Former BCSO deputy pleads guilty to obstruction of justice

A former Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy pleaded guilty Tuesday to obstruction of justice in tipping off his confidential informant that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had targeted him in a drug investigation.

Kyle Linker, 33, pleaded guilty to one felony count before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer M. Rozzoni of Albuquerque. His surprise plea came after a lengthy criminal investigation that had strained relations between certain members of the sheriff’s office and federal law enforcement in New Mexico.

Linker resigned from the BCSO in 2022 after being placed on paid leave a year earlier, when the DEA discovered he had thwarted the agency’s investigation into a drug trafficking operation in December 2021 in Albuquerque.

Linker remains free pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in northern Texas prosecuted the case to avoid any potential conflict with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico, which handles cases brought by the DEA and other law enforcement agencies.

Linker told a Journal reporter after the hearing, “I’m not going to make any comments.”

The one obstruction/aiding and abetting count Linker pleaded guilty to carries a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years, but Sean Long, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Texas, told the magistrate judge that federal prosecutors had agreed that Linker should be placed on probation. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

Long asked that Linker be barred from having any contact with any potential witnesses or co-defendants “in this case because it’s an ongoing matter.” Charges are still pending against the informant, who ultimately admitted to the DEA that Linker had tipped him off in November 2021.

The crux of the case is detailed in the 14-page plea agreement Linker signed.

It states in part, “Specifically the Defendant admits that he obstructed, influenced, impeded, or attempted to obstruct, influence, or impeded the DEA’s investigation of CI (confidential informant) by notifying the CI of DEA’s pending drug investigation targeting DI.”

He further admitted, according to the agreement, “that he acted corruptly, that is, he acted knowingly and dishonestly with the wrongful purpose of obstructing the DEA investigation. Finally, the defendant admits his actions had the natural and probable outcome of obstructing the DEA’s investigation into CI by attempting to make unavailable evidence that would later have been used in federal grant jury proceedings against CI.”

Linker had cultivated the confidential informant, who had agreed to work with the sheriff’s office “in consideration of potential drug charges” that stemmed from evidence found at the drug dealer’s Los Ranchos residence in July 2021.

Because Linker had previously investigated the informant as a “potential target, I was able to receive notification from other law enforcement agents if they conducted operations near CI’s residence,” stated his plea agreement.

In November 2021, the plea agreement states, Linker said he was contacted by a DEA special agent about an operation the DEA was carrying out near the CI’s home in Los Ranchos.

“Fearing that the DEA operation might target CI, I contacted CI to warn him about the DEA operation,” Linker stated in his plea agreement. “Based on my information, CI canceled the transaction, and the DEA was unable to gather evidence against the CI during this planned operation.”

Linker’s plea agreement stated that he later learned that DEA agents examined the CI’s phone call logs and “suspected that I had notified CI of DEA’s activity and thwarted their operation. I also learned that DEA agents then planned another operation where they would target CI’s residence without contacting me first.”

The plea agreement states that Linker and another unnamed sheriff’s deputy tried to shield the CI from the DEA. The second deputy at one point told Linker in a text, “Tell (CI) not to sell to anyone. And go to a hotel or stay with someone else for a bit.”

Both deputies got together on Dec. 16, 2021, to warn the confidential informant that the DEA was “going forward with their drug operation and that CI should ‘shut everything down’ because the DEA didn’t currently have enough evidence to get a warrant for CI’s residence.”

Linker also gave the CI excuses that he could use to avoid suspicions of why he had called off the drug transaction. He then told the CI not to call him anymore and to contact the second deputy instead.

After that interaction, Linker was suspended by the BCSO, the agreement states. The CI was arrested by the DEA on Dec. 16, 2021, on charges of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine and is in federal custody.