By: ABQRAW staff
Posted: 01/25/2024 @ 8:30AM
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Albuquerque – The Albuquerque Police Department employees that are currently being investigated by the FBI in regards to a possible corruption scandal involving DWI cases have been identified.
This week we asked the DA’s office through a public records request for their updated Giglio list and yesterday Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman’s office released an updated Giglio list that included the alleged APD officers to ABQ RAW. One officer was not on the original Giglio list provided but more than likely the name will be added later today.
Also through a vigorous search of court records, property records checks and piecing together other information ABQRAW has now determined that the APD employees under investigation are: Lieutenant Justin Hunt, Officer Honorio Alba Jr., Officer Joshua Montano, Officer Harvey Johnson Jr., and Officer Nelson Ortiz.
It should be stressed that these officers have not been charged with any crimes and are still employed by APD at this time.
A Giglio (or Brady) list – contains the names (and details) of law enforcement officers who have have engaged in incidents of untruthfulness, have criminal convictions, enjoy candor issues, or have engaged in some other incident that places their credibility into question.
In Bernalillo County this list is maintained by the DA’s office and shared with defense attorneys. A non-negotiable element of due process is that the prosecution must turn over evidence that is favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment. In short, someone who is accused of a crime has a right to know if the officer testifying against them has credibility issues. Relevant to these allegations – how can an officer deliver testimony deemed credible in court if there is evidence that the officer has engaged in the uncouth practice of accepting bribes?
An officer that earns a spot on this list would have a difficult time testifying in court and therefore many police departments terminate these officers – because if an officer cannot testify in court then they cannot realistically play any essential role in a criminal investigation. It’s a good thing that APD has a ton of ancillary positions that have zero to do with arresting and prosecuting criminals.
One Officer of note is Officer Honorio Alba. He was recently named the 2023 MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) New Mexico officer of the year. See below:
As previously reported we know that 156 DWI cases have been dismissed by the Bernalillo County District Attorney. One of the reasons for those dismissals is the fact that four of these officers (Alba, Montano, Johnson, and Ortiz) have been added to the Giglio (or Brady) disclosure list.
Aside from the FBI investigation we have learned that the Internal Affairs Division of APD is also conducting an administrative investigation that will focus on violations of department policy.
While this investigation is pending, Lieutenant Hunt is on administrative assignment and the other four officers are on administrative leave. While on both administrative assignment and administrative leave these officers will continue to be paid their normal hourly rates.
Though the officers are still on the city payroll – this is not a sought after position for any police officer (admin leave). APD would have essentially stripped these guys of their police powers and repossessed their guns, badges, police cars, and other pertinent city-issued equipment and hidden them at a desk inside somewhere.
Chief Harold Medina has explained that APD is cooperating with the federal investigation and ABQRAW expects this internal investigation to be a top priority for the department – as there is an extreme incentive to get this one right and avoid any finding that would contradict what the federal investigation will uncover.