For many years, APD’s sergeant Ryan Buckner was Ray Schultz’s golden boy. From being handpicked in his assignment to ROP virtually upon lateraling over to APD from State Police, to going to Auto Theft upon promotion to sergeant, to serving on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, to ending up as the sergeant of APD’s Intelligence Unit. While at Intel, Buckner received highly privileged training where he spent several months in Langley, VA in training programs run by, what our Eyes tell us, the CIA. Buckner was flown back and forth from Albuquerque to Langley dozens of times and our Eyes tell us several tens of thousands of dollars of local and federal funds were spent on his training.
While in APD, Buckner was also Schultz’s chief hatchet man. From running the investigation on Brad Ahrensfield to the case involving former officer Matt Kindle and last year’s case against former officers Robert Woolever and John Doyle, it’s clear, Buckner was Schultz’s “go to” guy for hi-profile investigations involving APD cops. What’s ironic though is Buckner all but lacks any investigative experience in actual case work. Why would Schultz assign cases to personnel who lack any significant experience in the subject matter of the criminal allegations? Buckner never worked impact or violent crimes yet he was assigned the Doyle/Woolever case under the pretense that it was an incident of aggravated battery. Buckner never worked vice, yet he was assigned the Kindle case which involved nearly a dozen charges relating to prostitution and the Ice House prostitution ring. Bucker never worked internal affairs, yet he was assigned the Ahrensfield case.
There is also the matter of David Young. Our Eyes tell us Buckner was knee deep in reserve officer David Young’s old activities of unlawfully arresting prostitutes. Given Buckner’s status as a supervisor in SID, did Buckner have access to privileged information on Young? Was it Buckner who actually burned Young? And was Buckner acting on orders from Schultz?
Buckner’s activity clearly reveals a pattern and it is clear he was Schultz’s minion for officer investigations. It is also clear these actions are in violation of SOPs, but as we know, Schultz follows and disregards SOPs as he sees fit on a regular basis.
But now, with all this expectation of Kindle’s case headed to trial, a deal is cut where the former officer pleads “no contest” to the only standing charge the state could competently go after him on: public corruption. For that, Kindle received 50-hours of community service and 364 days of probation. But with so many charges leveled against Kindle why is it he was able to plea to such a simple misdemeanor?
Well, our Eyes tell us, that the State’s primary witness, Ryan Bucker, was not cooperating, perjured himself in grand jury testimony against Kindle and has all but disappeared. You see, he retired a few months ago from APD and we are told he now is a civilian contractor for Wackenhut, Inc. After years of special treatment, privileged assignments, and endless highly sought after training, Buckner abandoned the department that has spent so much time and money on him to be a….security guard?
Our Eyes tell us, this is status quo for any cases handled by Buckner. But while we are disgusted with the conduct of Kindle, who was caught on video doing bizarre sexual conduct, we are left with significant questions for Buckner:
Why has the city not pursued him for reimbursement for training costs?
Why has the DA not gone after him for perjury charges?
What has happened to all the “cases” Buckner worked on?
Why has the state’s LEA Board not gone after Buckner’s certification for untruthfulness?
Why has Schultz remained silent on all of these issues?
What files did Buckner take with him to Wackenhut?
What is Buckner’s involvement with reserve officer David Young?
What is Buckner’s relationship with T.J. Wilham?
