Fourth APD officer resigns while under investigation in DWI corruption case - By Elise Kaplan, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ.
A fourth Albuquerque Police Department officer has resigned rather than be interviewed as part of an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct by DWI officers.
Nelson Ortiz resigned Thursday, according to a news release.
“Investigators were attempting to schedule an interview with Ortiz, but he decided to resign,” the release states.
Ortiz, who joined APD in January 2016, served on the DWI unit from 2018 to 2021, according to APD. He had since served in the Motors Unit.
He is the second officer under investigation to resign this week. Harvey Johnson resigned on Wednesday.
Ortiz and Johnson were two of the five officers who were put on administrative leave in mid-January shortly after news broke that the FBI was investigating corruption within the DWI unit and the office of a local defense attorney, Thomas Clear III. Two others, Justin Hunt and Honorio Alba resigned in February. Officer Joshua Montaño remains on the force.
APD is also investigating Cmdr. Mark Landavazo, who was in the Internal Affairs Division and has been put on administrative leave, and a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs Division who has been transferred to another unit while the investigation continues. The lieutenant’s name has not been publicly released.
No one has been charged in the federal investigation.
New Mexico state police officer shot, killed near Tucumcari - Associated Press
A New Mexico state police officer was shot and killed Friday on Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico near Tucumcari and multiple law enforcement agencies were searching for the suspect.
The suspect was last seen wearing a brown hoodie and jacket, the state department of public safety said in an email to The Associated Press.
"Scene is still active. Details are limited. Anyone with information is asked to call State Police. Updates to follow," DPS said.
The shooting occurred Friday morning near mile marker 320, about 10 miles west of Tucumcari and about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of the Texas state line.
KOAT-TV reported the officer was doing a welfare check on the interstate after spotting a vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder of the traffic lanes before the shooting occurred.
Ransomware attack hamstrings three District Attorneys’ offices in NM - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
A ransomware attack impacted three local prosecutors’ offices around New Mexico earlier this week.
Wednesday morning, someone ran ransomware on servers in four offices connected to the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys (AODA), including the server for the network prosecutors and public defenders use to share court records called the consolidated statewide case management system (CMS).
In interviews with Source New Mexico, a spokesperson for the First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies in Santa Fe and Ninth Judicial District Attorney Quentin Ray in Clovis said their offices were impacted by the attack.
A third prosecutor’s office, the Fifth Judicial District Attorney in Carlsbad, was also affected, according to Ray. A phone call seeking comment from Fifth DA Dianna Luce on Thursday was not returned.
Marcus Montoya, president of AODA and the elected Eighth Judicial District Attorney in Taos, said Thursday afternoon “we’re still triaging” which cases and hearings the attack impacted.
“Affected might mean different things, so how much is compromised is hard for me to say,” he said. “Maybe some districts might be a little more exposed than others, but for the most part, a majority of the data is protected and will be available.”
The attack left prosecutors unable to access the case management system, slowing their work and making it more tedious, Montoya said. Prosecutors and staff instead had to access a different server and move the files over to an external hard drive, which they carried into court, he said.
“It’s contained, and it’s ultimately not as bad as probably your traditional ransomware attack, so I think we’re in a good place,” Montoya said.
Ray, the DA in Clovis, said those case files include any information about people accused of crimes, evidence in their cases, and prosecutors’ own case notes.
Some hearings had to be delayed, he said, “others we were able to MacGyver around.” Between 10% and 15% of the cases his office handles were affected on Thursday and Wednesday, Ray said.
First Judicial District Attorney spokesperson Nathan Lederman said on Thursday morning the prosecutors in Santa Fe were “experiencing issues with our case management system, as well as other internal systems.”
“This has resulted in an inability for our staff to work as they are normally accustomed,” Lederman said. “This is a widespread, ongoing issue which has affected multiple judicial districts.”
The FBI is investigating the attack, Montoya said. On Thursday afternoon, the FBI was still working to determine who was responsible, said Damion Bradford, AODA’s chief technology officer.
All fourteen district attorneys across New Mexico are elected officials. The AODA is a state agency that supports them, and manages most of their network security, Bradford said.
AODA started investigating the attack after Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike alerted them on Wednesday there was compromising activity on their network, he said.
A ransomware attack encrypts the target’s files so they become inaccessible, and leaves a file saying the target must pay a certain amount to release the encryption, according to Bradford.
