urine, saliva and other evidence from rapes and homicides was shut down because of a freon leak, causing some materials to thaw. 40 criminal cases may be affected, at least 15 homicides and 10 rapes. The police and the DA’s office withheld that information from defense attorneys, who continued to construct their cases on contaminated evidence.
4/24/05: Three federal lawsuits have been filed against APD alleging the department lost or failed to return more than $16,000 that was seized from people who were never charged with a crime.
5/21/05, Albq. Journal: The Department of Public Safety paid $300,000 to settle a tort claim by black former State Police officer Dexter Brock. On May 22, 2000, UMSP officers forced Brock out of his squad car with mace, dragged him across a parking lot, handcuffed him to a telephone pole in the dark, and photographed his humiliation, while calling him “nigger” and other racial slurs. Police say the officers were disciplined, but won't say who they were or what the punishment was.
5/22/05. Albq. Journal: APD is the subject of five personal injury lawsuits in which victims were injured or killed in Officer-Involved car crashes and APD lost witness statements, didn't interview people who saw the crashes, or refused to turn over evidence to the plaintiffs.
Among those cases: Christine Roessner was the passenger on a motorcycle on Oct. 18, 2003, when a police officer cut them off, stopped suddenly and caused the motorcycle to crash. Roessner was left paralyzed and with permanent brain damage
The APD report did not mention the car was a police car and stated only that motorcycle failed to slow down for traffic. The report said there were no witness statements because people who saw the crash would not cooperate with officers. However, Roessner's attorney found two witnesses who said they gave statements to police. APD attorneys then acknowledged that there were witness statements but they were accidentally lost.
Abel Trujillo was killed on 4/2/04 when a police car ran a stop sign and struck his car. APD said they could find no witnesses, but insist the officer had his lights and sirens on. However a PI found several witnesses who saw the crash and claim the lights and sirens were not on. The city will settle out of court.
Patrick Moser and Marcy Mease sued the city in 2003, claiming an APD officer was negligent when he ran a red light and slammed into a van they were in. Their attorneys sought sanctions after they tried for seven months to get copies of radio transmissions, accident measurements and copies of recordings from officers' belt recorders. The city eventually settled for $125,000.
5-25-05, Albq. Tribune: APD vice unit detective Timothy Chavez, a 13 yr. Veteran of APD, recipient of the 1998 Law Enforcement Officer/Hero of the Year Award, is charged with the kidnap and rape of a 14-yr-old girl he “met” on a dating phone line.
5-25-05 -- NMSP Officers Thomas Morrissey and Saul Canialis got drunk and cussed out two APD officers, insisting they were superior because they were state police and APD was just city. Things escalated until nine APD officers subdued and arrested their State Police counterparts.
Source:
Police in New Mexico have a long and on-going track record of murder, bank robbery, kidnapping, extortion, sex crimes, burglary, drug dealing, aggravated battery, auto theft, fraud, brutality, entrapment, the planting and/or destruction of evidence, intimidation of witnesses, and – above all – the cover-up of crimes committed by police officers. According to the battered wife of Deputy Scott Finley, a member of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department’s elite Crime Suppression Unit, when she threatened to call 911 to report a vicious beating, her husband’s response was: “Go ahead and call. How can you break the law when you are the law?”
This corruption is in no way limited to cops on the street. It exists at management levels and extends to the very top echelons of New Mexico law enforcement:
*Lt. John B. Gallegos, supervisor of the APD Internal Affairs Unit, was caught burglarizing a liquor store while on duty.
*Deputy Darryl Burt, senior officer in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department Gang Unit, was charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration, and other felonies in connection with the traffic stop of a 24-yr-old male, as well as 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy. He was also found guilty of drug trafficking charges.
*APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his 80-pound attack dog on a homeless woman who was asleep at the time. This was the same Andrew LeHocky who had just been named “Officer of the Month.”
*APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, supervisor of officers assigned to public schools, was indicted on sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl who was staying the night with one of his daughters. (When he was tried in 2004, the jury was deadlocked, and the prosecutors did not seek a retrial.)
*The APD Intelligence Unit, under the supervision of Sgt. Joseph Polisar, was accused of illegally creating and maintaining secret dossiers on innocent political figures. The only possible use for such dossiers would be to exert influence and pressure on those politicians. When the existence of the dossiers became known, they were burned to prevent their inspection. Sgt. Polisar was subsequently elevated to Chief of Police.
The following abbreviated overview of corruption in New Mexico law enforcement is merely the tip of the iceberg. Since information from Internal Affairs investigations is not available to the public, and a 1997 study revealed that the City of Albuquerque routinely set aside $4 million a year to settle malfeasance claims out of court, there has never been a way for the average citizen to have any idea of the full extent of what goes on beyond the “Blue Wall of Silence.” It’s our hope that the families who have contributed cases to this report may be able to shine a pinpoint of light on those activities by sharing their personal horror stories, which are set in the framework of this overview. Copies of individual reports can be obtained as e-mail attachments from justiceproject@earthlink.net.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE “LAND OF ENCHANTMENT”
Highlighted entries represent a selection of cases from the New Mexico Justice Packet, a compilation of reports by families of New Mexico homicide victims who contend that their loved ones’ cases were not thoroughly and/or honestly investigated by New Mexico law enforcement – local police, state police, or sheriff’s department. Copies of individual reports in their entirety may be obtained without charge as e-mail attachments from justiceproject@earthlink.net. Professional writers, publishers, and TV producers, who have an authentic interest in doing stories based on individual cases or on the Justice Project as a whole, can be placed in touch with the families through their private investigators.
9/80: APD Officer Joseph Polisar, (who later became Albuquerque Police Chief) was assigned to investigate the death of his friend, Phil Chacon, killed in the line of duty during a bank robbery. Polisar’s two-day investigation led to a civil rights suit against him and two other officers for planting evidence and coercing witnesses in an attempt to convict Van Robinson, a black male. In 1985, Robinson was acquitted, and a Federal Grand Jury awarded him $75,000. (Before Polisar was made police chief, the findings against him were reversed.)
1/1/81: Governor Bruce King pardoned former APD Officer Robert Earl Davis for 1970’s offenses, some committed while he was a police officer. In 1976, Officer Davis was arrested in a stolen car and in possession of drugs. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 5 years, (changed to probation by DA Steve Schiff, who said Davis was unlikely to repeat such an offense). Later Davis was charged with operating a crime ring with three other APD officers fired in the 1970s for ripping off people they arrested. Davis was also a suspect in several 1970's homicides. The four ex-cops admitted to a 6-year, multi-state crime spree, involving more than $1,000,000. The over-1,000 crimes they committed included robberies, auto theft, homicides, and drugs. This time Davis was sentenced to 14 years. Gov. King later rescinded the Davis pardon.
9/81: APD undercover officers, John Hearn and Greg Avila, were working a suspected vehicle theft ring when they got into a shootout with one of the suspects, Frank Minott. Minott testified that he shot at Officer Avila in self-defense after Avila fired at him. Officer Avilla’s blood alcohol level was three times higher thaN the legal requirement for intoxication. A female witness testified that Avila tried to force his way into her bedroom, tried to grope another girl present, and tried to stab a cat with a pitchfork, saying he “was hungry.” Minott testified that he told Avila to stop hurting the women and Avila said, “What are you going to do about it?”, Minott pushed Avila away, and Avila pulled a knife. Then Hearn got involved, and Minott said he feared that Hearn would hold him down while Avila cut him, so he ran to the house and Avila fired a gun at him. Minott got to a gun and fired back at Avila, wounding him twice. Minott was found guilty of assault with intent to commit a violent felony. Chief Whitey Hansen told the press (in regard to the actions of the two officers), “When you’re in Rome, you do as the Romans do.” He said there are no guidelines or rules for undercover officers
1/30/84: Criminal Case: State v. Charles William Holman, et al., Sex Club of Albuquerque: A list of people involved in this party/prostitution club included police officers, state legislators, lawyers, and judges. APD Officer John Carillo testified about his participation in the sex club.
Thanksgiving Day, 1984: State Police Officer Matt Griffin attempted to force his way into Febye Garcia’s mobile home as the family was sitting down to dinner. When Garcia resisted, Griffin pulled out his can of Mace, struck the woman on the nose with it, and then sprayed her directly in the eyes. Griffin then resigned from the State Police and joined the Albuquerque Police Department.
2/16/85: CURTIS LINDSEY HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Curtis was stabbed in the back in broad daylight. He stumbled across the street to a 7-11 store and collapsed on the floor. APD Officer Ronald Merriman (see “Kaitlyn Arquette Case” and “Benny Esquivel Case”) was dispatched to the scene, as was the Fire Department. The medics later testified that Officer Merriman refused to allow them to treat Curtis until he finished interrogating him. Curtis bled to death at the scene. Curtis was schizophrenic and used marijuana as a type of self-medication. His father, Victor Lindsey, says APD shrugged off the murder as “just one drug addict killing another.” When it became apparent there would be no investigation, Victor set out to solve the case himself. Witnesses and informants led him to the killer, Javier Escalera. Victor gave his information to a friend in law enforcement, who pressured the case detectives to follow up on it. Eventually Escalera was arrested and convicted. Victor sued the City of Albuquerque, the Fire Department, and Officer Merriman for medical malpractice at the scene. The case was settled out of court.
1/12/86: LINDA DANIELS ABDUCTION AND HOMICIDE: Linda was abducted for use in porno films, raped, tortured, and then shot to death. James Scartaccini, the one of Linda’s abductors that evidence indicated was her killer, was allowed to plea bargain by testifying against his companions. The police and the DA prosecutor “lost” all evidence against Scartaccini, including his sperm sample, which was later found on the DA prosecutor’s desk. Scartaccini served no time at all.
10/31/86: APD Officer Matt Griffin knocked on the apartment door of Ralph Narducci in response to a loud noise report. When Narducci asked to see his identification, Griffin beat him on the head and face. Narducci was hospitalized. His lawsuit against the city was settled for $35,000.
3/1/87: APD Officer Matt Griffin, moonlighting as night manager at Pinon Trails Apts., refused to cooperate with APD officers executing a warrant for Sam Elliott, a suspect in the drug murder of Bobby Dytzel. Griffin refused to identify the apartment where Elliott was staying. Elliott later pled guilty to murdering Dytzel. Griffin was suspended for one day without pay for his refusal to help the officers and for failing to disclose his outside job.
1987: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was given a 20-day suspension for unjustifiably shooting a teen-ager he was chasing on foot.
5/10/87: Albuquerque Journal: Land Commissioner, Jim Baca, former candidate for mayor of Albuquerque, disclosed that during his campaign Albuquerque Police Chief Sam Baca had offered to show him a secret intelligence file on his opponent, Ken Schultz. (Chief Baca denied that.) Jim Baca said he refused to accept the file. He said there was a need for exposure of rampant politics within the Albuquerque Police Department and that APD Chief Sam Baca was a victim of that “incestuous” system.
