If some of you remember the catastrophe in Jamestown, Guyana, another fascist dictator, Jim Jones, offered poisoned Kool-Aid to his followers. Those who refused the poisoned drink were held down and forced to drink. Our “rumor mill” believes that Mayor Richard Berry, CAO Rob Perry, and Chief of Police Raymond Daniel Schultz all chose to drink freely. But did Deputy Chief of Police Elizabeth Paiz, Deputy Chief of Police Allen Banks, and Commander Clifford Saylor drink freely or were they forced?
The rumor mill tell us that White knew he was wrong for running full police code to the scene and interfering with the police investigation. Ultimately, White removed a potential DUI offender from a crash scene. According to the Journal (read it here), “city officials said White is not a certified or sworn law enforcement officer and does not carry a gun during working hours.” The journal article also stated, “The brown Chevy Tahoe he drove to the scene of his wife’s crash last week is one of two city vehicles equipped with lights and sirens that is driven by a civilian, officials said.” The article claims that the other fully equipped vehicle belongs to Mayor Berry and the vehicle is mostly driven by a sworn police officer. If White is not certified why has he been seen wearing a police badge with five stars? Why was he running full police code to the crash scene if he is a civilian? Isn’t this impersonating a police officer? Don’t you wish you could run around and play cop with lights flashing and sirens blaring? Instead of admitting his wrongs, White allegedly started passing around the poisoned Kool-Aid.
The first to guzzle the juice was Berry, Perry and Schultz. Berry knows White is wrong but is still backing him. Perry at the news conference became angered at the media and literally threw copies of Kathy White’s records at the media. Perry blamed the media for White’s fiasco. Our Eyes tell us that Perry offered to sue two local television stations on White’s behalf. Next up to shoot off his mouth was Chief Schultz. According to Schultz who was once a DUI Sergeant for APD, stated there was not “probable cause” to conduct a DUI investigation. Schultz also blamed the media. Let’s see, Kathy White admitted to consuming a mind altering drug, she admitted to driving, she admitted to have impairment (blurred vision) and she admitted to crashing into a fix object (a curb). Yup; this is probable cause. Schultz lied to protect White, his lies and crimes as did Perry and Berry.
Next, the rumor mill tells us that Darren White met with one of the officers and offered a “deal” to make this go away or keep the facts under wraps. This amounts to conspiracy, extortion and black mail. If this is true, it appears someone did not keep their part of the “deal.” This would make sense because White put the pressure down on APD’s top command staff which lead to the next debacle. Paiz sent orders down the chain of command ordering/instructing Senior Officer Walck to keep the facts out of the report, such as the admittance of the drugs and the box that was checked showing that Kathy White admitted consumption of prescription drugs which was an attributing factor. When Walck refused, Paiz sent down the orders again. The question is, did Piaz do this of her own accord or was she following orders from Schultz and/or White? In this mess, Banks had to know what was going on and did nothing. The APD SOP states, “Any act or omission is the same as lying.” Walck’s chain of command, including Commander Saylor knew about this and did nothing. Saylor received information about this situation through several different sources. This comes down to conspiracy. Walck was wise not to alter the report which is a public document and knew it is a felony to alter a public document. If Paiz did give these orders that were illegal, they are; to wit; conspiracy, extortion and black mail.
Thus, all who had knowledge of this are all guilty of conspiracy, extortion and black mail. This requires a criminal investigation; not an administrative review. This is the time that Gov. Martinez needs to send her elite Political Corruption Unit down to Albuquerque to handle this. Since the Governor is a Republican and all the Republicans are trying to save this liar, perhaps the State Attorney General, Gary King, needs to step up to the plate and handle this with integrity.
Did Albuquerque’s former public safety director commit insurance fraud? Kathy White admitted to taking a drug for seizures/bi-polarism. Darren White stated that she had been taking it for about a year. Was this disclosed to their insurer?
Another one of our Eyes claims that White does not have enough time paid into PERA (Public Employees Retirement Association). This could be a rumor but our Eyes claim that White withdrew all of his invested money when he left former Governor Gary Johnson’s administration. This means that White would need to pay back both his part and his employers’ portion. Each year that he may have withdrawn could cost up to 50,000.00 per year. It is possible that he withdrew over ten years worth. If this is true who is paying all that money back? Is it the tax payers of Albuquerque? Did White retire with any retirement compensation?
Some of our Eyes in County Government are telling us that Darren White is smack-dab in the middle of the free tickets scandal from the Journal Center. Our Eyes tell us that formal charges are forth coming in this case.
Darren White is a catastrophe looking for a place to happen; as we have seen here in Albuquerque. Thank goodness that the Honorable Martin Heinrich beat White in the congressional race for District One.
These questions warrant a full criminal investigation. Even if you buy into White and company’s rubbish, even if these questions are based on the appearance of impropriety, they must be investigated to the fullest extent. All who played part wittingly or un-wittingly must be brought to justice along with White. If the entire top command of APD is dirty; it is time to clean it out. The Mayor will need to re-evaluate his stance on White and on the rest of his top level personnel who participated in this fiasco. White’s stains have bled all over the 5th floor of APD. The Eye On Albuquerque has repeatedly warned you about the “Culture of Corruption” in APD, here is your proof. The Albuquerque Police Department needs new leadership. The slate needs to be wiped clean. The Mayor will need to appoint a chief who is known for dignity, honesty and integrity. No more “good ol’ boys!” While Berry is at it, he needs to dump the rest of Darren White entourage. Don’t you hate it when someone up and leaves; and leaves all their junk behind for someone else to clean it up?
Kudos to the fire guys and gals who called this one! The community knows we have the best paramedics and EMS equipment in the Southwest region; contradictory to what White stated. The local fire union’s vote of no confidence was right on the spot. Too bad Perry and Berry were and are too blind to see past their noses.
