ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – We are approaching one year since the DWI deception scandal started to unravel at the Albuquerque Police Department. 

So far, the feds have been tight-lipped. Nobody has been charged, but a growing list of APD officers have resigned during the ongoing FBI investigation.

KOB’s 4 Investigates team has been trying to piece together the puzzle. The big question is how far does this alleged corruption ring go?

So far, we know there is a defense attorney, Thomas Clear III, and a growing number of APD officers that are under investigation.

It started with four police officer: Honorio Alba Jr., Harvey Johnson, Joshua Montano, and Nelson Ortiz.

HOW IT WORKED

Apparently, a DWI officer would pull someone over for drinking and driving, and they would direct the driver to Thomas Clear III, the attorney.

Then, someone in his office would say — for a price – they could make it all go away. Then the officer wouldn’t show up to court, case dismissed, and presumably everyone gets paid.

JOSHUA MONTANO 

Joshua Montano was a DWI officer who was injured in a crash by a drunk driver. He’s also the officer that wrote a letter calling the issues in APD’s DWI unit a generational problem.

4 Investigates requested his disciplinary files at APD, and they show a pattern of missing court.

Internal Affairs investigations go back to 2019, years before the federal investigation began. Interestingly, there was never any discipline on these cases, and it was the DWI Sgt. Dennis Chavez who found a reason why there should be no punishment. 

Chavez took an early retirement in 2022 before the feds got involved.

HARVEY JOHNSON

We also got back the files on Harvey Johnson. He had a longer list of issues, but not the failure to appear in court that Montano had.

Johnson got into trouble for not reporting some minor use of force incidents. He had a big problem with not using his body camera, and not recording his police work. He did have a reprimand for his conduct.

Johnson also failed to search a person he arrested for DWI. A body scan image from the Metropolitan Detention Center showed the gun tucked in his waistband. 

Officers secured the gun before they put him in a cell, but that was a big deal that Johnson missed that while making an arrest.

MARK LANDAVAZO

Mark Landavazo is a commander with the Internal Affairs, and so far, the only APD officer to be fired in this whole investigation – most have resigned. He also cleared Johnson’s investigation for not uploading his body camera footage.

It took the city nearly eight months to get us the files on those two officers.

There are now 10 officers either on leave, fired, or have quit:

• Neill Elsman — Resigned (Aug. 1)
• Matthew Trahan — Placed on leave (May 9)
• Mark Landavazo — Terminated (Aug. 1)
• Daren DeAguero — Resigned/retired after being told he was put on leave (April 30)
• Justin Hunt — Resigned (Feb. 8)
• Nelson Ortiz — Resigned (March 15)
• Joshua Montano — Resigned (March 21)
• Harvey Johnson — Resigned (March 14)
• Honorio Alba Jr. — Resigned (Feb. 29)
• Unnamed — Reassigned