7/4/87: Convicted APD Officer Robert Earl Davis and four other men escaped from Santa Fe Prison. Davis later stated that Corrections Officer Lt. David Owens smuggled in a gun to help with the escape.
10/1/87: Former Chief Justice William Riordan, the City’s first independent councilor, found that the APD Intelligence Unit, under the supervision of APD Sgt. Joseph Polisar, had been secretly stockpiling information on local residents not suspected of wrong doing. (The Unit was supposed to be gathering intelligence on motorcycle gangs, organized crime, terrorists and other criminal activity.)
10/6/87: Gene Romo, City Councilor, ordered APD Chief Sam Baca to “fix” APD’s problems and gave him 120 days to do so, at which time Chief Baca’s performance would be evaluated by a special panel. Chief Baca termed Romo’s plan “harsh.”
10/22/87: City Attorney Pat Bryan told investigators that he was present when APD Chief Sam Baca offered secret intelligence file information to Jim Baca. Tapes of investigators’ interview with Chief Baca suddenly became “missing.”
11/18/87: APD Officer Matt Griffin was fired by Police Chief Sam Baca for refusing to return a $75 witness fee for a case in which he never testified.
1/29/88: SPRING MILLER HOMICIDE: (Albuquerque PD) Spring, 16, was run down by a truck. Spring’s younger sister, April, (see “April Miller Case”), was with her at the time. The girls had gone for a walk, and as they approached the entrance to an apartment complex, they noticed a truck poised to leave the parking lot. They stopped, but the driver motioned them to cross in front of him. When they reached the middle of the driveway, he grinned and stomped on the accelerator. He ran over Spring’s head with both front and rear right tires, and ran over April’s legs. At that time, the APD Homicide Unit was involved with several high profile murders, (including the Darcy Pierce case), so the investigation of Spring’s death was relegated to traffic officers. Although there were a number of witnesses and the suspect matched the description of Martin Martinez, who was arrested several month later for deliberately running down joggers in that same area of town, Martinez was not charged with Spring’s death.
1/2/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin, disguised as a ninja, robbed NM Federal Savings and Loan and fled in a stolen Camero with a National Guard license plate.
3/88: APD rehired Officer Matt Griffin after his attorney cut a deal with the city. Police Chief Sam Baca later stated that he didn’t want to rehire Griffin, but did so on the advice of his legal adviser and the city Legal Department.
6/28/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin, the “Ninja Bandit,” committed another bank robbery and made his getaway in a stolen Camero with Colorado Tags.
7/88: A 9 mm Glock semiautomatic handgun disappeared from the Police Department’s evidence room while APD Officer Matt Griffin was assigned to guard it.
9/21/88: APD Officer Matt Griffin committed another bank robbery and made his getaway in a stolen Camero.
1/19/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin robbed First Interstate Bank and made his getaway in a stolen Camero.
1989: The Albuquerque Police Department was sued by a citizen’s group that wanted access to the APD intelligence files to see whether they contained evidence of unconstitutional police investigation of political figures who were not under suspicion of wrong doing. The police had the intelligence files burned one half hour before a federal judge issued a restraining order to prevent their destruction.
1/27/89: PETER KLUNCK KILLING (Albq. PD): Peter was shot by three members of the APD ROP Team – Robert Valtierra, Paul Heatley, and Matt Griffin -- on the day he was scheduled to appear in court and had told people he was planning to “blow the lid off APD.” Friends assert that Peter had been involved in criminal activities with Officer Griffin and now wanted out. Police released a statement that Peter was shot in the chest in self-defense. In truth, he was shot three times in the back. Officer Steve Nakamura, who did not fire at Peter, said Peter was unarmed. “These guys shot him in the back and I don’t know why!” he told his sergeant. After a seven-hour search, a derringer turned up 15 feet from Peter’s body. Peter’s prints were not on it. A tipster from within APD informed the AG’s Office that the gun was planted to support the self-defense claim. Former Chief Justice Rheardon, who conducted the Internal Affairs investigation, stated in his report, “I believe there is a question about whether Mr. Klunck was armed at the time he was shot and, even if he was, whether it was necessary to shoot him.” APD reacted by issuing an official statement that Rheardon had concluded the shooting was justified. Six months later, Officer Griffin, who fired the death shot, was revealed to be the notorious “The Ninja Bandit” who had been terrorizing Albuquerque for months. Griffin was sentenced to life for multiple bank robberies and murder of a witness. Even so, law enforcement continued to refuse to consider the possibility that Griffin killed Peter to keep him from talking. In 1990, Peter’s parents filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights suit against the police chief and several police officers. The judge ordered them to settle out of court with no admission that Peter’s civil rights were violated. The Kluncks brought in the FBI, but by the time the case went to the Grand Jury so much time had passed that witnesses’ memories had faded. The Jury, while not exonerating the police, handed down no indictments.
4/3/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin shot and killed Michael Howard, a resident of Cibola Village Apts., when Howard caught Griffin in the parking lot attempting to steal his car.
4/18/89: The “Ninja Bandit” robbed Sun County Savings a second time.
7/10/89: APD Officer Matt Griffin was revealed to be the “Ninja Bandit,” and was arrested for five bank robberies and the slaying of Michael Howard.
7/16/89: KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Kaitlyn, 18, was chased down in her car and shot to death. The first officer at the scene, Det. Ronald Merriman, (see “Benny Esquivel Case” and “Curtis Lindsey Case”), called in a report of an accident with no injuries. Police allowed Paul Apodaca, a man with a record of violent assaults on women, who was at the scene when Merriman arrived, to leave the scene without questioning or even getting contact information. Police then left the scene themselves. Rescue almost missed the scene because there was no one there to wave them over – just Kaitlyn all alone in her car with her brains blown out. Kaitlyn’s death was classified as a “random drive-by shooting,” despite strong physical evidence that Kaitlyn was deliberately murdered and strong indicators that she was preparing to blow the whistle on interstate crime that involved her estranged Vietnamese boyfriend, Dung Nguyen, and his cohorts. The activities of that group included car wreck insurance fraud, drug dealing, arson, the theft and sale of computer chips, and illegal naturalization. When APD dropped off the unsolved case in 1991, Kaitlyn’s mother, Lois Duncan, wrote a book, Who Killed My Daughter?, to prevent the facts of the case from becoming buried. The media blitz that followed led to an influx of new information, which APD has declined to follow up on because it doesn’t support their random shooting scenario.
12/89: Police Chief Sam Baca informed an INS agent that Kaitlyn Arquette was killed by a Vietnamese gang. The homicide department then closed the Arquette case as a random shooting by Hispanic subjects. DA Bob Schwartz refused to prosecute the Hispanics due to a lack of evidence and because APD’s “eye-witness” was in jail on the night of the murder. Schwartz directed the police to investigate the Vietnamese suspects. The police did not do so.
Chief Sam Baca left APD, and was replaced by Chief Bob Stover.
10/5/90: APD Narcotics Det. Stan Gloria stated that he had knowledge of drug activity at a particular address. He applied for a warrant for a nighttime search of the residence of “Manuel (LAST NAME UNKNOWN), Description: "Spanish" (sic) male, 40-45 years old, medium height, heavy set,” claiming this man had a long criminal record, although – not knowing the man’s name, DOB, or SS# -- there was no way Gloria could have known about any criminal record
10/12/90: Armed with a warrant obtained thru false information, Narcotics Detective Stan Gloria, Lieutenant Hughes, SGT Bartram (sic- Bertram), Officers R. Vasquez, R. Jeffrey, W. Jones, E. Sauer, B. Snow, A. Lehocky, Lieutanant Bourgoine, S. Gray, S. Rodriguez, H. Terry, T. McWhorter, C. Lopez and four US NAVY SEALS went to the home of Manuel Ramirez, at about 4:30 a.m. There they attached a cable to a tow truck and pulled the wrought iron front door off the Ramirez residence, while other personnel simultaneously broke all of the windows of the Ramirez home. As Ramirez reached for a handgun, (which wasn’t loaded), the collection of officers entered unannounced and dressed in black and shot Ramirez twice in the chest. They ransacked the family home, while Ramirez lay dead in his living room and his grieving family sat in the back of an APD Patrol Car. No drugs were found in the residence until 48 hours after the break in. The Ramirez's infant was injured in his crib by flying glass. Ramirez’s widow filed a lawsuit against the City in 1992 and received a $275,000 settlement.
4/7/91: Albuquerque Journal: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy, Darryl Burt, recently named senior officer in the BCSO Gang Unit, was accused of forcing a 24-yr-old, male, Mexican national to submit to forced sex acts in a BCSO vehicle and threatening the victim with a gun.
4/23/91: APD Officers James Torres and Stan Gloria went into an apartment to sell 100 lbs. of marijuana for $60,000. They were posing as drug dealers in order to take the money of real drug dealers. Torres went into the apartment alone and the suspects pulled a gun on him and tied him up. A suspect then pulled a gun on Gloria, who was waiting in the parking lot. Nearby police were alerted and came to the rescue. The suspects were tried and convicted. In 1997, Torres and Gloria were awarded medals.
5/31/91: Albuquerque Tribune: Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office investigated allegations made by a convicted drug dealer that Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies provided drugs to transvestite prostitutes in return for sexual favors. The drug dealer, serving a sentence in federal prison, has a history of cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
9-10/91: LINK TO THE KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE: An informant told APD that the auto-body shop on Arno, (hangout for APD Officer Matt Griffin and fellow officers), was a distribution point for large amounts of cocaine. The informant identified a subject, Maria Alcala, as making deliveries in a truck with an unknown male, later identified as Michael Arellano, son of the owner of the body shop. Alcala and Arellano were surveilled to 824 Arno NE, as were Consuela Santillanes and Pedro Alcala Jr. Surveillance also noted a high level of traffic in/out of the business within a short period of time, consistent with narcotics trafficking.
10/3/91: LINK TO THE KAITLYN ARQUETTE HOMICIDE: Execution of search warrant for cocaine trafficking were executed at 824 Arno NE and 332 Estancia NW. Pedro Alcala was arrested at 332 Estancia NW and later pled guilty. Michael Arellano (son of the owner of the body shop) and Maria Alcala had apparently been alerted to the raid and left the shop, heading to Nevada, just before APD, FBI, ATF officers arrived to execute the search warrant. Cocaine, trafficking paraphernalia and money were seized at 332 Estancia NW. Drugs and guns were seized at 824 Arno.
1/29/92: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sued for violating the civil rights of Kenneth Wayne Tortolita. Although no further information regarding this case is available, the case was settled for an undisclosed sum of money on 9/10/1992.
