Newly-unsealed documents are giving us insight into the FBI investigation that broke open the DWI bribery scheme that rocked multiple agencies across New Mexico.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Newly-unsealed documents are giving us insight into the FBI investigation that broke open the DWI bribery scheme that rocked multiple agencies across New Mexico.
Hundreds of documents show what FBI investigators were looking into in the months and years leading up to a raid in Los Lunas in January 2024 at the home of former Albuquerque Police Dept. officer Harvey Johnson, Jr.
That includes search warrants from 2023 in which FBI special agents detail knowledge of extensive communication between law enforcement officers and a paralegal named Ricardo “Rick” Mendez.
Mendez was working for attorney Thomas Clear III, who is the admitted mastermind behind a scheme to bribe officers to miss court dates to get their cases dismissed. His clients would negotiate payments through Mendez that were often in the $6,000 to $10,000 range, based on what’s been revealed in this investigation so far.
In one instance, a special agent revealed a recorded phone call made between a client, who turned into an informant, and Mendez, in which Mendez is heard refusing to take a partial payment of $3,600.
Witness: “How much? How much?”
Mendez: “I told you.”
Witness: “Can I [give] you some?”
Mendez: “All of it up front.”
Witness: “Um, $6,000?’
The documents also show conversations between Mendez and two of the first officers to plead guilty from APD – Honorio Alba, Jr. and Joshua Montaño.
The special agent stated some of those conversations happened within hours or days of arresting someone who was later referred to Mendez to help make the charges go away.
The recorded conversations outlined in the newly released material also show Mendez would punish clients who didn’t pay as quickly as he wanted, including one instance in which Mendez demanded payment early because he was planning to leave town for a holiday weekend. When that didn’t happen, he told the client in their next conversation the following week that the price just went up.
Mendez: “I mean, we can still beat it, but you’re gonna wind up paying more now.”
Witness: “Oh, I’m gonna end up paying more now? Uh, what do you mean? What do you mean?”
Mendez: “Well, it wasn’t filed.”
Law enforcement leaders in New Mexico say that while these documents do help illuminate what the FBI was working with, there is a lot more involved with this investigation.
“As with any case of this size, there is a tremendous amount of discovery, and it takes a lot of time to process,” said Ry Ellison, the First Assistant U.S. District Attorney serving New Mexico. “That process is being worked through, but the message that I’ve put out to our prosecutors is get this done and get it done quickly.”
Both Mendez and Clear have already pleaded guilty for their roles in the DWI bribery scheme. Many officers have as well including Alba, Johnson, and Montaño.
In addition to officers working for APD, law enforcement personnel from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico State Police have also been implicated in the scandal.
