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A fifth New Mexico law enforcement officer pleaded guilty Monday as the ongoing federal DWI bribery investigation appeared to include a new target, an Albuquerque police sergeant who is now on administrative leave.
The Albuquerque Police Department announced Sgt. Lucas Perez was placed on leave on Monday. The action came after police officials were notified by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico that Perez, a former DWI unit sergeant, was under scrutiny as part of the FBI’s continuing investigation into a massive, near 30-year conspiracy in which law enforcement helped a local attorney get DWI cases dismissed.
Perez, who couldn’t be reached Monday evening, has not been criminally charged.
But federal prosecutors identified him as one of those under criminal investigation whose credibility could be challenged if asked to testify in court on other cases. So far, the Bernalillo County District Attorney has had to dismiss more than 260 DWI cases involving other such law enforcement officers linked to the federal case.
Meanwhile, former DWI officer Nelson Ortiz pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit interference of commerce by extortion under color of official right. Ortiz joined the APD in 2016, and moved to the APD DWI unit in 2018. He was among the first APD officers to have resigned from the agency once the FBI investigation came to light in January 2024.
The APD on Monday stated in a press release that 10 officers have left the agency, and three are on administrative leave as a result of the investigation.
To date, federal prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from seven defendants, including four former APD officers, a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy, and now-disbarred DWI defense attorney Thomas Clear III, and his office investigator Ricardo Mendez. None have been sentenced yet.
Like other law enforcement officers who have admitted to participating in the scheme, Ortiz, in his plea agreement, stated he accepted cash payments, gift cards, meals and free legal services for his family in exchange for deliberately missing pretrial interviews and court hearings so Clear’s clients would end up getting their DWI charges dismissed.
Testimony and evidence from an arresting officer is necessary for a DWI prosecution to proceed, and typically Metropolitan Court judges hearing the cases would grant Clear’s subsequent motions to dismiss cases as a sanction against the prosecution.