2/22/92: Albuquerque Journal: District Court Judge ordered Bernalillo County Sheriff Ray Gallagher to keep members of his Crime Suppression Unit away from witnesses in the sexual assault case against BCSO Deputy Darryl Burt and asked prosecutors to prepare written court orders to be served on Detectives Ed Pacheco and John Sharkey. Witnesses, Willie and Daniel Apodaca, complained of witness intimidation. Sheriff Gallagher admitted to having destroyed evidence in the case against Deputy Burt
5/13/92: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sued when his police dog attacked Sheldon Waddles, a peaceful demonstrator at a rally (and the son of a local fire chief). The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
6/19/92: Former APD Officer Robert Davis assisted murderer, Thomas Wayne Crump, to escape from Torrance County Jail. Crump used a car owned by Davis’s wife, in exchange for a promise that Crump would kill Davis’s enemies on the outside.
1993: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was fired by Police Chief Bob Stover for hitting a car-chase suspect in the back of the head with his nightstick. Gallegos said he didn’t remember doing that, and the firing was rescinded in favor of a 60-day suspension.
5/28/93: SAL MARTINEZ HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Sal had to work late and arrived at a bachelor party close to midnight. He was shot as soon as he walked in the door. Sal was still alive when police got there, but the officers would not perform CPR because they had forgotten their plastic mouthpieces. Sal’s killer, Darryl Fowler, fled the party, but later turned himself in on the advice of his attorney, who assured him nothing would happen to him. The attorney was right. APD said they couldn’t charge Fowler because he claimed self-defense, although Sal wasn’t carrying a weapon, nor was anyone else at the party except Fowler. Informants told Sal’s mother that Fowler was a drug supplier for a VIP in law enforcement and had many friends at APD. Since police refused to arrest Fowler, Sal’s parents sued him for wrongful death. At the hearing, Fowler admitted to shooting Sal, but said, “I didn’t know I killed him and I don’t know where the gun is.” In 1999, Sal’s parents were awarded a settlement, but the DA dismissed criminal charges. The DA wouldn’t say why. The family says he refused to talk to them at all.
8/29/93: NATHAN ROMERO HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Nathan was chased down by three vehicles, stabbed, and left to die in the street. He was found with a Vietnamese medallion clutched in his hand, apparently snatched from his killer during the struggle. APD did not collect that evidence from the coroner, who gave it to Nathan’s mother, Linda Gutierrez. Linda rounded up witnesses to the stabbing, who identified members of the Asian gang that killed Nathan. Police found a couple of the gang members that same day, still wearing the same clothes from the night before, but did not arrest them or process their clothing for DNA evidence. For two years, the killers taunted and harassed Linda. They asked Nathan’s friends, “Do you want to be killed next?” Linda kept calling APD to ask why nothing was being done, until finally a homicide captain bellowed, “We know who killed your son, just like we know who killed Kaitlyn Arquette! This is police business – butt out!” (See “Kaitlyn Arquette Case”) Linda made numerous calls to the mayor’s office, which were not returned. Finally an assistant agreed to deliver the message personally. The mayor then called Linda’s PI to ask how much evidence Linda had. The PI responded that she had enough to file a civil suit against the city of Albuquerque for wrongful death. Then wheels started turning. The case detective, (who was also the lead detective in the Arquette case), was transferred out of the department. In 1995, the killers – Song Boutavong, Anacheck Boutavong, Shervin Mowzoun and Michael Frias -- were arrested and convicted. They were allowed to plea bargain.
7/5/94: APD Joseph Polisar, (supervisor of the APD Intelligence Unit when police burned the controversial Intelligence Files), was appointed Police Chief.
8/24/94: Albuquerque Journal: City Counselor M. Brasher requested a new investigation into a federal informant’s claim that four APD narcotics detectives were involved in drug-trafficking, rape, planting evidence and murder of a drug trafficker and prostitutes. The four were investigated in the fall of 1993 by APD Chief Bob Stover.
4/25/95: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Darryl Burt, who was acquitted in Nov. 1992 of sex related charges, was indicted on 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy over a number of months and a number of different encounters. (These charges were unrelated to the sex charges filed against him previously.) Burt was placed on unpaid leave from BCSO. He later pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to 728 days in jail.
1995: APD Officer Toby Gallegos was fired by Chief Joseph Polisar, who labeled him a “brutal cop” for hitting a suspect several times with his large metal flashlight and kicking him in the groin. A city hearing officer ruled the firing justified, but it was later overturned. Gallegos returned to work and collected $35,627 back wages from his termination date to his reinstatement date.
6/2/95: Albuquerque Journal: APD LT. FACES PROBE: Lt. John B. Gallegos, 14-yr veteran of APD and supervisor of Internal Affairs division, faced criminal investigation for burglarizing a liquor store in May, 1995. He was on duty at the time of the burglary.
7/19/95: Albuquerque Journal: APD INVESTIGATES SERGEANT’S ACTIONS - Internal Affairs investigated Sgt. Stan Gloria in connection with a drug situation. Gloria, a former narcotics officer, was current supervisor of field services on the West Side.
7/21/95: Albuquerque Journal: CITY TO PAY FIRED COP $450,000, BUT WON’T SAY WHY-- A legal settlement by the City of Albuquerque awarded Bruce McAllister, fired APD narcotics detective accused of robbing drug dealers and raping a prostitute, $450,000.00. McAllister said he was set up.
8/5/95: MELANIE MCCRACKEN HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Melanie died under strange circumstances in her home in Bosque Farms. There was no official determination of cause of death, although the OMI chief has opined it was "violent assault." Melanie’s husband, NMSP Sgt. Mark McCracken, (see “Stephanie Houston Case”), placed her in the family car, drove onto the Isleta Indian Reservation, and ran the car into a tree. McCracken’s own department investigated the case and announced that Melanie was killed in the car wreck. Sgt. McCracken told the media Melanie died of cancer, although the autopsy revealed no cancer. APD Det. Damon Fay (see “Stephen Haar Case”) threatened to have Melanie’s mother, Nancy Grice, arrested for obstructing justice if she continued to question the circumstances of Melanie’s death. In 1998 Nancy filed a federal civil rights suit against McCracken and the State Police. Expert witness Dr. John Smialek opined that the cause of death was “homicidal suffocation.” When it started to look like the case would turn into a murder case, Nancy’s court appointed attorney succumbed to pressure to settle out of court. NMSP promoted McCracken to lieutenant. In Oct. 2003, Lt. McCracken was indicted for first degree murder and evidence tampering. Grand jurors also requested that another grand jury be empanelled to review the conduct of the NMSP investigators. In Dec. 2003, Valencia County Magistrate John Sanchez, a former State Police officer himself, filed a federal civil rights suit against NMSP for harassment of him and his family in retaliation for his attempts to persuade authorities to investigate McCracken. Oct. 31, 03, McCracken was indicted for first degree murder and evidence tampering, but charges were dismissed because an investigator for the prosecution was in the grand jury room during testimony. Dec 2004, Judge David Bonem ruled McCracken would not have to stand trial. He stated that, “while a violent and natural death cannot be excluded” there was not enough evidence to try mcCracken. He chastised the NMSP for not allowing an outside agency to do the investigation.
9/2/95: KRISTOPHER GRAY DEATH (Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators): Kris was found dead by a pump jack at an oil well location on the south side of Farmington. Although police told Kris’s mother, Marie Lope, that Kris was beaten to death and there were four vehicles at the scene, they collected no evidence from the scene or from Kris’s vehicle, which was hot-wired and driven to a different location. The night before Kris’s body was found, he attended a party on a bluff on the Reservation. Witnesses told Marie that Kris was trying to break up a fight and got killed in the process. Despite their initial statement that it was murder, police closed the case as an accident. The OMI report speculates that Kris “accidentally fell from a height.” The FBI contends that Kris walked into a revolving pump jack, (although the pump jack was not in operation). The embalmer informed Marie that Kris had a fresh stab wound under his rib cage that had to be patched to prevent leakage. The OMI report makes no mention of that stab wound.
9/20/95: APD Lt. John B. Gallegos, supervisor of APD Internal Affairs Division, was indicted on counts of commercial burglary, evidence tampering and larceny. APD said Gallegos was no longer with the department but refused to say if he was fired or resigned.
1/6/96:TYRONE TSOSIE SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators): Tyrone was found comatose on the side of the Frontage Road just off of I-40 fifteen miles east of Gallup. His wallet was missing. He was flown to the UNM Hospital in Albuquerque where he was pronounced brain dead. Police told Tyrone’s mother, Bertha Begay, that her son “got tired and lay down on the side of the side of the road and a car ran over him.” They said the car was so hot that his nylon jacket melted onto his body. Bertha obtained a copy of the autopsy report and discovered the cause of death was “undetermined” and Tyrone’s only injury was a blunt force blow to the back of the head. Tyrone’s family believes he was killed during an argument with someone he knew and that family members of the killer dumped his body. Police said they were “too swamped” to investigate the case, so Bertha hired private investigators. Tyrone’s wallet was eventually found in the possession of his estranged girlfriend, Veronica Scott. Bertha is a single parent of four, and Tyrone’s medical and funeral bills drained her financially. She spent her weekends fund-raising at flea markets in order to pay her private investigators. She couldn’t keep it up, and they dropped off the case.
03/27/96: APD Officer Andres Lehocky was sued for allowing or ordering an attack dog to bite and maul Isaac Ortiz. As with the two previous suits, this lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
8/96: Former BCSO Deputies Darryl Burt, (once an undercover narcotics agent) and Michael Disney were taken into federal custody as the result of drug raids in their homes, after being videotaped selling drugs in a parking lot across from Eldorado High School. Both men were working at The Wild Side, Disney’s drug paraphernalia shop. At the time of the raid at Burt’s house, Burt and a 17-yr-old male took off through the bedroom window, both wearing only boxer shorts. A loaded 45-caliber handgun, a Fix-A-Flat can filled with cocaine, and a BCSO badge and credentials were among the items found in Burt’s garage. Both Burt and Disney later pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute. The men were described as partners in a heavily armed El Paso-to-Albuquerque drug trafficking operation. Burt was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months on a cocaine distribution conviction in US District Court.
9/5/96: Albuquerque’s Public Safety Advisory Board said it planned to find out if the Albuquerque Police Department's SWAT Team had a pattern of using excessive force.
11/6/96: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield stopped motorist Kevin Lamkin and informed him there were warrants out for his arrest. Lamkin presented paperwork that proved the warrants had already been cleared up, but Ahrensfield allegedly crumbled them up, resorted to name-calling and abusive handling of Lamkin, and arrested him anyway. Lamkin’s case against Ahrensfield was settled out of court for $2,000.
3/18/97: The City Council commissioned an independent study to be undertaken “in the context of a serious and ongoing community crisis regarding the performance of the APD, particularly with reference to the fatal shootings of citizens.” The report confirmed that "The City of Albuquerque suffers from serious problems related to fatal shootings by APD officers and extremely high tort claims involving police officers.” The study also disclosed that the city set aside $4 million a year to settle claims against APD, “which is way out of line with larger cities with larger forces.”
APD Chief Polisar disputed the 163 page report, but said he did not read it all the way through.
