The federal investigation into several Albuquerque Police Department officers also appears to involve at least one defense attorney, whose office was searched Thursday morning.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the investigation.
But there has been widespread speculation among law enforcement and the legal community that the investigation involves defense attorneys and police officers cooperating to dismiss cases.
Attorney Kari Morrissey, who has one client whose case was dismissed, said that the investigation is not entirely out of the blue.
“I will say that as a lawyer who has been practicing criminal defense in Albuquerque for almost 25 years, I am not surprised as to these developments,” Morrissey said.
Neighbors say they saw nearly a dozen FBI agents swarm the office of Thomas Clear, in a residential Northeast Albuquerque neighborhood on Thursday. The front door was boarded up on Friday.
Around the same time on Thursday, the home of at least one officer was searched and an APD spokesman said that because of the “sensitive nature of the investigation, some officers have been placed on administrative leave, and others will be temporarily reassigned within the department.”
APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the department has been working with the FBI for months on the investigation into its own. He said APD leadership is working closely with the federal authorities.
Marcus Burnham, who lives near Clear’s office, said around 8:30 a.m. he saw about 10 FBI agents pull up in vehicles and get out wearing tactical vests. He said they approached the front door of the house and called out for about 10 to 15 minutes until it became apparent that no one was there.
“So they got a breacher to run to the front of the door and the breacher seemed like he broke the front door down,” Burnham said. “Then of course, they proceeded their stack procedure into the house.”
Burnham said he saw different agents coming in and out and one of them mentioned bringing in a computer scientist or a forensic scientist for the computers. He said the agents were there for the majority of the day, until about 5:30 or 6:30 p.m.
“After they went inside everything was pretty calm,” he said. “You could just see they were doing whatever they were doing inside and had one or two people outside just kind of hanging out making sure everything was safe. So not a lot of action took place after that.”
When reached by phone, Friday afternoon, Clear told City Desk ABQ that he had woken up early the previous morning feeling sick and was in the hospital when his office was raided.
“I didn’t even know it was happening,” Clear said. “The neighbor texted me the pictures.”
He said he did not know anything about possible allegations against him.
Clear was the chair of the Public Defender Commission, a separate oversight group made of appointed volunteers that appoints the chief, monitors litigation and advises but does not administrate the department, said Maggie Shepard, a spokeswoman for the Law Offices of the Public Defender. The commission does not direct daily operations at LOPD.
His term was set to end in June 2024 but he resigned Friday, Shepard said.
Clear has five clients on the list of 152 cases that were dismissed by the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, more than any other private defense attorney.
The DA’s Office dismissed 144 cases on Thursday—“in deference to an ongoing federal investigation”—and another eight Friday morning.
District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement that it’s a “gut punch.”
“I’m sick to my stomach for dismissing more than 150 DWI cases, but my prosecutorial ethics require me to dismiss them,” he said.
Meanwhile, defense attorneys are abuzz trying to figure out their next steps.
“We are closely monitoring this situation,” Jonathan Ibarra, President-Elect of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. “We are acutely aware of how important it is for a complete investigation to be conducted into any and all allegations, and we will fight to protect the rights of our clients and all New Mexicans.”
Attorneys with the Law Offices of the Public Defender are in the process of identifying which clients are impacted by the dismissals and examining whether “there are other cases that may need additional scrutiny.”
And private attorney David Reyes—who has two clients on the list—said he’s been trying to figure out what’s going on since he got an email from prosecutors yesterday.
“I have two clients who are very happy but I’m trying to connect the dots and there is very little information out there,” Reyes said.
He said he did notice the same names recurring on the list of dismissals, including one officer whose name appears dozens of times.