Federal Charges Filed Against Two Disgraced APD DWI Officers, Both Take Plea Deals

Albuquerque –

Two former Albuquerque Police Officers from the DWI Unit were federally charged by the U.S. Attorney Office of New Mexico in court on Friday, February 7th, 2025. The first two of many potential officers are former APD officers Josh Montaño and Honorio Alba, Jr. The pair pled guilty today to numerous counts of bribery related to DWI cases within the Bernalillo County court system.

There were indictments and plea deals filed in federal court that outlined the charges and how the APD DWI unit became an enterprise of bribery within the Albuquerque metro area connected to DWI cases. The newest federal court documents outline that Alba and Montaño took at least $5,000 in cash or items of value multiple times over the years while being in cahoots with attorney Tom Clear’s employee, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez.

It has been over a year since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted raids on the homes of a some then DWI officers who were part of the Albuquerque Police Department. A warrant was also executed at Tom Clears residential office , and an employee of the attorney. Earlier last month, the man identified as the attorney’s employee, Ricardo (Rick) Mendez, pled guilty to numerous federal charges related to the scandal. It seems he spilled copious amounts of information to federal investigators about just how the bribery scheme worked and he also named and implicated additional officers that could also be involved.

Alba and Montaño’s court documents highlight a few things:

“The DWI Enterprise members and associates frequently used coded language in their communications to avoid detection and criminal prosecution.“

“From on or about February 2019 to in or about January 2020, in Bernalillo County, in the District of New Mexico, the defendant, HONORIO ALBA, corruptly solicited, demanded, accepted, and agreed to accept a thing of value from a person with the intent to be influenced and rewarded in connection with a transaction and series of transactions involving $5,000 or more.“

Here is how the bribery scandal would work:

The object of the conspiracy was accomplished as follows:
a. ALBA, in his role as a sworn law enforcement officer with APD’s DWI
Unit, patrolled the City of Albuquerque and made arrests of drivers who allegedly were
intoxicated or impaired.
b. Instead of charging DWI Offenders in accordance with APD policy,
ALBA released DWI Offenders from custody without filing charges. In many instances, ALBA
retained the DWI Offenders’ driver’s licenses.
c. After releasing a DWI offender without charging them, ALBA provided
MENDEZ with the DWI Offender’s driver’s license and/or contact information.
d. MENDEZ then contacted or attempted to contact the DWI Offender. DWI
Offenders were asked to pay several thousand dollars in U.S. currency in exchange for ALBA
not filing charges against the DWI Offenders.
e. If a DWI Offender paid the amount demanded by MENDEZ, then
MENDEZ would pay ALBA in exchange for ALBA not filing charges against the DWI
Offender.

Alba and Montaño could be sentenced anywhere from 10 to 20 years, per count, with time spent in federal prison and monetary restitution being paid to possible victims.

We reached out to APD, and the Bernalillo County District Attorney Office for comment.

Alba and Montaño are the only law enforcement officers federally charged in this bribery scheme so far.

APD has stated that 12 officers are involved, the officers named are mentioned in no particular order – those not charged are presumed innocent:

• Lt. Justin Hunt – resigned on February 7, 2024
• Commander Mark Landavazo – put on admin leave on February 13, 2024, and terminated on Aug 1, 2024
• Officer Honorio Alba – resigned on February 29, 2024
• Officer Harvey Johnson – resigned on March 13, 2024
• Officer Nelson Ortiz – resigned on March 15, 2024
• Officer Joshua Montaño – resigned on March 20, 2024
• Officer Daren DeAguero – resigned on April 30, 2024
• Officer Matthew Trahan – put on admin leave on May 8, 2024, and retired on October 19, 2024
• Officer Neill Elsman – resigned on July 31, 2024
• Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez – put on admin leave on October 16, 2024
• Lt. Kyle Curtis – put on admin leave on January 24, 2025
• Lt. Matthew Chavez – put on admin leave on January 24, 2025
• Officer Timothy McCarson (retired when named, not a current officer)

As of this publication, Honorio Alba and Joshua Montaño are the only officers (current, former, or retired) who have been charged.

We are reviewing the details of the plea, and this story is still developing.

UPDATE:

After this publication, the Albuquerque Police Department sent a statement which said:

APD Chief Harold Medina released the following statement today in response to the guilty pleas made by two former APD officers who were at the center of a federal investigation of DWI officers.

Former officers Honorio Alba and Joshua Montaño pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting their roles in a longtime conspiracy with a local attorney and his paralegal to get DWI cases dismissed in exchange for cash and gifts.

“It has been exactly one year since the first officer resigned from APD as a result of this investigation,” Chief Medina said. “Shortly after that, Officers Alba and Montaño resigned, rather than being interviewed by our investigators. As I initially told the FBI and said when this investigation became public, a key turning point appears to be the procedural changes made by the Supreme Court in 2022. Mayor Keller and I advocated for those changes. Officers Alba and Montaño now admit they purposely missed pre-trial interviews in exchange for cash and gifts, and they had to modify the conspiracy after those procedural changes by the Supreme Court.

“I had faith that the federal investigation would get to this point and hold these officers accountable for their criminal conduct. I appreciate the hard work of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I wish I could say this is the end point, but we continue to discover details of this conspiracy and those who participated in it. We will leave no stone unturned. I hope others who were part of this conspiracy pay close attention to the prison sentences these officers agreed to serve in exchange for their cooperation.”

APD has placed a total of 12 former DWI officers, including Alba and Montaño, on leave as part of its investigation. Ten of those officers have resigned, retired or been terminated.

APD created an Internal Affairs Task Force to conduct all administrative investigations into alleged misconduct by current and former DWI officers. The primary administrative investigation was initiated on Jan. 23, 2024. APD Commander Kyle Hartsock is overseeing the investigations, which will be submitted to the Superintendent of Police Reform to determine whether APD policies were followed.

The FBI is conducting a separate, criminal investigation into allegations of illegal conduct. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will determine whether any criminal charges will be filed against additional individuals accused of violating federal laws.

If we learn anything more, we will update you.

UPDATE 2:

U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alex Uballez gave us a brief phone interview after the recent plea deals, saying the case came together remarkably quickly, within a year.

“This is actually very quick in the criminal justice system. I think it’s different for people because they didn’t see a charge at the beginning because they felt like over the past year, nothing was happening. But in fact, I mean, you’ve put this put us on the same timeline, as any other criminal case in a year. From going over to conviction is actually very quick when you’re talking about an investigation of this size,” said U.S. Attorney Uballez.

With the change in federal administration, U.S. Attorney Uballez’s position is uncertain going forward. The President is authorized to appoint new U.S. Attorneys throughout the United States. U.S. Attorney Uballez expressed gratitude for his staff’s relentless work on this case.

“The people I work with. They are tireless. They work these insane hours, without overtime, by the way. And they do it because they love this community. And that’s why, you know, whenever folk ask me if I get fired or whatever happened, I can tell them with confidence that my people will carry it on. I’ll always bet on my people. They are just the absolute best in New Mexico has to offer,” said Uballez

He went on to say he did not have an estimate of the total amount of hours that have been put into this case. Uballez may not see the investigation to the finish line due to the potential new appointment but had stern words for this investigation.

“It’s not over.”