“That’s pretty much the M.O., where they give you an ultimatum,” Bradford said. “There wasn’t an amount listed that I saw.”
No data was lost and no ransom was paid because the attack happened early in the morning on Wednesday before the workday started, and the AODA maintains a backup of all of its files, he said.
“By the time it was shut down, no work was going on, so there was no data loss,” he said. “Had it been effective, then yeah, that could have been a disastrous thing, because that would have affected the whole statewide system.”
Ransomware is only as effective as a given network’s data backup, Bradford said.
“Our plan is to always have backups because ransomware always is crippling if you’re not ready for it, and if you don’t have a backup, you’re pretty much dead in the water,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, AODA installed a new database server and redirected network traffic to it, Bradford said.
The prosecutors’ networks recovered after 36 hours, Bradford said, and they expect to be fully functional by Friday morning.
“Compared to other offices and agencies nationwide, there’s some — hospitals, schools — that have been down for months,” he said. “I consider that a win to be able to recover so fast.”
OTHER STATE AGENCIES TAKE PRECAUTIONS
The prosecutors’ network shares data with the public defenders and the courts on a daily basis, Bradford said, but their systems are not compromised by the attack.
He explained that prosecutors and public defenders upload documents to the court system for discovery, and like in any cybersecurity event, an investigation must consider anywhere that may have been touched.
As a precaution, the Administrative Office of the Courts on Thursday afternoon temporarily suspended prosecutors’ access to court IT systems and platforms, according to spokesperson Barry Massey.
“This includes suspending access to SOPA, which is the online records system, and a platform that allows lawyers to electronically file court case documents,” he said. “These precautions will evolve as courts learn more about the district attorneys’ IT issues.”
As of 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, district attorneys would need to file court documents on paper or by fax, he said.
“That does not change how criminal cases are initiated because those have been filed on paper in courts rather than being filed electronically,” Massey said.
The Law Offices of the Public Defender took similar precautions Thursday. At 12:45 p.m., Deputy Chief Public Defender Jennifer Barela sent an email to public defenders across the state saying they cannot access the case management system and they should not download anything from it.
About an hour later, LOPD lifted those precautions, spokesperson Maggie Shepard said.
“Because we’re not uploading or sharing any new information currently, they can still access previous discovery as of (March 13), but obviously with everything still getting put back into place, there is nothing new being uploaded via our disclosure system,” Bradford said. “Ideally, if everything works as it should, we’ll be back up on that end tomorrow.”
Sandia Transportation hit with nearly $100,000 settlement in harassment case – By Megan Myscofski, KUNM News
A federal agency is mandating that Sandia Transportation pay a nearly $100,000 settlement in a harassment case.
The company, which provides non-emergency medical transportation, will pay the money to four female employees. They say they were subjected to disparaging and discriminatory comments because of their sex, sexual orientation and gender expression.
They were also terminated by the owner, who had used discriminatory language when talking about the women.
The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought on the lawsuit, saying that the company had violated Title VII [SEVEN] of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The EEOC and Sandia Transportation resolved the case via a consent decree.
The company is required to revise its policies and train employees on discrimination on top of making payments to the four female employees.
New training on colorectal cancer screening launches for health providers across the state – By Megan Myscofski, KUNM News
Health providers across the state will soon have access to new training and mentorship on screening for colorectal cancer.
The University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO is a program that connects primary care providers in rural and underserved communities with specialists elsewhere who can support their work.
It’s partnering with the New Mexico Department of Health, UNM’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and the American Society of Cancer to train providers on the screening.
Colorectal Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for adults. The American Cancer Society says deaths from the disease are increasing in New Mexico. It estimates a 17% increase this year from last year.
Early detection can help curb fatal cases. Experts recommend screening for people with average risk starting at age 45. But your risk may be higher if you or a family member have had certain medical conditions.
Alec Baldwin seeks dismissal of grand jury indictment in fatal shooting of cinematographer — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Defense attorneys for Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Thursday to dismiss a grand jury indictment against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie "Rust."
The indictment in January charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021, at a movie ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorneys in a new court filing accused prosecutors of "unfairly stacking the deck" against Baldwin in grand jury proceedings that diverted attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.
They say that prevented the jury from asserting their obligation to hear testimony from director Joel Souza, who was wounded in the shooting while standing near Hutchins, as well as assistant director and safety coordinator Dave Halls and props master Sarah Zachry.
