Albuquerque –
According to an email by the Albuquerque Police Department, APD officer Daren DeAguero decided to retire today after being informed he was being put on leave as part of an internal investigation into allegations of wrong-doing by DWI officers.
It should note DeAguero’s house was not one of the ones raided earlier this year by the FBI into the alleged bribery scandal by DWI officers and a high profile attorney.
According to the email sent to us, Officer DeAguero, who has been with APD since 2009, was informed this morning that he was the latest target of the investigation and he was put on administrative leave. Investigators immediately scheduled an interview this afternoon, but they were notified that DeAguero submitted his paperwork to retire instead.
The short time frame to prepare for internal APD interview forced his hand and he submitted a letter to Police Chief Harold Medina.
DeAguero is the sixth officer to resign or retire as a result of the investigation. DeAguero served with the DWI Unit from 2014-2018, the Honor Guard, Basic Training Academy, and was one of two sworn Public Information officers with the department.
Officer Deaguero had recently stepped up into roles within APD that no-one else wanted at crucial times. He was a bright spot in the public information office at APD. As a SWORN officer he was bound by oath to be honest and would actually truthfully respond to emails and phone calls about incidents happening within the City of Albuquerque. It allowed the media to get information out to the public in a timely manner. Civilian PIO’s are not held to the same standards and only swear an oath to Mayor Keller.
The civilian public information officers of APD have an internal policy of not responding to our inquires.
According to APD, they 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 criminal investigation into allegations of illegal conduct. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will determine whether any criminal charges will be filed against individuals accused of violating federal laws. No one has been formally charged in the case.
It’s only a “witch hunt” if your guilty as hell. Why retire if your innocent?
they probably realized turning over more stones was going to get them in even more trouble because of how corrupt and incompetent APD is. Also, Yeah dude people totally run away with their tail between their legs because of unsubstantiated DEI woke witch hunts. Corrupt cops getting cancelled what have we come to
This article is kind of slanted, I have no idea if this person is guilty or not. Call it a witch hunt if you will but the corruption ended up with a lot of DUI offenders having their case dropped and are likely out driving around. It’s a serious situation in a county that already has too many DUI offenders. Retiring instead of confronting the situation and or allegations just adds to the distrust these individuals caused.
[…] So far, six other officers have resigned: Justin Hunt, Honorio Alba, Joshua Montaño, Harvey Johnson, Nelson Ortiz and Daren DeAguero. […]