5/25/97: APRIL MILLER DEATH (Albq. PD): Nine years after the death of her sister, Spring, (see Spring Miller Case”), April Miller vanished. April last visited her mother, Dianna Miller, on May 15, upset and crying, because her boyfriend had been arrested. April called her mother twice during the following week, just to check in. In her second call, on May 23, she said she was at the home of a friend named “Roland.” Dianna never heard from her again. On June 11, Dianna called APD to report April missing. Police took her information but did not inform her that an anonymous caller had reported April dead in an alley behind the parole office on May 25. APD Officer Todd Babcock, who knew April from a recent encounter, had identified April at the scene. April also had her name tattooed on her neck. The tags on April’s belongings bag and toxicology report all indicate that she was immediately identified as April Miller. Yet, the police report listed April as “Jane Doe,” and Dianna was not informed of her daughter’s death for six weeks. April reportedly died of a drug overdose. There was no investigation. The mysterious “Roland” was not interrogated, although the tipster’s call to police was made from a gas station a couple of blocks from Roland’s residence.
1997: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Estrada was convicted of embezzlement for taking more than $730 worth of shirts from Dillard’s Department Store where he was moonlighting as a security officer.
6/14/97: The District Attorney’s office entered into the investigation of APD Chief Joseph Polisar after a city worker, Victor Gallegos, filed a criminal complaint that Polisar cursed at him and handcuffed him too forcefully during a traffic stop. Chief Polisar denied that accusation.
10/12/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield stopped at a scene where a vehicle was stopped on a median, used pepper spray on the passenger, Steven Salazar, and allegedly kicked him in the stomach when Salazar refused to lie on the ground. The incident was settled for $10,000.
10/26/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was one of several officers outside an Albuquerque home during the arrest of Jim Vigin Jr. Virgin’s father protested the rough treatment of his son and decided to get a video camera from inside the house. Ahrensfield allegedly tackled Vigil Sr. “with such force that he was thrown into the bushes” and stepped on his hand and wrist, causing a wrist fracture. The City settled the suit for $25,000.
12/5/97: Albuquerque Journal: COP UNION GIVES BACA WARNING -- Albuquerque Police Officers Association President Alex Marentes said of new mayor Jim Baca, “If he screws with us, we will do everything possible to defeat him in the next election.”
12/9/97: Incoming Bernalillo County DA Jeff Romero claimed his office was forced to drop prosecutions because his predecessor, DA Bob Schwartz, never sent the cases for indictment. Romero said about 200 outdated drug cases that should have been sent to the Grand Jury were found “rat-holed” in Schwartz’s former office, a fact that almost caused the DA’s office to lose a $200,000 federal grant for drug prosecutions. Schwartz denied any knowledge of the stash of drug cases.
11/19/97: PAUL FITZJERRELL HOMICIDE, (Gallup PD): Paul was shot and killed. Gallup Police Officer Mike Brandau was indicted. The ranking officer at the scene, Calvin Wiggins, conducted both the homicide investigation and the internal affairs investigation. When the case went to court, police mixed information from Brandau’s Garrity-protected Internal Affairs statement in with the case information, thereby contaminating the case and making it impossible for Brandau to be prosecuted. Brandau stated that the Fraternal Order of Police counsels all their members to insist on Garrity whenever they are accused of crimes. “By doing so you will ensure that your statements and reports cannot be used as evidence against you in any proceedings,” says the FOB guide sheet. “Our advice is that we all use the procedure all the time.” Special prosecutor, Bob Schwartz, stated on television, “Because the police didn’t keep the Internal Affairs investigation and the criminal investigation separate, this case is so infected that you can never disinfect it. It may not be possible for this case to ever go forward again because of the actions of the police department.” (Details about this case must be withheld at this time because the family of the victim has launched a civil suit.)
12/21/97: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was alleged to have dragged a patron out of a nightclub, used pepper spray on him, and shoved him to the ground with such force that he shattered the man’s right wrist. The case was settled for $40,000.
12/26/97: Mayor Jim Baca announced his plan for a Citizens Review Board to investigate complaints against the Albuquerque Police Department. “The police department has to be accountable to somebody besides themselves,” Mayor Baca said. Alex Marentes, the police union president, argued that citizen review boards were “ineffective” and could be “bureaucratic, expensive and potentially controversial … Civilian investigators may lack an understanding of police sub-cultural norms.”
1/10/98: JOSH VIHEL SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Albq. PD): Josh, 16, died at a party. The official cause of death was “alcohol poisoning,” but he also had a bruise on his forehead, his nose was leaking blood, and money was missing from his wallet. Josh’s body was removed from the party house and taken to the apartment of one of the party guests, who didn’t report the death until the next afternoon. The first officer at the scene called in a report of a “suspicious death” and criminalistics was dispatched to the scene. An informant contacted the family with information that GHB (date rape drug) was slipped into Josh’s drink. Since GHB leaves the victim’s system in twelve hours, it would not show up in an autopsy. The family located the party house, which police said they couldn’t find, and were told by neighbors that the adult males who lived there, Chris and Scott Leonard, threw frequent parties where they charged cover fees and sold liquor and drugs to minors. APD refused to interrogate the Leonard brothers, explaining that the DA advised against it. Josh’s parents filed a civil suit against the Leonards and insisted on taking the case to court in order to learn more about what happened. In a deposition, Chris Leonard stated that he had several friends and a cousin on the police force. (For personal reasons, this family does not wish to be interviewed.)
1/14/98: GABINO GEORGE VENEGAS HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Gabino was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle home from work. Gabino’s parents, who lived out of state, asked Gabino’s sister in Albuquerque to keep them advised about the progress of the investigation. The NM State Police reacted with hostility to the sister’s questions and attempted to intimidate her by accusing her of interfering with the investigation. In truth, there was no investigation. The family’s PI discovered that three witnesses had seen two vehicles speeding from the scene. Evidence indicated that the first vehicle struck Gabino on his bicycle and knocked him into the path of the second vehicle. Witnesses identified the first car as a law enforcement vehicle, possibly Sheriff’s Dept. The PI was able to match the paint transfer on the bicycle with the make and year of the second vehicle and submitted a request for an MVD printout of the owners of such cars in a two-county area. NMSP ordered MVD not to comply with that legal request. The family filed a tort claim notice against NMSP, as they suspected investigators were covering up for a fellow cop. Police promised the family and their attorney that, if they withdrew the tort claim notice, NMSP would thoroughly investigate Gabino’s death. The family withdrew the notice. The case was not further investigated. The family’s PI believes that he has now identified and located the car that killed Gabino, but the DA’s office won’t agree to reopen the case.
1/15/98: STEPHEN HAAR HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Steve died from gunshot wounds to the stomach and back. Two guns were used. The OMI has stated that one shot was fired by someone standing over him when he was already down. Police released a statement that Steve was found dead in the street with a shotgun lying next to him. In truth, he was found inside the residence of a man who is reportedly an APD snitch. Steve’s mother, Carmen Haar, found a note in Steve’s pocket warning him about a contract and naming the alleged snitch. In the course of an arrest by a Valencia County detective for an unrelated shooting, Travis Dally (a friend of the alleged snitch) confessed to killing Steve. APD dismissed the shooting as self-defense without even obtaining Dally’s taped confession from Valencia County. APD homicide Det. Damon Fay (see “Melanie McCracken Case”) told Carmen that APD would not charge Dally, but would forward the case to the DA’s Office. In Sept. 02, Carmen contacted the DA’s Office to inquire why charges hadn’t yet been filed. She was told the DA’s Office had no file on Steve’s case. As of today, Dally still has not been charged. Steve is the third of Carmen’s children to be murdered.
2/16/98: APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his Belgian Malinois attack dog, Bart, on Nestor Chavez, a fleeing suspect. After the dog bit Nestor Chavez once and Lehocky had verified that Chavez was unarmed, Lehocky ordered Bart to attack a second time causing serious damage to Chavez’s right lower leg. In the interim Albuquerque mayor, Martin Chavez, declared that no police misconduct cases would settle. The case went to trial and, on April 25, 2003, a jury in the federal court in Albuquerque found Lehocky liable for violating Mr. Chavez’s Fourth Amendment rights and awarded nominal damages. In Aug., 03, a federal judge overturned the jury verdict, because Chavez had lied about being a suspect in a break-in earlier that morning.
4/14/98: Incoming Albuquerque mayor, Jim Baca (the same person who blew the whistle on the APD Intelligence Unit, see 5/10/87) replaced APD Chief Polisar (former officer in charge of that Intelligence Unit) with Gerald Galvin, police chief from Toledo, Ohio, in a reported effort to “clean up the Albuquerque Police Department.”
4/23/98: Chief State District Judge John Brennan criticized the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department for losing evidence in a first-degree murder case, including the victim’s clothing and five bullets pulled from his body.
4/25/98: Lawrence Candelaria, Identification Tech at APD, (processes fingerprints and takes mug shots), was charged with intent to distribute narcotics. Earlier in the year, Candelaria compromised an arrest warrant when he warned the target, his brother Leonard, that police were about to search his home. When a second warrant was served, police found heroin packaged for distribution. Lawrence Candelaria was arrested for conspiracy to traffic in heroin; Leonard Candelaria was booked for possession of heroin.
6/18/98: Albuquerque Journal: THE CITIZENS OF ALBUQUERQUE ARE AFRAID OF THEIR COPS -- That was the message the City Council heard during a special meeting to get public input on a recently completed study of who should police the Albuquerque Police Department … Paul Harper, co-director of Albuquerque Citizens on Police Accountability, said APD has proven cops can’t police themselves. “It’s like having the fox guard the hen house” said Harper, whose son Larry was killed by police officers.
6/25/98: Katherine Teupell was awarded a $235,000 settlement for claims against the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and the Albuquerque Police Department for their use of a “We don’t do blue” policy in dealing with an officer accused of beating his wife. Teupell alleged police extended “professional courtesy” to her husband, Scott Finley, a member of the Sheriff Department’s elite Crime Suppression Unit. Teupell testified she fled from her home with her children, 6 and 2, still in pajamas, on the night of Oct. 18, 1993, after Finley beat her. Teupell said that when she threatened to call police, Finley responded, “Go ahead and call. How can you break the law when you are the law?" Although the APD officer who responded to the call confiscated Finley's police revolver, other officers who took over at the scene returned it.