"The grand jury did not receive the favorable or exculpatory testimony and documents that the state had an obligation to present," said the court motion signed by defense attorney Luke Nikas. "Nor was the grand jury told it had a right to review and the obligation to request this information."
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey declined to comment and said a response will be filed with the court.
Baldwin's motion also asserts that the grand jury received inaccurate and one-sided testimony about the revolver involved in the fatal shooting.
"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury last week in the shooting and is being held without bond pending an April sentencing hearing. Involuntary manslaughter carries a felony sentence of up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and injuring Souza. Baldwin has maintained that he pulled back the gun's hammer, but not the trigger.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed at a two-week trial for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of "Rust" where it was expressly prohibited. They also said she failed to follow basic gun-safety protocols.
Halls last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm and completed a sentence of six months of unsupervised probation.
Baldwin is scheduled for trial in July.
New Mexico expands support to more youths as they age out of foster care - Associated Press
New Mexico is expanding the reach of a program that includes providing support for housing, health care and transportation to youths raised in foster care as they turn 18 and age out of the child welfare system, under an executive order signed Thursday by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The order signed by the Democratic governor is expected to add 20 young adults each year to the "fostering connections" program who may not otherwise qualify after they move to New Mexico, or because of legal delays as courts confirm child abuse or neglect and parents surrender children voluntarily.
Nearly 90 young adults are currently enrolled the program, after exiting a foster care system that cares for about 1,700 children statewide. Benefits also include instruction in financial literacy, caseworker guidance and optional access to psychological counseling.
Democratic state Sen. Michael Padilla of Albuquerque, who grew up in foster care during the 1970s and 80s, said aid and counseling for young adults as they emerge from foster care is gaining recognition in several states as an investment that eventually provides stable households to the children of former foster children.
"It provides a softer landing to adulthood," said Padilla, a sponsor of 2019 legislation that established the New Mexico program. "Can you imagine not having anything? It's like the floor dropped out from under you. ... We're going to see a decline in repeat fostering."
Padilla said he wants to enshrine the eligibility changes into state statute.
The program's expansion drew praise at a news conference from Neera Tanden, a domestic policy adviser to President Joe Biden.
Tanden said the Biden administration is proposing a related multibillion-dollar expansion of annual spending on housing vouchers for youth exiting foster care.
Thursday's announcement is among the latest efforts to improve results from the New Mexico's troubled child protection and well-being system.
New Mexico's repeat rate of reported child abuse cases is among the worst in the country, amid chronic workforce shortages in the child welfare system and high turnover among employees in protective services.
PRC denies application for Rio Rancho liquified natural gas facility - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
In a unanimous vote Thursday, New Mexico utility regulators denied a permit for a proposed liquified natural gas storage facility in Rio Rancho. Public regulation commissioners said the projected $180 million price tag outweighed the potential benefits.
“It just doesn’t seem to me that the costs justify the benefits that you get from the project,” commissioner James Ellison said during the Thursday morning special meeting.
PRC member Pat O’Connell echoed concerns about “cost-effectiveness.”
The 16-page final order denying the permit found that the New Mexico Gas Company did not meet the net public-benefit standard, nor did the company prove that the facility was the most cost-effective alternative.
Tim Korte, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Gas Company, said no final decisions have been made regarding any appeal to the decision.
“We are disappointed,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “We proposed the (liquified natural gas) storage facility in the belief it would provide benefit to our customers, both in terms of reliability and price protection. We will be carefully reviewing the final order as well as the comments from commissioners at today’s open meeting.”
The application for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity is required for constructing or operating new utility plants or systems, according to a media release from the Public Regulation Commission.
The 12-million-gallon storage facility was first proposed in 2022 by the New Mexico Gas Company. The company said that storage inside of New Mexico would “provide certainty about access to stored gas when needed most” on cold winter days or low supply. Officials also claimed it would protect customers from “market swings” on natural gas prices.
Currently, the company leases space at a salt cavern storage facility in Pecos County, Texas in the Permian Basin, to supplement gas supplies during winter storms.
Ellison noted the costs to taxpayers in response to the company’s analysis that a storage facility in the state would save people money. The study from the New Mexico Oil and Gas Company estimated that local storage during deadly Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, would have saved $14 million out of $107 million paid for higher gas prices, which shot up during supply shortages as pipelines froze.
That totals to about 15% in savings. Not enough to justify the costs, Ellison said.
