The Ultimate Life of an Extortionist

This is a story about life where an extortionist lives above all because of an actual threat or perceived threat of exposing the truth. Our definition of an “extortionist” is; “a person who has damning or damaging information on another or a situation that may or is threatening to expose the truth in exchange for some form of compensation.” In legal terms it is called blackmail or extortion.  This is our opinion and belief of what has transpired with Tj Wilham over the past few years which have led to Tj Wilham being recently appointed as the Manager of the “APD Real Time Crime Center.”

Isn't it against City policy to be sleeping on-duty?

How does a person land a big dollar job like this in the City?  Is it a bid on position? Was the position open and circulated in the Journal for the citizens to apply? What are the qualifications? We are sure there are many citizens looking for a work that would do a great job in this position.   This position is a pay-off for Tj Wilham, who we believe, has damning or damaging information on Berry. 

Tj Wilham was originally an out-of-state person who got a job reporting for the Journal. Wilham's job; digging up all the trash and garbage he could scrounge up on the Albuquerque Police Department. Yes, Wilham was APD's "Public Enemy Number One." Wilham was given a position as the Public Information Officer in the City for the nefarious Darren White.  There were several incidents that occurred and finally while White was out of town; Tj Wilham was fired and escorted out. White returned promptly and rescued Wilham taking him back into the City and under White’s wings.  Wilham tried to force Chris Ramirez out of the Mayor’s Office but in the end Ramirez forced Wilham out.

Wilham was “placed” at APD in a position that did not exist with a fat salary (80k) as a project coordinator under Sal Barigiola (White’s former under sheriff). The Eye questioned this at the time but Berry and his administration covered it up.

Here is one Eye story (Read it HERE) :

[Mr. Wilham continued to act as Mr. White’s PIO until early 2011 when the Mayor’s administration found out he leaked information concerning text messages between Mayor Berry’s PIO, Chris Huffman-Ramirez and APD Officer Byron “Trey” Economidy after Officer Economidy’s shooting incident. For reasons unknown Mr. Huffman-Ramirez was texting Officer Economidy directly during the night of Officer Economidy’s shooting incident with Jacob Mitschelen. But it seems Mr. Wilham had an ace up his sleeve as while there was a flurry of talk about Mr. Wilham’s termination, he in fact got promoted. He went from being a Public Information Officer, “Special Projects Coordinator.” Mr. White shortly thereafter self-destructed and was fired as the city’s Chief Public Safety officer.]

In another Eye story Tj Wilham is being sued for illegal activity (read it HERE) :

[On August 20, 2012, APD’s “Special Projects Coordinator” and Chief Schultz’s personal assistant, TJ Wilham, was named as a primary defendant in a defamation lawsuit. In the case the allegations assert Wilham illegally obtained timesheet information pertaining to APD employee and fully sworn reserve officer David Young. Wilham then moved forward with stories in the Albuquerque Journal with titles such as “Wanna Be Cop…” and “APD Warned Civilian Not to Play Cop” ignoring the fact that Mr. Young had been issued a law enforcement commission card signed by Chief Schultz, issued a detectives badge, been praised by department executives, and had helped provide cover for officers in APD special investigation division. While it seems people were feeding the reporter information, Mr. Wilham never once contacted Mr. Young for an interview. Nor did he review whether or not Mr. Young’s actions were in violation of any SOP never mind state statute.

This is where the lines between the private media and a public law enforcement organization blur. In response to this front page story, the complaint states that Chief Schultz and APD lawyer Kathy Levy discussed the story and plotted a response before even ascertaining whether any wrongdoing had occurred. In emails Levy tells Chief Schultz, “...take the highroad that we are acting on the side of caution.” Levy also told Chief Schultz, “...make sure we’ve got good access to tj for the right comments…” Then days later on September 15, 2009, in an engorged article by Mr. Wilham, Chief Schultz is quoted as saying, “We have decided to take the high road and error on the side of caution. We think this is the best course of action…” Clearly, the relationships between Levy, Chief Schultz, and Mr. Wilham blurred as the APD and the Albuquerque Journal plotted together how to address this story and resolve it a manner where once again Chief Schultz was afforded cover.]

Here another excerpt from another Eye story (Read it HERE) :

[Apparently for the Berry Administration it is an $80,000.00 a year job paid for by your tax dollars. It appears that TJ Wilham knows too much (we know that’s a stretch at any rate) and Schultz is afraid to let him go. Wilham has been reassigned to Chief Schultz’s staff on the Fifth Floor as a PIO. Wilham was originally hired by Mayor White, we mean Berry as a PIO. The history of this slug is interesting.

Berry hired Wilham as his PIO. Wilham was forced out of the nest by PIO Chris Huffman-Ramirez. Our Eyes told us that Wilham was fired while Boss Hog Darren White (read it here) was out of town. When White rushed back into town, he gave Wilham back his job and reassigned him to a position that was nonexistent and that was not funded. White assigned Wilham to “Special Projects Coordinator.” This position was under the watchful eye of White and former Undersheriff, Sal Baragiola. The job was never listed on the City web-site. There was never a job description or duties assigned to this position.

