'Ensure Everyone Is Held Accountable': 13 Guilty Pleas in APD's DWI Scheme, Zero Sentences

Albuquerque, Oct. 20, 2026. In January 2024, FBI agents served search warrants on a defense attorney's law office and the homes of Albuquerque police officers. Nearly three years later, 13 people have pleaded guilty in the scheme that followed, and not one of them has been sentenced.

The scheme was simple and, by the government's own account, durable. Drivers arrested for DWI hired attorney Thomas Clear III, officers skipped court or withheld evidence, and the cases died. Federal prosecutors say the conspiracy ran from 2008 through 2023 and took root among "almost the entire APD DWI unit over a lengthy period of time." Clear, in his own plea agreement, put the start date back to 1995.

In August 2024, then-Chief Harold Medina promised the city: "We will continue to follow the evidence and ensure everyone is held accountable." Medina retired at the start of 2026. The sentencing calendar has outlasted him.

Clear pleaded guilty in February 2025 to nine federal counts, including RICO conspiracy, bribing police officers and extortion, exposure the Albuquerque Journal and KOB put at up to 130 years. His investigator and paralegal, Ricardo "Rick" Mendez, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to racketeering, bribery and extortion charges. A second lawyer, Rudy Chavez, admitted to extortion and lying to FBI agents.

Then the police. Nine former APD officers have pleaded guilty, among them Honorio Alba Jr., Joshua Montaño, Neill Elsman, Nelson Ortiz, Harvey Johnson, Lucas Perez, Louis Henckel, Timothy McCarson and former Lt. Justin Hunt. So has one former Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy, Jeff Hammerel.

The 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office under Sam Bregman has dismissed more than 260 DWI cases tied to the federal case, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Bregman called the first wave of roughly 150 dismissals in 2024 "a gut punch."

Sentencing was supposed to begin in September. Hunt, the highest-ranking officer to admit his role, was set for Sept. 15; Ortiz for Sept. 16; Johnson for Sept. 29; Montaño for Oct. 14. In August, Hunt's attorney asked for more time, telling the court he had roughly 500 gigabytes of discovery to review, more than one million pages of wiretaps, search warrants and documents. The court granted extensions for the defense, KRQE reported.

The current schedule, per KRQE: McCarson on Nov. 10, Hammerel on Nov. 17, Montaño on Nov. 18, Chavez on Dec. 8, Hunt and Ortiz on Dec. 15, and Johnson pushed to Jan. 12, 2027. Neither Clear nor Mendez, the two men who ran the operation, has a public sentencing date.

Hunt's plea deal comes with a ceiling. KOB reported that it carries a recommended sentence of no more than 57 months, on a charge that otherwise allows up to 20 years.

The commander in charge of policing APD's own officers was swept up too. Mark Landavazo, who had run the department's internal affairs division since 2021, was placed on leave in February 2024 and fired in August 2024. Reason reported that he had initiated at least 10 DWI cases involving Clear's clients that were later dismissed. He has not been charged in the federal case, according to available reporting.

A civil suit filed in October 2024 by the ACLU of New Mexico named the city, the department and Medina, and alleged the chief knew of "an agreement between officers and a local attorney's office" to make DWI cases go away, the Associated Press reported. The department has said Medina worked with federal authorities to uncover the scheme.

And the internal count keeps climbing. On Aug. 31, 2026, APD placed six more officers on leave. A spokesperson said the six "have not yet been interviewed," more than two and a half years after the task force was formed. None of the six has been charged.

APD's strongest case is that it did not bury this. Medina said the department had been working with the FBI since October 2023, and KOB reported he began his own inquiry in December 2022 after court notices went missing. APD formed an Internal Affairs Task Force in January 2024, and 14 officers have since been fired, resigned or retired. Mayor Tim Keller called the conduct "a disgrace to the badge" and said no one involved would work for the city again.

The delay has a defense too. Defendants are entitled to review the evidence against them, and a million pages is not a weekend read. At a May status hearing before Judge Matthew Garcia, prosecutor Shana Long said defendants with more limited involvement would be sentenced first, "likely before the end of this year," KRQE reported. Holding cooperators until the main players are resolved is standard federal practice.

Under Chief Cecily Barker, confirmed in April as the first woman to lead the department, APD is still placing officers on leave. That is accountability of a kind. It is not the kind a judge hands down.

Albuquerque Police Department (Chief Cecily Barker): Who are the six officers placed on leave Aug. 31, and when will they be interviewed? How many current officers remain under internal investigation?

U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico: When will Thomas Clear III and Ricardo Mendez be sentenced? Are more indictments coming, including of Bernalillo County or State Police personnel? Why did Justin Hunt's plea carry a recommended cap of 57 months?

2nd Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman: What is the current total of dismissed cases?

City of Albuquerque (Mayor Tim Keller): What is the status of the ACLU lawsuit, and what has the city spent defending it? What has the city paid out, or set aside, for people extorted by its officers?

This story is based on public records and reporting through Oct. 20, 2026, including federal plea agreements as described by the Albuquerque Journal, KRQE, KOB, Reason and the Associated Press. Sentencing dates may have moved since the latest reports, and the status of the ACLU suit could not be confirmed. We are still looking for the full list of dismissed cases, internal affairs findings, settlement records, and anyone who paid to make a DWI disappear or was hurt by a driver whose case did. The Albuquerque Police Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office and the City of Albuquerque were asked for comment; responses will be added with a dated update. Know something? [email protected]