6/28/98: APD Officer Brad Ahrensfield was alleged to have punched motorist Kippy Rhoten in the face five times after pulling him over to tell him to turn his car stereo down. A Metro Court judge ruled Ahrensfield innocent, but the City Attorney’s office ended up paying a settlement of $20,000
7/1/98: TERESA REYES, MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD (Albq. PD): Teresa, 17, disappeared from the family home during the night. Police dubbed her a run-away, despite the fact that she took nothing with her, not even her wallet or crucially important medications. Since APD refused to investigate, Teresa’s mother, also named Teresa Reyes, sought help from other sources – ID Resource Center, Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Mayor’s Office, and the FBI. Those agencies would contact APD, who would assure them Teresa was a runaway and would come home when she was ready. In 2002, a PI received information that, on the night Teresa vanished, she met three strange men in a parking lot, who invited her to a party. Teresa wrote their phone number on a paper napkin with her lipstick. Teresa’s parents believe that Teresa sneaked out later to attend the party and met with foul play. Soon after that, Mrs. Reyes was mending a hole in Teresa’s favorite stuffed doll and found the napkin with the phone number hidden in the doll. The number was unlisted and no longer in service. The APD Missing Persons Dept. told Mrs. Reyes to have her PI fax all the case information to an APD detective. The PI did so, but nobody responded. Mrs. Reyes wrote to the police chief, begging his assistance. He didn’t respond. She, then, appealed to the Police Oversight Commission, and the police finally came to pick up the napkin. Three more years have now passed. Mrs. Reyes says, “Every time the phone rings my heart starts to pound, and I tell myself, ‘Maybe the police have been able to trace that phone number!’ But it’s never the police. I don’t think they remember who we are.”
8/19/98: The City of Rio Rancho settled with Bob and Frances James for an undisclosed amount after four police officers shot their son David to death as he stood on his parents’ front porch. Officers said they believed David was brandishing a gun. In truth he was holding a ceramic cross.
9/2/98: The family of Larry Harper was awarded a $200,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit claiming excessive force by police after family members called police to the Elena Gallegos picnic area for aid in subduing Harper, who was threatening to kill himself. After assuring the family that they were there only to talk to Harper, the APD SWAT-team shot Harper to death. “They told us the officers were only carrying ‘non-lethal rounds,’” said Larry’s brother, James Harper.
9/98: Albuquerque Tribune: The newly formed Police Oversight Commission is unable to function because of lack of cooperation from the Albuquerque Police Department. Although citizens have the right to appeal to the commission, which can offer its recommendations to the police chief, the chief does not have to act on those recommendations. Chief Galvin has never once gone along with a commission recommendation for increased discipline of an officer, and no officer named in a citizen complaint has ever shown up for a hearing. “We’ve been stonewalled,” the commission chairman told the media.
10/16/98: Albuquerque Journal: Former BCSO deputy Darryl Burt, now a federal inmate, has instigated a civil rights suit against the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department claiming he is owed back pay and benefits denied him after he was charged with 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy. In 7/99 a federal judge dismissed the suit.
10/24/98: Albuquerque Police Detective Cisco Martinez was accused of entrapment for hiring two girls from an escort service to come to his motel room and dance nude, which is not illegal. However, he then attempted get the women to touch his genital area and to allow him to fondle them. When they refused, stating that this would be illegal, he had them busted for prostitution anyway. The women were found innocent in court.
12/13/98: RAMONA DURAN SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Albq. PD) – Ramona was found dead of a drug overdose in the apartment of Thomas Green and Ricky Pike. The men told police the three had drunk beer and smoked crack all night. Yet an autopsy revealed no alcohol in Ramona’s system. The first officer at the scene reported a strong odor of gas and advised his sergeant it was a suspicious death. Two officers reported bruises on Ramona’s arms above the elbows, and a neighbor reported hearing a woman screaming. Ramona’s sister, Valerie Duran, believes Ramona was sedated with gas and forcibly injected with a lethal drug overdose. She confirms that Ramona once had a drug problem, but says she had turned her life around. At the time of her death Ramona was on supervised probation and enrolled in an out patient substance abuse program with regular testing. Her probation officer has stated that Ramona remained clean. Ramona had told family members that she feared for her life because she had fingered certain VIPs in the drug trade and police had leaked information that she was a snitch. Police will not allow Ramona’s family to view the scene photos or to speak with the officers at the scene or to the men in whose apartment Ramona died.
12/27/98: JOHN SHERMAN SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Sandoval County Sheriff’s Dept.): John was found in Rio Rancho, slashed and stabbed to death in the front seat of his van. Members of the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department transferred John’s body to the back of the van before taking crime scene photos and insist his death was a suicide, despite the finding of “homicide” by the former head of forensics at the Menninger clinic, who stated, “This wasn’t just murder – this was over-kill!” When John’s mother sought to have the case reopened she was informed that John’s case file had been destroyed.
2/26/99: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky released his police dog, Bart, on an unarmed teenager, Moriah Smith, who was hiding in a school yard after a boy she met at a party fired a gun and frightened her. Bart was supposedly sent in to locate Moriah and “guard and bark” to let Officers know where she was hiding. Instead, Bart ran into the schoolyard, located Moriah and immediately attacked her. Bart never bothered—or was ordered not—to bark. The attack left Moriah with four deep wounds that required three surgeries and a skin graft. Lehocky stated his supervisor, Sgt. Tom Garduno, told him, "Good job. I'm glad nobody died." A federal jury subsequently found Lehocky liable for the Moriah Smith attack. Lehocky was ordered to pay the $50,000 necessary to partially remove scars. Lehocky contended that Moriah must be a “bad” girl because his dog, Bart, would only bite “bad” people.
4/3/99: Albuquerque Journal: Former Sheriff’s Deputy, Michael Lee Disney, appeared before a US Magistrate on charges that he threatened DEA Agent Mike Marshall because of Marshall’s testimony against him.
4/15/99: STEPHANE MURPHEY HOMICIDE: Stephane was raped and strangled to death in her home in Rio Rancho. Her decomposed body was found four days later in her car, which was parked at an apartment complex in Albuquerque. APD and the Rio Rancho DPS were in conflict over who had jurisdiction. Eventually the Rio Rancho DPS claimed the case, despite the fact that they had no homicide department. It was only after years of relentless pressure by Stephane's family that RRDPS replaced the case investigator with one who was willing to submit the DNA evidence for testing. As a direct result of that testing, David F. Bologh was arrested and arraigned. Bond has been set at $1 million. (The family does not wish to be interviewed until after the trial.)
7/99: Albuquerque Journal - APD MODIFIES USE OF RUSE OPERATIONS – The APD SWAT-team had an officer pose as a burglar holed up in a car near the home of a murder suspect (a 12-year-old girl, Jade Gonzales, who had shot her father and claimed it was an accident). The SWAT team used the ruse of the fictional burglar to evacuate residents and secretly place an electronic eavesdropping device inside the Gonzales home. APD Chief Galvin said no officers were disciplined over the Jade Gonzales incident because they were following the department's standard operating procedures, but promised those procedures would be changed. Det. Steve Hall, one of the officers involved in that ruse, was named “Officer of the Month.”
Children’s Court Judge Tommy Jewell sharply criticized APD for stripping the 12-yr-old of her basic rights. Jewell found that the detectives didn't advise Jade of any rights, before or after they interrogated her without her mother or attorney present. Jewell wrote that Jade was the victim of "shocking, outrageous, and clearly intolerable" violations of her rights.
8/31/99: Former Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Estrada was convicted of retaliating against a witness who testified against him in 1997, when he was convicted of embezzlement.
9/3/99: Albuquerque Tribune: Retired APD Officer Philip Otero was arrested for impersonating an on-duty officer, stealing a motorist's money, and trying to bilk a 76-yr-old woman out of $2,000 casino earnings by going to her door and telling her to hand over the money because it might be counterfeit.
11/20/99: Albuquerque Tribune: A boot mark across the bridge of her boyfriend’s nose, due to a beating by Albuquerque Police Officers, caused Diane Holquist to call a special meeting of the Police Oversight Commission. Holquist charged excessive brutality that went unpunished when the officers were cleared by a police internal affairs investigation. Holquist attempted to enlist the help of the Commission to mandate that all officers involved in internal affairs complaints take lie detector tests. “It is the last chance for citizens to be assured of credibility from the police force,” she said. Holquist had gathered over 1,000 signatures on a petition seeking mandatory lie detector tests. The Police Oversight Commission did not have the power to help her in this matter.
12/7/99: BENEDICT ESQUIVEL HOMICIDE (Albq. PD): Benny, 14, was the victim of a gang-related shooting in 1992. He was shot in the neck and survived seven and a half years as a quadriplegic before he died of complications from respirator use. Benny’s father, Juan Esquivel, says two girls came to the hospital immediately after the shooting and told him the names of the killers and the motel where they were holed up. Juan gave that information to Det. Ronald Merriman, (see “Kaitlyn Arquette Case” and “Curtis Lindsey Case), who told Juan he hand-delivered the information to the APD Gang Squad. No investigation was done, and police now claim they never received the information. After Benny died, police told reporters they would reopen the case as a homicide and start tracking down witnesses. They now claim that the case is too old to investigate.
2/27/00: STEPHANIE HOUSTON HOMICIDE (NM State Police): Stephanie died when her jealous and abusive boyfriend, Patrick Murillo, ran her over with his truck after he saw her dancing with another man. OMI urged that the death be investigated as a homicide. Within days, scene investigator, Mark McCracken, (see “Melanie McCracken Case”), was telling the media that NMSP had fully investigated the case and Stephanie caused her own death because she was falling-down drunk. In truth, they had questioned no witnesses, done no reconstruction, and the toxicology test showed Stephanie had consumed about one beer. Stephanie’s father, Bill Houston, conducted his own investigation, questioning witnesses and accumulating information. In July 2002, Bill was charged with stalking because of his efforts to acquire information about Murillo. In May 2003, an investigative reporter exposed NMSP’s mishandling of the case, accusing them of glossing over possible domestic violence and failing to follow fundamental investigative techniques including never conducting an accident reconstruction. The case was then reopened and in Dec. 2003, Murillo was indicted for vehicular homicide
4/10/00: APD Officer Andrew Lehocky was sent with other officers to respond to a call that resident Jimmy Castillo had threatened to commit suicide. As Mr. Castillo walked from his residence, unarmed, on the order of the police (who had promised him that his pastor was outside waiting for him), Lehocky unleashed his attack dog, Bart, and issued the “fass” (attack command). The attack resulted in serious bites on Mr. Castillo’s ankles, thighs, and calves.
4/23/00: APD Officer Tom Benard committed “aggravated battery with a deadly weapon” by beating a handcuffed homicide suspect with a metal baton. (It was later confirmed that the suspect was the wrong person.) The suspect sustained head injuries. A police belt tape recorded Benard telling a colleague, “I popped him one good in the head for you.” An Internal Affairs Investigation found sufficient evidence to support allegations of excessive force.
4/25/00 APD Officer Andrew Lehocky burst into a private residence, with no search warrant, because a “meth” lab was supposedly inside. His attack dog, “Bart,” was then sent in and attacked Maureen Patterson-Montgomery, while she was sitting in her bathtub, terrified.
5/29/00 APD Officer Andrew Lehocky intercepted a call for a routine officer response to a reported neighbor disturbance. Arriving on the scene, Lehocky believed that one neighbor, David Chamberlain, threw some garbage at him. Lehocky responded by ordering his dog, Bart, to attack. Bart, however, refused to attack and maul the unresisting man. Lehocky then pulled Mr. Chamberlin out of a parked car, slammed him on the ground, picked Bart up, placed Bart with his muzzle to Chamberlin’s legs and, again, ordered Bart to attack. Bart attacked while Lehocky began dragging Chamberlain on the ground. Mr. Chamberlin received serious injury to his legs, back, and stomach.
