ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For at least three decades, a group of metro police officers committed crimes while wearing the badge. Today, federal wiretaps reveal just how untouchable some of those police officers thought they were, talking casually about lying on the job, taking bribes, and targeting victims for their DWI corruption scheme.
KRQE Investigative Reporter Gabrielle Burkhart shows viewers what those wiretaps reveal about the culture inside the DWI unit at the time, and asks current leadership how public trust can be rebuilt.
KRQE’s Coverage of DWI Dismissal Scandal
Hundreds of pages unsealed in federal court highlight how casually officers talked on the phone about their crimes; crimes the public would likely never know about, if not for citizens speaking up, and for the right people to finally listen.
“Honestly, you can do almost whatever you want in this unit, bro,” former Albuquerque Police Officer Honorio Alba said to fellow officer Joshua Montaño in a December 2023 phone call. “But if you don’t broadcast it, if you don’t tell the whole world. You know what I mean?” Alba added. “Yeah,” Montaño replied.
Casually helping each other lie
“You would think that you were listening to other people, just regular criminals, like other investigations that you would be doing,” explained Raul Bujanda, former FBI Special Agent in Charge for Albuquerque’s FBI Field Office. “And now we have to almost kind of pause and say, ‘Wait a minute, I’m actually listening to a police officer.’”…