“But we’ve got to pay $20 million a year, every year to have that insurance to have that capability,” he said.
A hearing examiner (which acts as a judge in regulatory proceedings) previously found if the PRC accepted a separate rate hike based on the Winter Storm Uri costs and approved the Rio Rancho storage facility, New Mexico ratepayers could experience a rate hike “of over 35% by 2027.”
Mariel Nanasi, executive director of Santa Fe-based nonprofit New Energy Economy, celebrated the public regulation commission’s decision Thursday, saying the denial “was extremely clear and decisive.”
Nanasi, who’s nonprofit opposed the project and organized with residents in Rio Rancho said there was a “glaring omission” from commissioners about other risks raised by public commenters.
“The cost is a really big deal, especially when the risks are so high,” Nanasi said. “Those risks of health, safety and climate.”
THE FINAL ORDER
The final order adopted by the Public Regulation Commission had some changes from the opinion issued last month by a hearing officer that also recommended denying the project.
That opinion in February, from PRC chief hearing examiner Anthony Medeiros stated that the gas utility failed to meet a higher standard of proof on the project, and found it to be a “discretionary,” project pursued by New Mexico Gas Company.
The commission declined to examine that argument in the final order, writing there was no need since it concluded the New Mexico Gas Company proposed facility is “not consistent with public convenience and necessity.”
Medeiros also said the New Mexico Gas Company’s failure to “update time-sensitive elements of its analysis,” should be another reason to deny the application.
In a filing, the New Mexico Gas Company argued that the company “lacked proper notice for a new evidentiary burden” for some of the required documentation during the application, later calling the requirements “vague” and “untenable.”
PRC members rejected that, writing in the final order that timeliness concerns will not be ignored in these kinds of applications.
Finally, the order noted that while there was no cost-benefit analysis done for this project, and no strict requirements for companies to use them when pursuing these applications, the commission may consider using them in assessing future cases.
Report finds flawed tactics, poor communication in a probe of New Mexico trooper's death - Associated Press
Flawed tactics and poor communications were among the key findings of a New Mexico State Police internal review of the deadly shooting of an officer who unknowingly stopped an armed drug suspect while he was being tracked by federal agents as part of an undercover operation in February 2021.
The report released Wednesday provides excruciating detail — partially drawn from dashboard and body-worn camera footage — of the death of Officer Darian Jarrott. He was killed by a burst of gunfire during a traffic stop on Interstate 10.
The report also describes the killing of drug trafficking suspect Omar Cueva-Felix after a 40-mile (64-kilometer) vehicle chase and a shootout with authorities in Las Cruces.
It concludes that two U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents and a State Police supervisor provided conflicting accounts about whether the supervisor received "full disclosure" about Cueva-Felix's criminal history and an HSI plan to arrest him along the interstate.
"Omar Cueva-Felix killed Officer Jarrott in cold blood, and unfortunately, we cannot change that," New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said in a statement that accompanied the release of the report.
The chief said the review resulted in several internal departmental policy changes and discussions about possible alternative actions and tactics for certain situations.
"The highlighting of mistakes by different individuals involved in the incident and noting areas for improvement is done solely to learn and find ways to operate more safely," Weisler said.
Jarrott, 28, was the first New Mexico State Police officer killed in the line of duty in more than 30 year. A father of four, he became a state police officer in 2015 after working as a state transportation inspector.
The incident spawned multiple lawsuits that allege both HSI and Jarrott's superiors were negligent and did not warn the officer of Cueva-Felix's dangerousness beforehand. A federal judge in Albuquerque dismissed one of the cases last July with a ruling that the government was immune from liability.
A State Police supervisor had asked Jarrott to pull over Cueva-Felix at the behest of federal agents. The request was made after the suspect sold a large quantity of drugs to an undercover agent, showed off a large rifle and told them he wasn't going back to prison.
Cueva-Felix, 40, of Deming, had what authorities described as an extensive criminal history in California and was known to carry firearms.
The fatal traffic stop occurred the afternoon of Feb. 4, 2021, on I-10, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of Deming. Within minutes, Jarrott was ambushed and shot multiple times. Cueva-Felix then led authorities on a chase that ended with him being killed in Las Cruces during a shootout that also injured a city police officer.
Eric McLoughlin, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, said in a statement provided to the Albuquerque Journal that the agency is reviewing the report and the committee's recommendations regarding joint enforcement actions. He also reiterated the agency's condolences for Jarrott's death.