6/1/00: Albuquerque Journal: JUDGE REFUSES TO QUASH EX-APD SGT’S SUIT AGAINST CITY-- A federal judge rejected a request to throw out a 1999 lawsuit alleging APD retaliated against former police sergeant David Guzman for speaking out against alleged discrimination and misconduct. Guzman, who took early retirement after 22 years with APD, mostly with a unit dealing with drug interdiction, alleged he was passed over six times for promotion to lieutenant and transferred to a section consisting of street-level detectives because he was an outspoken member of two unions representing Hispanic officers and because he complained about alleged police misconduct. The lawsuit said Guzman told supervisors about an APD captain involved in a domestic dispute involving a gun. He said, during that investigation, he found 58 phone calls made from the captain's home to a known drug dealer and that officers severely beat up a drug informant.
7/9/00: Albuquerque Journal: APD Officer Robert Middleton chased pedestrian, William Lancaster, 18, and ran over him with his police car, causing numerous broken bones and brain damage. Lancaster was suspected of planning to shoplift a six-pack of beer.
9/5/00: APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his 80-pound attack dog, Bart, on Eddie Mae Patterson, an unarmed homeless woman who was asleep at the time. Another city officer allegedly slapped the wounded Patterson, who is black, and used ethnic slurs against her while she was in an ambulance on her way to the hospital. Patterson was left strapped to a gurney for seven hours and wasn’t allowed proper follow-up medical care for the deep gash on her arm after she was booked into Bernalillo County Detention Center. LeHocky and Bart had recently been recognized with an "Officer of the Month" award. This case was settled for $210,000.00
4/15/01: CRYSTAL HOUSTON HOMICIDE (Socorro PD): Crystal was found dead in her home, severely beaten with blunt force injuries to her legs, arms, neck and head, just 14 months after the death of her sister, Stephanie (see “Stephanie Houston Case.”) Crystal’s blouse was pulled up over her head, her bra had been torn off and her pants were pulled down around her ankles. The OMI listed the cause of death as undetermined because Crystal also had some drugs and alcohol in her system. A prison escapee, who had been in Crystal's home on the night of her death, was found in another city with Crystal's car after trying to cash Crystal's checks, but police said that without a definitive cause of death they could not arrest him. It took until June 2003 and extensive pressure from the media for the state lab to ship DNA evidence that had been submitted to the state crime lab at the time of her death to a lab in California to be processed. Final DNA results are still pending, though preliminary tests match the prison escapee. A special prosecutor has finally been appointed after the Socorro District Attorney refused to prosecute.
4/17/01: Deputy Chief Ray Schultz announced that eight to ten APD officers faced punishment for a 1999 plot to illegally steal premium satellite television service by downloading computer software that allowed them to reprogram subscription cards. Schultz stated that none of the officers would be dismissed, but would be “reminded that they shouldn’t do things like that.”
6/6/01: Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy Tom Lujan and other unnamed deputies, seized and arrested Michael Bradford, 16, as he and his sister Robin, 15, waited for their mother to pick them up after a concert. There had been fights at the concert, but the Bradford children were not involved. Deputies arrested and handcuffed Michael, threw him onto the hood of a squad car, kneed him in the groin, knocked him to the ground and kicked and beat him until he lost consciousness. They grabbed Robin, tore her shirt off, and called her a “whore.” A civil rights suit contended the assault occurred "because Michael was a young black man close enough for officers to grab." The charges against Michael were later dropped. The Bradfords’ civil suits claiming excessive use of force, false arrest, malicious prosecution and negligence were settled out for $45,000.
8/15/01: Albuquerque Journal: Former APD Officer Matt Griffin, serving a life sentence in NM State Prison, attacked a guard with a home-made knife. Griffin had at least two dozen other serious misconduct reports involving property damage and attacks on inmates and officers. "He's a repetitive security challenge for this facility," said prison spokesperson, Gerges Scott.
8/29/01: APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, supervisor of officers assigned to public schools, was indicted on sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl who was staying the night with one of Garcia’s daughters. (When he was tried in 2004, the jury was deadlocked, and the prosecutors did seek a retrial.)
8/31/01: APD Officer Cliff Saylor loosed his Belgian Malinois attack dog, Buddy, on Billy Booker and Pauline Extrada, a homeless couple who were sleeping on the porch of a downtown building. The City tried to settle the case with the victims at 4 a.m., three hours after the attack, while the two were at a hospital on pain medication, thus violating a state law that prohibits immediate settlements while a person is hospitalized. Booker couldn’t even read the paperwork he was asked to sign because he is illiterate.
10/31/01: Off-duty Albuquerque police officer, Tom Sholtis, encountered Deena Tanberg, (the wife of an Albuquerque FBI agent), chatting with a woman friend in a public park after hours. Sholtis ordered the two women to come toward him, and when they didn’t instantly comply, Sholtis “violently slammed Deena Tanberg to the ground, fracturing her arm and causing her ligament damage.” The audiotape from Officer Sholtis’s belt-mounted recorder reflects that he grabbed Deena and broke her arm within 20 seconds of first encountering her, before she had even determined that Sholtis was, indeed, a law enforcement officer.
11/01: Three police officers from the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety were investigated for Cable theft after a citywide sting. All three investigations were dropped. One officer, Scott Kellogg, was promoted to lieutenant.
11/9/01: Albuquerque Journal: Department of Justice auditors are questioning how the Albuquerque Police Department spent up to $1.5 million in grant money that was supposed to be used to hire officers.
11/10/01: Albuquerque Journal: The Police Oversight Commission announced that the Albuquerque Police Department has installed an "early warning system" that will identify officers whose behavior or performance may be slipping. The first report indicated that 10 officers and two sergeants should be evaluated. The combined records for the dozen officers identified included 62 uses of force, four lawsuits filed, and nine internal investigations.
11/10/01: Albuquerque Journal: APD MISTREATED MENTALLY DISABLED MAN - The sister of Fred Hildebrandt, a mentally retarded man, is suing Albuquerque police for leaving her brother shackled for almost five hours at his home. The Albuquerque Police Department said they hasn't reviewed the July 16 shackling incident so could not comment.
12/01: Albuquerque Journal: The Albuquerque Police Department admitted to the incoming mayor, Martin Chavez, that they may have gone nearly $6 million over budget this year.
2/7/02: Albuquerque Journal: The budget shortfall that forced city officials to consider layoffs and spending cuts grew by another $1 million as the Albuquerque Police Department found yet another $1 million in over-spending.
2/14/02: Albuquerque Tribune: Two APD officers shot Leon Casey Arthur to death outside a motel when he allegedly make a “threatening approach,” brandishing what officers say they thought was a weapon. The item in Arthur’s hand was a hairbrush.
2/02: Officer Aaron Julian, Rio Rancho Dept. of Public Safety, was indicted for five felony counts of child abuse. The DA failed to send a Grand Jury Target letter so all charges were dropped. Aaron Julian's wife was then arrested and charged with the five felony counts.
4/7/02: APD Officer Craig O'Neil, a seven-year veteran who worked as a field investigator, was booked into the Bernalillo Detention Center on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and false imprisonment.
4/22/02: Albuquerque Journal: Within minutes of initiating a chase of a man suspected of criminal trespass, an unidentified APD officer had the suspect face down and limp, kicking him so many times that a bystander stepped in to stop him. When the officer dragged the suspect backward by the handcuffs, the bystander intervened again, trying to help the man get up and walk. The bystander, who didn't know the suspect, repeatedly asked for the officer's badge number. But the officer wouldn't respond. This same officer was the recipient of three other complaints in two years — improperly macing and punching a suspect; swerving in and out of traffic; and improperly shooting a Rottweiler. He wasn't found to be at fault in any of the cases.
5/23/02: During an arrest by APD, Detective Gerald Hicks observed a bystander taking notes. Hicks asked to see the notes, and the bystander, David Shaw, stated they were personal notes and were none of the detective’s business. Hicks responded by grabbing Shaw in a chokehold and throwing him to the ground, confiscated the notes, and filed a criminal complaint against Shaw for refusing to obey him.
5/26/02, Albuquerque Journal: APD DOG BITES COST CITY MORE THAN $940,000: The city of Albuquerque, over the past decade, has paid more than $725,000 to settle APD dog-bite claims. Meanwhile, private lawyers defending K-9 officers in ongoing lawsuits have billed the city another $217,000 in fees and costs over the past two years. Police dogs have bitten dozens of citizens who were neither armed nor violent. In some cases, police gave no verbal warning a dog would be unleashed. Officers in several cases allowed their dogs to continue biting suspects after the initial apprehension. In one case, an unarmed suspect was ordered to walk toward a police officer with the police dog still clenching her buttock.
6/8/02, Albuquerque Journal: The city-county jail paid former inmate, Vincent Cordova, a $25,000 settlement for injuries sustained in fights between inmates, orchestrated by corrections officers, who arranged the fights and cheered and made bets on the results.
6/11/02: TROY PINO SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Santa Rosa PD): Troy died four days after a brutal assault by his girlfriend’s ex-husband, Edward Lucero. Witnesses reported that the 260-pound Lucero knocked Troy to the floor, beat him with his fists and kicked him repeatedly with steel-tipped shoes. The first officer at the scene was Lucero’s nephew, Officer Justin Anaya. The second to arrive was Officer Anthony Ortega. Neither officer was certified. Although Troy was calling out for help, the officers made no attempt to stop the assault. Instead, Officer Anaya, sprayed him in the face with mace. The supervising officer, Officer Joe E. Martinez, who arrived slightly after that, was Lucero’s best friend. He terminated the assault by physically restraining Lucero. No arrests were made and no charges filed. No medical attention was sought for Troy. Although there were seven other witnesses, police made no mention of Lucero’s assault in their reports. The following day, Officer Martinez forced Troy out of his girlfriend's car as they prepared to drive to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Martinez followed Troy for several hours. Troy went to a friend's house where he fell ill from the beating and was transported to the hospital in Santa Rosa. He was airlifted to UNMH where he died.
7/02. Rio Rancho Observer: Sandoval County Sheriff Deputy Pete Montoya was indicted on 18 counts of criminal sexual contact with a 5-yr-old child. (Montoya was the lead detective in the John Sherman case, 12/27/98.)
1/28/03: RUSSELL CAGE SUSPICIOUS DEATH (Bloomfield PD and Farmington PD): Russell died of a gunshot wound to the head outside the trailer home of his girlfriend, Sylvia Anaya. Police closed the case as a suicide with no investigation and without even seeing the autopsy report. The gun, which was not Russell’s, was not identified or processed for prints. The sizes of the head wounds indicate that the entry wound was most likely on the left side of Russell’s head. Russell was right handed. According to police, the bullet passed through Russell’s head, made an 86-degree turn, and continued on through the wall of the trailer, striking the headboard of Sylvia’s bed and dropping to the carpet. Russell stood 5’10” and the bullet hole in the trailer is less that 4’ from the ground. Sylvia’s brother, Isaac Anaya, is linked to the Eastside Brown Pride Gang. Russell had been telling people that members of that gang were involved in the beating and shooting death of a man named Dominic Martinez. Russell even claimed that the weapons had been hidden in Sylvia’s trailer home. Three weeks prior to Russell’s death, Russell was in a fight with a member of the Brown Pride Gang who threatened to kill him. One gang member reportedly has brothers on both the Bloomfield Police Force and the San Juan Sheriff’s Dept.
