Retired APD officer enters plea in DWI bribery scandal

Another former Albuquerque police officer, once lauded for his DWI enforcement work, has pleaded guilty to participating in an extortion and bribery scheme that for decades enabled suspected drunken drivers to go free if they hired a prominent defense attorney.

Timothy McCarson, who retired in 2022 after 16 years with the Albuquerque Police Department, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interference with commerce by extortion under color of official right on Monday before a U.S. magistrate judge in Albuquerque.

He was released on his own recognizance pending sentencing, which hasn't been set. His attorney didn't immediately return phone messages for comment.

Carson worked in the APD's DWI unit for 11 years, receiving an award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Organization for Outstanding Enforcement Officer of the Year in 2019.

He is among a dozen individuals, including two defense attorneys, to plead guilty in the ongoing federal investigation into the scheme, which became public in January 2024. McCarson, who served as an APD drug recognition expert, is the eighth former APD officer to plead guilty so far. 

The group of officers involved, which included a former Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office deputy, typically would refer people arrested for DWI to attorney Thomas Clear III or his assistant Ricardo Mendez. If the lawyer was retained, the officer would either fail to show for pretrial hearings or interviews or withhold required court paperwork so Clear could convince a Metro Court judge to dismiss the case.

Both Clear and Mendez have entered guilty pleas to racketeering and other federal charges and are awaiting sentencing.

"Without the Conspiring Officers' agreement and participation, the high success rate of Clear in avoiding criminal and administrative consequences for DWI Offenders would not have been possible," stated McCarson in his plea agreement. 

In McCarson's case, he stated he received cash and non-cash rewards, such as Christmas gifts, to agree not to perform his duties on a particular offender's case. His participation began in 2015, his plea agreement stated.

In one case, he received $5,000 after dropping a DWI case against an individual, J.H., he had arrested after a DWI-related crash. McCarson didn't take the suspect immediately into custody because the individual was hospitalized with injuries related to the crash. But he never filed the charges in court, court records show.

In another case, he received money from Mendez and Clear for not appearing at the criminal trial and MVD hearing for a man, identified only as R.M., he arrested at a sobriety checkpoint in August 2015.

"I now understand that R.M. is the uncle of an APD Conspiring Officer and that the APD Conspiring Officer asked Mendez to offer me a bribe in exchange for not appearing as otherwise required," McCarson stated in court records.

The court records in McCarson's case, and all others who have pleaded guilty, don't say how much money each collected from participating in the scheme, which began in the mid-1990s.

But many of the DWI officers collected hefty paychecks from the city, given the overtime pay earned in responding to drunken driving calls.

One prior news report showed McCarson was the 9th highest paid city employee in 2015, earning $136,114 that year.

Colleen Heild is an investigative reporter. She also writes about CYFD and federal courts. You can reach her at cheild@abqjournal.com.