McLoughlin said the New Mexico State Police is among many law enforcement agencies with which his agency works and special agents are often embedded as task force members with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
According to the review, no State Police officers were at an official operation briefing and Jarrott was not included in text messages with federal agents about the plan. It also noted that there was no incident command structure in place, even though two agencies and different HSI elements were working in cities 60 miles (96 kilometers) apart.
The review also found that Jarrott didn't appear to pick up on "danger cues" after stopping Cueva-Felix and should have "changed his tactics" once he spotted a handgun on the suspect's hip.
New Mexico day care workers' convictions reversed in 2017 death of toddler inside hot car - Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday granted a new trial for two day care workers in the 2017 death of a 1-year-old girl left in a hot car and the serious injury of another toddler.
The high court said in a news release that it reversed the child abuse convictions of Mary Taylor and her adult daughter Sandi Taylor after it found that the jury was given a set of confusing instructions at their joint trial in 2019.
Attorneys listed in court records for the mother and daughter did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
The Taylors, both of Portales, New Mexico, operated a licensed day care center in their home. Each was sentenced to 36 years in prison for reckless child abuse but were released from custody in 2020 as they appealed their convictions.
In July 2017, the Taylors drove a group of children to a nearby park for lunch and playtime. Two of the children, both girls younger than 2, were left in the hot car for nearly three hours, authorities said.
The high temperature in Clovis near Portales was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) that day.
One of the girls died the same day at a hospital. The other survived but was expected to face lifelong physical challenges.
At trial, according to the high court's decision, the jury had been provided with an "and/or" list of factors to consider, including whether the day care workers had failed to do a proper headcount, whether they drove the children without prior permission from the state's child protective services agency, "and/or" whether they failed to remove the girls from the car.
The high court said the list, in that format, "provided for alternative ways for the jury to find that the defendants committed child abuse" without requiring the jury to unanimously agree on the conduct that led to a guilty verdict.
Interior Department will give tribal nations $120 million to fight climate-related threats - By Graham Lee Brewer Associated Press
The Biden administration will be allocating more than $120 million to tribal governments to fight the impacts of climate change, the Department of the Interior announced Thursday. The funding is designed to help tribal nations adapt to climate threats, including relocating infrastructure.
Indigenous peoples in the U.S. are among the communities most affected by severe climate-related environmental threats, which have already negatively impacted water resources, ecosystems and traditional food sources in Native communities in every corner of the U.S.
"As these communities face the increasing threat of rising seas, coastal erosion, storm surges, raging wildfires and devastation from other extreme weather events, our focus must be on bolstering climate resilience, addressing this reality with the urgency it demands, and ensuring that tribal leaders have the resources to prepare and keep their people safe is a cornerstone of this administration," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, said in a Wednesday press briefing.
Indigenous peoples represent 5% of the world's population, but they safeguard 80% of the world's biodiversity, according to Amnesty International. In the U.S., federal and state governments are relying more on the traditional ecological knowledge of Indigenous peoples to minimize the ravages of climate change, and Haaland said ensuring that trend continues is critical to protecting the environment.
"By providing these resources for tribes to plan and implement climate risk, implement climate resilience programs in their own communities, we can better meet the needs of each community and support them in incorporating Indigenous knowledge when addressing climate change," she said.
The department has adopted a policy on implementing Indigenous knowledge, said Assistant Secretary of the Interior Bryan Newland, a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community. "We are also investing in tribes' ability to use their knowledge to solve these problems and address these challenges close to home," he said.
The funding will come from President Joe Biden's Investing in America agenda, which draws from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and annual appropriations.
The funding is the largest annual amount awarded through the Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program, which was established in 2011 to help tribes and tribal organizations respond to climate change. It will go toward the planning and implementation projects for climate adaptation, community-led relocation, ocean management, and habitat restoration.
The injection of federal funding is part of Biden's commitment to working with tribal nations, said Tom Perez, a senior adviser to the president, and it underscores the administration's recognition that in the past the U.S. has left too many communities behind. "We will not allow that to happen in the future," he said.
In 2022, the administration committed $135 million to 11 tribal nations to relocate infrastructure facing climate threats like wildfires, coastal erosion and extreme weather. It could cost up to $5 billion over the next 50 years to address climate-related relocation needs in tribal communities, according to a 2020 Bureau of Indian Affairs study.