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Albuquerque police lieutenant resigns amid DWI corruption probe
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An Albuquerque police lieutenant has resigned after the department opened an internal investigation into him and four officers related to a DWI corruption probe.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said Justin Hunt resigned Wednesday.
Hunt was placed on paid administrative leave last month, along with officers Honorio Alba Jr., Joshua Montaño, Harvey Johnson Jr. and Nelson Ortiz. All five officers served on the DWI unit at some point.
Gallegos said Hunt joined APD in 2000 and served in the DWI unit from 2011 to 2014. Hunt declined to comment to the Journal on Thursday.
The five were placed on leave a week after the FBI searched the homes of Alba, Johnson, the law offices of defense attorney Thomas Clear III and the home of Clear’s paralegal, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez.
Federal authorities have remained tight-lipped on the specifics of the investigation.
The Journal has learned it is tied to the prosecution of DWI cases in Albuquerque, focusing on several APD officers and their interaction with staff of a local law firm.
The 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office dismissed 195 cases, the majority of them DWIs, in the wake of the investigation going public.
The cases had been filed by Alba, Johnson, Montaño and Ortiz.
Hunt made headlines as the second-highest-paid city employee in 2022, earning more than $217,000.
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Hunt, who lives in Rio Rancho, was most recently serving as lieutenant in the Southeast Area Command.
