Alamogordo police officer arrested on trafficking charges after release from hospital Saturday.
A 46-year-old undercover narcotics officer with the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety was arrested Saturday on charges of drug trafficking after New Mexico State Police searched his home and found 1.3 pounds of cocaine, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.
Officer Rick Ramsdale has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending an internal investigation and a termination hearing, DPS Director Sam Trujillo told the Daily News.
And the State Police are continuing their own investigation of Ramsdale, Trujillo said.
“Narcotics agents were conducting a surveillance investigation on an unrelated case Friday,” Trujillo told the paper. “One agent noticed the erratic behavior of Ramsdale, that’s what alerted the agent, something was wrong.”
Ramsdale was taken to a local hospital where a drug test showed the presence of cocaine, Trujillo said.
“There was no indication prior to Ramsdale’s behavior,” Trujillo told the Daily News. “We contacted the State Police because we believe a crime was committed by one of our employees.”
Ramsdale was arrested by State Police after being released from the hospital, Trujillo said.
“We do have to police our own,” said Trujillo. “I do have to commend the other narcotics agents for stepping forward and making sure this did not continue.”
Ramsdale began working as an undercover narcotics agent just five weeks ago, police told the Daily News. He had worked for the DPS as a patrol officer for about a year, and prior to that, was an Otero County sheriff’s deputy for five years, the paper said.