Our eyes told us that White was making APD pay for Wilham’s salary. Schultz demanded the body that he was paying for and Wilham was transferred from doing nothing under Baragiola to APD. Wilham’s new job was overseeing a program that would not exist in APD for another five years. Now, Wilham is on the Chief’s Staff as a PIO. The question is why?]

The reason Wilham was fired and shoved out was in this Eye story (Read it HERE).

[In a Journal report by Jeff Proctor, who appears to be the main source that APD uses, wrote this story, “Officer Got Personal Texts After Shooting,” big deal, right? The Eye dug further into this story because our staff was perplexed why this story ran when there was nothing to it. The bottom line appears to be tied to TJ Wilham, Darren White’s personal selection for a PIO.

The story centers around an APD Detective, Trey Economidy, who fatally shot a guy who pulled a gun on him. Proctor became concerned when he learned that Chris Ramirez the PIO for the Mayor’s Office shared text messages with Detective Economidy, after the police involved shooting. As it turns out, Ramirez and Economidy have been friends for some time and the text messages were simply of concern for a friend.

The Eye asked these questions. Who was the rat who went running Proctor? Why did this rat go running to Proctor?

This is what our Eyes are telling us. At some point in time Ramirez confronted TJ Wilham based on information that Ramirez received that it was Wilham who approached Proctor. The Journal reporter, Proctor called Chief Schultz, who in turn sent out the full crew to Detective Economidy’s home. It was determined that the text messages were harmless and only a communication between friends. This was a waste of time, energy, ink and paper. I wonder what it cost to get all of APD out to chase down this “red herring.” Here are a few more questions. Did APD get a warrant? What judge would sign the warrant for this heinous deed of receiving a personal text message?]

Here is another story where Wilham get a new “take home” car to run to Taco Bell. (Read it HERE) :

[What about the civilians who are allowed to keep their take home cars and provide absolutely no benefit to the citizens? If the take home car policy was changed, solely for budget issues, why are civilians (none sworn employees) allowed to have take home vehicles? For instance, the police fleet manager has a take home car. He is not on call and does not respond during off duty hours. He has a desk job and keeps track of all city owned vehicles. TJ Wilham (who prided himself in bashing the City and the police while working for the local news paper) has a take home car. Now he is triumphant of the actions of the City and the police. The question is; for what reason, no one would give us a clear justification. The Mayor has two take home cars. Why? Many of Berry’s administrators have take home cars. Why?]

The Eye has many, many, more stories about Wilham and all the problems he has created, participated in and been involved with. Berry or the chief could not find a decent or more qualified person to direct this unit?  They hired this guy based on what? This is all a Hush-Hush job to purchase the silence of Wilham.

Here is another issue, “Big Brother.” And we are not talking about Wilham; we are talking about culvert operation where citizens are spied upon.  In the Journal story (Read it HERE) it states, “That information — which could, for example, include whether someone is a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — is relayed to officers as they make their way to a call for police service. And in the event that a call is taking place in an area where one of the cameras is, staff in the new crime center can manipulate the camera to watch what’s happening.”

Let’s put a camera in the Mayor’s office, at SCalo’s Restaurant, and in the Chief’s office with audio.  Let’s see how they feel about everyone out in the public knowing their every move.  This is silly; this was part of the problem with the red-light scamera’s.  People do not want to live in a “police state,” we are U.S. citizens and we have a right to go about our business without being spied upon by the police.  We already know there is corruption in the chiefs’ office.  What is going to stop Ray or Berry from spying on you because they think you’re the enemy of some type?

According to Wilham, “There’s a big difference between monitoring and intelligence gathering. This is video intelligence.” We’re sorry Wilham, please tell the public what the difference is between “monitoring and intelligence gathering” and the purpose of the “video intelligence”?  Isn’t that the same thing?  Isn’t a video intelligence’s (surveillance) primary purpose is to monitor and gather intelligence? And this is the manager of the center telling us “Big Brother” is not “Big Brother,” it is just a “Big Brother type model.”  It makes us feel like we’re visiting New York, the “Ol’ Shell Game.”  No one is that incompetent to believe this gibberish. Here is a great idea; stop lying.

Here is one more statement from the Police Department, “Another controversial piece of law enforcement technology APD ultimately plans to include in its new approach: facial recognition software that will allow police to match images caught on cameras against “known criminals” in the state’s Motor Vehicle Division database and other databases.”  We here are not criminals yet all of our pictures are in the Motor Vehicle Divisions database.  This will ultimately make us the focus of “Big Brother.” Can we elect not to have MVD retain our picture?  Is there a way for the law abiding citizen to “opt” out of this police state program?  The answer is no.

Berry is a likable guy but that is it. He has not kept any of his campaign promises and has done nothing to stop Albuquerque from deteriorating.  Because Berry is a “likable guy” does not make him a good mayor.  Berry has failed to do the job we hired him to do.

This has bad written all over it. Tired of the corruption and all the problems that plague Albuquerque? Vote Berry out; it is that simple.