Another Albuquerque police officer resigned last week amid a growing scandal involving cops who allegedly conspired with a local defense attorney to make drunken driving cases disappear in exchange for payoffs. Joshua Montaño, employed by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) for 19 years, is the fifth officer to resign after being placed on administrative leave. His resignation letter dated March 20, which ABQ of the city desk obtained through a public records request, sheds light on the extent of alleged corruption within APD’s DWI unit, the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation and an APD investigation.
“When I was placed on administrative leave, I thought there would be an opportunity for me to speak to the department about what I knew regarding the FBI investigation,” writes Montaño, who missed several scheduled interviews with FBI investigators APD before his resignation. “I thought there would be a moment [when] I was able to reveal what I knew from APD and how the problems I got involved in within the DWI Unit were generational. I thought there would be a time when I could talk about all the other people who should be on administrative leave, but they’re not.”
Montaño says he ultimately decided not to cooperate with APD investigators. “In order to tell the city about what I knew,” he writes, “I had to not be the city’s scapegoat for its own failures.” He complains that Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, who promised to “make sure we get to the bottom of this matter” but is himself under investigation for causing a Feb. 17 crash that seriously injured a driver whose car he rear-ended , “made it appear that there are only a few bad officers acting on their own initiative.” This is “far from the truth,” Montaño says.
Among other things, the FBI is reportedly investigating allegations that officers deliberately missed court dates, resulting in DWI cases being dismissed. But according to Montaño, “all the officers know that our presence, or lack thereof, at Corte is watched and monitored.” While “I take responsibility for my actions,” he says, responsibility for alleged misconduct extends up the chain of command and more than a few years back in time.
Medina “has made numerous public statements regarding APD’s knowledge of the FBI’s investigation of various APD members and has pledged to complete parallel investigations,” Montaño’s attorney, Thomas Grover, writes in a separate letter to the department. “However, as is evident from Officer Montano’s investigation, the department has responded to FBI requests in a manner that is at best haphazard and at worst artificial.”
Although Montaño wanted to share “his knowledge of how widespread the issues of concern are to the FBI, how far up the chain of oversight they go, and other personnel involved,” Grover says, “he could not provide such a statement because of the myriad deficiencies with which APD has plagued its investigation of him, and presumably others. From procedural errors regarding notification requirements to police officers, to timing violations by APD, it appears that in at any time the department failed to follow basic practices for internal affairs investigations.”
While one might discount Montaño’s attempt to spread blame, this is broadly consistent with Medina’s description of the conduct the FBI is investigating. In a Feb. 2 news conference, Medina noted that DWI cases are often dismissed when officers are unavailable to testify. “Systems that struggle, systems that have loopholes, are really open to corruption,” Medina said. “We’re dealing with things that we expect started decades ago, and we’ve done a lot of things that have gotten us to this point. But we’re going to continue to dig and watch and leave no stone unturned and make sure we get to the bottom of it.”
Medina says the problems within the DWI may have “started decades ago,” which agrees with Montaño’s description of a “generational” phenomenon. That period overlaps with Medina’s tenure at APD, where he began working in 1995. He was an APD officer for 20 years before retiring as commander in 2014. After a few years as police chief of Laguna, New Mexico, returned to service. APD in December 2017 as deputy chief. Three years later he became interim chief, a position made permanent in March 2021.
Medina, who as a sergeant and lieutenant worked for APD’s “Party Patrol,” was evidently not assigned to the DWI unit. But he worked to prevent minors from drinking, “working”.[ing] closely with community partners like Mothers Against Drunk Driv[ing],” which gave him an award in 2008. The same group chose Honorio Alba Jr. as New Mexico’s “Officer of the Year” in 2023, just months before the Civilian Police Oversight Agency in Albuquerque received a letter about his ” questionable conduct,” which triggered the corruption investigation.
Instead of arresting a drunk driver who nearly caused an accident while speeding and subsequently ran onto a sidewalk, Alba allegedly referred him to a specific local attorney. Alba resigned last month ahead of a scheduled interview with APD’s internal affairs division.
Like Alba, Montaño was implicated in a suspicious deal with the same DWI defense attorney, Thomas Clear, whose office the FBI searched as part of its investigation. Federal agents also searched the homes of APD officers.
No charges have been filed so far. But in response to the corruption allegations, the Bernalillo County district attorney’s office dismissed about 200 DWI cases, saying it could not rely on the testimony of the cops who made the arrests. KOB, the NBC affiliate in Albuquerque, reports that Alba was the arresting officer in many of these cases. KRQE, the local CBS affiliate, reviewed DWI cases filed over the previous six years. It was found that Montaño “was appointed as an officer in at least 36 cases” in which defendants were represented by Clear, and “nearly 90% of these cases ended in dismissal.”
Three other officers who were placed on administrative leave: Lieut. Justin Hunt, Officer Harvey Johnson and Officer Nelson Ortiz resigned before Montaño. Analyzing the “85 DWI cases dating back to 2017” involving Clear and Alba, Montaño, Johnson or Ortiz, ABQ of the city desk found that 14% resulted in trial convictions or plea deals, which is “much lower than the Metro Court average of 56% convictions in DWI cases over the same years.” The remaining 86% were fired, typically because officers failed to show up for preliminary interviews or hearings. The “vast majority” of the defendants were arrested by Alba or Montaño.
According to an APD spokesperson, two other officers are under investigation. “There’s a much bigger story here,” Grover said ABQ of the city desk. “If Officer Montaño is a concrete block in this saga, there’s a whole wall to face. It goes outward and upward.”