5/3/03: Karen Yontz was chased down in her car and shot to death by two Albuquerque Police Officers who suspected her of robbing a bank. Yontz was a longtime criminal investigator with both the Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Office in Santa Fe and a former Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy. At the time of her death, Yontz was building a case against Municipal Judge Charles Maestas, who was facing 28 criminal charges of trading judicial favors for sex with women who appeared before his court. She was also investigating the Russell Cage case (see above).
5/15/03: APD Officer Bryan Killinger was fined $15,000 for unlawful detention and excessive force against a bicyclist, Jackie Shane. Killinger did a U-turn in front of Shane, almost causing an accident. When she called out to him to use a turn signal, he grabbed her by the head and pulled her off her bike, throwing it to the ground and stomping on the rear wheel. He, then, hit her, handcuffed her, and threatened to file false charges against her.
6/20/03: Albq. Journal: APD Officer Duane Currell was indicted on charges he coerced a woman into exposing herself and then grabbed her during a traffic stop.
6/22/03: Bernalillo County deputies were called to the home of police-watchdog activist Gilbert Elizondo and his wife after the death of his wife’s mother, who died of natural causes. Sgt. Natalie Jasler tried to prevent Mrs. Elizondo from viewing her mother's body, and when Elizondo stepped in to block a blow by Jasler to his wife, Jazler slapped and kicked the couple. Elizondo was then arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer. Jasler kneed Elizondo in the groin several times while he was handcuffed and other deputies held him. Jasler’s charges against Elizondo were later dropped
6/27/03: Albq. Journal: APD Officer Christopher Chase was indicted on 32 counts of using his official vehicle to stop motorists for sex. Charges include felony counts of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, criminal sexual penetration of alleged victims of both sexes including minors and eight petty misdemeanor counts of battery. The indictment suggests Chase took care to avoid apprehension, in one instance forcing the victim to wash her hands of evidence with a sanitizer.
7/11/03: Albq. Journal: The Police Oversight Commission discovers that APD Chief Gil Gallegos overstepped his authority by arbitrarily reversing the commission’s findings in two police-shooting cases, exonerating the officers and classifying the shootings as justified. Gallegos said in commission documents that the case files were his and he could change the findings at any time.
8/03: APD has agreed to investigate its evidence unit in regard to the auctioning off of evidence and money missing from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department. An informant has made claims that evidence has been destroyed and that "APD management has helped to cover up the crimes."
10/30/03, Albq. Journal: Albuquerque police and Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputies chased Toni Osborn, a 5-foot tall, 50-year-old activist, who had been circulating a petition seeking the removal of the mayor. They pinned her vehicle against an embankment, sprayed her with Mace, and sicced a police dog on her. The dog pulled Osborn half out of her vehicle and, once she was on the ground, remained locked on her arm while she was handcuffed before being taken to the hospital. "They (the police and dog) practically took her left arm off. They beat her. Her face is swollen to twice its size," said her husband, Loyd Osborn.” Police explained they’d been told that Osborn was “armed and dangerous.” Osborn, who was not armed, underwent two surgeries to save her arm.
10/31/03, Albq. Journal: NM State Police Officer Tomas Maes, shot a neighbor child’s Golden Retriever puppy in the face with a 45-caliber handgun, because it wandered into his yard after the neighbor, Vanessa Salizar, 12, accidentally left a gate open. Officer Maes explained he was concerned about the safety of his son who was playing next door at his parents' home. The State Police exonerated Maes of any wrongdoing. The dog survived the shooting but a few days later was poisoned.
10/31/03: New Mexico State Police Lt. Mark McCracken was indicted for the “willful, premeditated and deliberate” first degree murder of his wife, Melanie McCracken, and for evidence tampering. (See 8/5/95.) In addition, grand jurors requested that another grand jury be empanelled to "review the conduct" of the State Police in the inquiry.
10/1/03: HARRIET MOLDOV-TAYLOR RAPE AND HOMICIDE: Harriet, a disabled woman who lived alone, was found unconscious, in a diabetic coma, and bleeding from her mouth and rectum in her apartment. She died three days later. The OMI report described deep vaginal tears and ruled the cause of death strokes and blood loss caused by a violent sexual attack. APD refused to accept the possibility that anyone would enjoy raping a woman who was disabled and overweight and insisted Harriet’s injuries had to be self-inflicted. They have threatened to file a complaint against the first doctor who examined Harriet and are trying to convince the Medical Examiner to change her report to mesh with their own speculations.
12/8/03: Former NM Sheriff’s deputy James Trujillo was accused of robbing a woman at gunpoint in front of a Los Lunas bank and taking $20,000.
12/30/03: Albq. Journal-- Valencia County Magistrate John Sanchez, a former State Police officer himself, filed a federal civil rights suit against the New Mexico State Police for harassment of him and his family in retaliation for his attempts to persuade authorities to investigate NMSP Lt. Mark McCracken. (See 10/31/03).
12/31/03, Albq. Journal: Money, jewelry, gold coins, guns, and other items of value are alleged to be missing from the APD Evidence Unit. Chief Gallegos states this could be “anything from theft to poor record keeping.” The issue is classified as “an internal personnel matter.” No employees in the evidence unit had been disciplined or fired.
4/03: Defense attorney Ray Twohig sends a letter to the Attorney General’s Office requesting they investigate $7,000 in gold coins missing from the APD evidence room. He receives no response.
6/5/03: The Holguin family was terrorized by APD officers who stormed the house, guns blazing; blasted the door off its hinges; pelted the home with flash-gun grenades, and handcuffed all five family members. The officers, led by Capt. Robbin Burge, knocked the 80-yr-old grandmother, Carmen Holguin, to the floor and injured her so severely she had to be rushed to the hospital. They, then, swigged drinks from the refrigerator, threw the search warrant on the floor, and left. The Holguins had no criminal history and were never charged with anything. Police had stormed the wrong house. In 2002, Capt. Burge was named APD’s Plain Clothes Officer of the Year.
8/03: Defense attorney Ray Twohig again sends a letter to the Attorney General’s Office requesting they investigate $7,000 in gold coins missing from the evidence room. He again receives no response.
Aug. 2003:
A routine inspection of the evidence unit flags concerns over evidence that was mishandled at a police auction. APD Chief Gallegos orders an internal audit to investigate possible problems.
12/31/03: Nick Bakas, Albq.'s chief public safety officer, tells the press he has no knowledge of any internal audit of the APD evidence unit. However, APD Chief Gallegos confirms that there is such an audit. "We're looking at potential Standard Operating Procedure violations," he tells the media. That could mean anything from theft to poor record-keeping.
1/04: APD removes two employees from the evidence unit, after money is found missing. They are reassigned to a different division of APD.
1/9/04: Albq. Journal--The Police Oversight Commission found APD Officer Jay Rowland guilty of using unreasonable force during an unwarranted attack on Lane Leckman during an anti-war demonstration on March 20, 2003.
1/21/04: Albq. Tribune: DEATH CASES ANGER KIN: VICTIMS’ FAMILIES UNITE, SEEK GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY IN INVESTIGATIONS: Families of 24 NM homicide victims are fed up with law enforcement agencies they say have botched or covered up investigations, allowing dozens of killers to go free. Today they are also fed up with keeping silent.
“Our family is one of many in the Land of Enchantment who are forced to battle the very system that is supposedly here to protect and serve us in order to obtain justice for our murdered loved ones,” said Gabino Venegas Jr., whose son was killed in a 1998 hit-and-run crash that a private investigator claims was caused by a sheriff’s vehicle. Family members are uniting under the name New Mexico Justice Project to demand better accountability from law enforcement agencies. The agencies include the Albq. PD, Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety, NM State Police, Sandoval Co. Sheriff’s Dept, and the police departments of Socorro, Gallup, Santa Rosa, Bloomfield, Farmington and the Navajo Tribal Criminal Investigators.
2/04, Albq. Journal: Chris Jones sues APD to get back $10,000 cops seized from him in 2001 in a criminal case he was never charged in. The money, which was in a locked safe in his home, and was from a settlement Jones received from an automobile accident. The lawsuit is asking a federal judge to stop APD and the city from indefinitely holding seized property without following state forfeiture procedures.
2/28/04, Albq. Journal: A surveillance video show nine guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo county beating three shackled inmates as they are being checked into the facility. The inmates were forced into a wall face first, struck in the face with a fist, and viciously beaten for 17 minutes.
3/4/04, Albq. Journal: The Attorney General has initiated an investigation of theft of "thousands of dollars in cash, drugs, guns, jewelry and other high dollar items" from the APD evidence room and is looking at APD’s handling of their own alleged investigation of this situation. An anonymous letter to the AG’s office claims that evidence was destroyed and that "APD management has even helped to cover up the crimes."
3/4/04, KRQE TV Evening News: Total of thefts from APD Evidence Room could equal hundreds of thousands of dollars. “One difficulty in uncovering this story has been the widespread reluctance of rank and file officers to talk about the problem. Again and again officers told KRQE News 13 that they've been warned their jobs are at stake if they talk.”
3/5/04, KRQE TV Evening News: At least a dozen corrections officers are suspected in the repeated and premeditated assault of three inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The Bernalillo County Sheriff's office is investigating the incident at MDC, and Sheriff Darren White says he expects criminal charges to be filed.
3/5/04: City Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland paid a surprise visit to APD’s transfer station to the Metropolitan Detention Center in response to complaints from concerned citizens alleging prisoners were being beaten up by officers. At 11 p.m., Rowland discovered numerous atrocities, including 27 prisoners crammed into a 12x15’ holding room; two prisoners handcuffed outside the facility in the cold, one with his pants down and shoes off for two hours, the other with no coat and no shoes.
3/11/04: The APD transfer center was shut down due to Rowland’s report. Police officers will now have to personally transport prisoners to the Metropolitan Detention Center almost 20 miles west of town.
3/12/04, KRQE TV: Suspended prison guard, Ted Arana, who is under investigation for his role in the brutal beating of inmates, gives a motivational speech to hundreds of students at West Mesa High School, describing how he assaulted inmates regularly. The school district says the Corrections Dept. was responsible for selecting Arana to send to the school.
3/18/04, Albq. Journal: It has now been determined that 12 to 20 jail guards or staff, including supervisors, were involved in the Feb. 24 beating of three shackled inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Mayor Martin Chavez said there is a culture at the jail that allows the mistreatment of prisoners. “These idiots have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars" (in civil suits, etc.)
