Albuquerque police fire supervisors in DWI corruption case

The Albuquerque Police Department has fired two supervisors and a sergeant amid an ongoing DWI corruption investigation. Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez and Lieutenant Matthew Chavez were terminated, while Sergeant Lucas Perez resigned. This follows their connection to a long-term scheme that involved bribing law enforcement to dismiss DWI cases. According to APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, Gomez and Chavez were let go for violating policies related to the investigation. However, Gallegos did not provide further details on these violations. All three officers had previously been part of the DWI unit and had been placed on paid leave over the last year: Gomez in October, Chavez in January, and Perez resigned on Monday. Although the investigation is ongoing, none of the three officers have faced criminal charges so far. To date, four APD officers and one deputy from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from defense attorney Thomas Clear III and paralegal Ricardo "Rick" Mendez. These two have also entered plea deals, with Clear stating that bribery practices went back as far as 1995. In addition to those who have pleaded guilty, more than a dozen APD officers and three deputies from Bernalillo County, including the undersheriff, have been placed on leave during internal investigations. As a result of the corruption investigation, the Bernalillo County District Attorney has dismissed over 260 DWI cases linked to these officers.