3/18/04, Albq. Journal: Valencia County sheriff's deputy Michael Gabaldon is indicted on four counts of fourth-degree-felony perjury charges for lying under oath about the results of a breath alcohol test he administered.
4/17/04, KRQE News: Inmate James Barber was hospitalized after Cibola County Center Director John Gould shot him with almost a dozen rounds of from a powerful rubber bullet gun. Barber was naked in his cell when the assault occurred. The company that manufacturers the rubber bullet gun says the weapon is very powerful and used in prison riots and crowd control situations. The F.B.I. says a grand jury indicted Gould on similar charges when he was employed at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces.
4/30/04: Chief Judge John Brennan of Albuquerque was arrested at a DWI checkpoint and charged with drug possession and tampering with evidence.
7/8/04: The arrest of Judge Brennan for drug possession spurred the disclosure of a confidential narcotics report alleging that Brennan’s cocaine use was known by law enforcement officers for years. The report also includes information about drug activities involving numerous other prominent New Mexicans. “It draws on a variety of sources and reads like a Who’s Who of New Mexico drug underworld,” said KRQE TV reporter Larry Barker. “Judges, lawyers, politicians, sports celebrities and prominent businessmen appear in the report right along side the State’s narcotics kingpins.” David Iglesias, US Attorney for New Mexico, called the detailed document about drug smuggling and money laundering in New Mexico “a page-turner I couldn’t put down.”
7/19/04: The trial of APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, indicted for sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl (see 8/29.01) ended in a locked jury. The prosecutor has dropped charges because the girl does not want to go through a retrial.
8/03/04, KRQE News: NM State police officer accused of sexually assaulting a female domestic violence victim in the pack of his patrol car has resigned after a multi-agency investigation into the allegations. His name will not be released.
12/16/04, Albq. Journal: An APD officer stole $700 from a man he arrested for drunken driving, according to an investigation conducted by the city's Independent Review Office. On the day he was to take a polygraph, the officer resigned. APD will not release the officer’s name.
12/21/04, Albq. Journal -- APD officials say they still don't know if guns, weapons, drugs, jewelry and money are missing from their evidence room, despite a nine-month criminal investigation. A review conducted by a private company reports that "no one (in the evidence room) can say that there is not evidence missing at this time." Police officials said it was up to the Attorney General's Office— not them— to figure out what if anything is missing.
12/29/04, Albq. Journal: Lack of action by APD leadership may have allowed employees of APD's Evidence Unit to destroy traces of wrongdoing in order to avoid criminal prosecution, according to Larry Sonntag, commander of APD's Inspections and Accreditation Unit. After problems with the evidence unit came to light, preventive action was not taken to restrict the destruction of evidence for a full year. "During that time period, numerous computer and paper records were lost, altered or destroyed to the extent that limited if any criminal prosecution is possible now," Sonntag stated.
12/2004: Dec. 2004: A teenage male was awarded $17,000 for his claim that APD Officer Christopher Chase beat him with a flashlight in September 2002.
1/20/05, Albq. Journal: A State Police narcotics agent has resigned amid an FBI investigation stemming from allegations he was dealing drugs.
2/05: A brownish liquid is allegedly spotted near a plastic tub used to store evidence from methamphetamine cases. APD hires a hazardous removal company to dispose of contaminated evidence. The chemical damage and cleanup destroy evidence from hundreds of cases.
2/12/05, Albq. Trib.: APD Officer Christopher Chase was found guilty of assault, battery, false imprisonment and loss of due process for raping a woman in the back seat of his squad car. The victim was awarded $ 943,380. "Frankly, I think you can sleep very well with that verdict," Senior U.S. District Judge John Conway told the jurors.
3/9/05: APD officers discover untagged drugs, guns, and money lying around the evidence room with no record of where they came from.
3/05: Capt. Marie Miranda, overseer of the APD evidence unit, writes Chief Gallegos a letter informing him that in Feb., 2005, the cleanup of a hazardous chemical destroyed evidence from hundreds of drug cases. Evidence from homicide and sexual assault cases were also "compromised." At least 20% of those cases are still pending. Miranda insists that the department had an ethical obligation to notify the District Attorney's Office, which it didn’t do.
3/10/05: APD Capt Ron Paiz, who ordered an investigation into high-ranking members of the police department, is removed from his position overseeing the internal affairs unit. Instead, the unit will report directly to the chief. "I don't know why I was removed,” Paiz said. “No explanation was given to me.”
3/05: Chris Jones files a suit against APD and the city asserting that, when her boyfriend was arrested by police in a domestic violence case, police searched their apartment, broke open a safe and took $10,000 in cash. Jones says she has tried to get the money back, but the police refuse to turn it over.
3/05: Three federal lawsuits are filed by attorneys who claim APD lost property belonging to their clients. In all three cases, the attorneys are representing people who were never prosecuted.
3/11/05: A majority of Albuquerque's city councilors say it’s time they stepped in and examine the problems at APD. Council member Eric Griego calls for a city council hearing on the evidence-room problems.
3/11/05: APD Officers Union votes "no confidence" in Deputy Chief Ed Sauer’s leadership because of problems in the APD evidence room.
3/15/05: Police disclose that the chemical leak in the APD evidence unit destroyed evidence in 235 cases, at least 20% of which are still pending.
3/17/05: Whistle-blower, APD Capt. Miranda, who reported the chemical leak, is placed on administrative leave and asked to turn in her badge, gun and squad car.
3/18/05: A gun from a murder case that is supposed to go to trial is missing from the APD evidence room. APD did not inform the prosecutors.
3/19/05: APD Sgt. Cynthia Orr gave a media interview, starting out, “This is probably going to end my career.” Orr said Chief Gilbert Gallegos failed to act despite repeated warnings of evidence theft. Orr said that, in Aug. 2003, she identified two people who were stealing in the evidence room, but Gallegos allowed them to continue to work there, which enabled them to destroy evidence that would have proven their guilt. She said she discovered thefts when property went to auction and the list of property taken out of the evidence room was longer than the list of property the auctioneer received. "Am I implicating the chief is assisting to do this cover-up? Absolutely. Do I know this is a dangerous accusation to make? Absolutely. But I know this is something that needs to be done." Orr said a deputy chief forbade her to send reports of missing evidence to the records department, because they didn’t want it to become public record that things were missing. She said officers under criminal investigations for such things as DUI or domestic violence were allowed to work in the evidence room where they could oversee the evidence in their own criminal cases.
3/22/05: While pounding on a lectern, Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos told city councilors he has been personally attacked over evidence room problems. Cuncilor, Eric Griego, brought to the meeting 15 e-mails from officers who feared speaking out because of possible retaliation.
3/22/05: Charlene Perez filed a suit claiming the APD evidence room “lost” $100,000 worth of her family jewelry wouldn’t return it despite a court order.
3/23/05: Sgt. Orr says deputy chiefs encouraged other officers to retaliate because she spoke out. This occurred at two citywide meetings attended by hundreds of officers who were ordered to be there.
3/25/05: Four Albuquerque police employees— including two officers— are implicated in the disappearance of $75,000-$200,000 in money from the evidence room. Investigators from the state AG Office say drugs may also have been removed because "we have discovered a way that this could have occurred without anyone detecting." Police employees were able to move evidence out of inventory by falsifying auction documents, manipulating APD’s evidence tracking system and using computer access codes of other employees.
3/30/05: The list of valuable property from evidence room that has been sold at auction or “taken to the dump” continues to grow. An example of such items is a $15,000 plasma TV set, evidence in a white-collar crime investigation, which was supposed to be returned to the owner after the trial. Evidence room personnel state they took the TV to the dump because it had a crack in it.
3/3/05: Mayor Martin Chavez tell the media, “"When you have a department where there are accusations, counter-accusations, lieutenants accusing captains, captains accusing deputy chiefs, deputy chiefs accusing captains, that is a department in disarray." Whereupon Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos resigns.
3/31/05: In a furious tirade, laced with profanity, APD Deputy Chief Paul Chavez warned his lieutenants that if they ever openly criticized the administration he would yank them from their command. Lt. Joseph Byers taped the diatribe and filed a complaint with athe city’s Labor Management Board. "He was trying to intimidate us,” Byers said. “Others will not come forward because they are scared."
4/7/03: It’s disclosed that In Feb. 03, an APD freezer containing more than 1,600 samples of blood, urine, saliva and other evidence from rapes and homicides was shut down because of a freon leak, causing some materials to thaw. 40 criminal cases may be affected, at least 15 homicides and 10 rapes. The police and the DA’s office withheld that information from defense attorneys, who continued to construct their cases on contaminated evidence.
4/24/05: Three federal lawsuits have been filed against APD alleging the department lost or failed to return more than $16,000 that was seized from people who were never charged with a crime.
5/21/05, Albq. Journal: The Department of Public Safety paid $300,000 to settle a tort claim by black former State Police officer Dexter Brock. On May 22, 2000, UMSP officers forced Brock out of his squad car with mace, dragged him across a parking lot, handcuffed him to a telephone pole in the dark, and photographed his humiliation, while calling him “nigger” and other racial slurs. Police say the officers were disciplined, but won't say who they were or what the punishment was.
5/22/05. Albq. Journal: APD is the subject of five personal injury lawsuits in which victims were injured or killed in Officer-Involved car crashes and APD lost witness statements, didn't interview people who saw the crashes, or refused to turn over evidence to the plaintiffs.
Among those cases: Christine Roessner was the passenger on a motorcycle on Oct. 18, 2003, when a police officer cut them off, stopped suddenly and caused the motorcycle to crash. Roessner was left paralyzed and with permanent brain damage
The APD report did not mention the car was a police car and stated only that motorcycle failed to slow down for traffic. The report said there were no witness statements because people who saw the crash would not cooperate with officers. However, Roessner's attorney found two witnesses who said they gave statements to police. APD attorneys then acknowledged that there were witness statements but they were accidentally lost.
Abel Trujillo was killed on 4/2/04 when a police car ran a stop sign and struck his car. APD said they could find no witnesses, but insist the officer had his lights and sirens on. However a PI found several witnesses who saw the crash and claim the lights and sirens were not on. The city will settle out of court.
Patrick Moser and Marcy Mease sued the city in 2003, claiming an APD officer was negligent when he ran a red light and slammed into a van they were in. Their attorneys sought sanctions after they tried for seven months to get copies of radio transmissions, accident measurements and copies of recordings from officers' belt recorders. The city eventually settled for $125,000.
5-25-05, Albq. Tribune: APD vice unit detective Timothy Chavez, a 13 yr. Veteran of APD, recipient of the 1998 Law Enforcement Officer/Hero of the Year Award, is charged with the kidnap and rape of a 14-yr-old girl he “met” on a dating phone line.
5-25-05 -- NMSP Officers Thomas Morrissey and Saul Canialis got drunk and cussed out two APD officers, insisting they were superior because they were state police and APD was just city. Things escalated until nine APD officers subdued and arrested their State Police counterparts.
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