INTIMIDATION

The ink on the ballot for the 2013 Albuquerque Mayoral election with Paul Heh’s name on it is barely even dry, and already the RJ Berry and personnel from his administration are already committing unethical conduct at best and felony crimes at worst.

Our Eyes tell us that yesterday, one of Mr. Heh’s campaign contractors got a visit from two investigators from the city’s Independent Review Office. The city’s IRO office is the civilian investigative arm of the Police Oversight Commission. Their narrowly defined job is limited to investigating complaints of misconduct by APD personnel. Our Eyes tell us that one of the investigators was Paul Skotchdopole.

If you recall, last December, the IRO’s office was under significant scrutiny because their most senior investigator Trey Flynt was caught trafficking pirated merchandise. Mr. Flynt also was caught what appears to be promoting prostitution on his website. Here are those stories:

1. http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/on_assignment/jersey-seller-also-ran-racy-web-site
2. http://eyeonalbuquerque.blogspot.com/2012/11/albuquerques-independent-review-office.html

Our Eyes tell us those cases are far from over as we understand the Feds are looking into the offenses. As if that wasn’t enough, we find it extremely alarming that Mr. Skotchdopole, the failed police officer from Belen, would be targeting and pushing a private civilian around in reference to activity related to Mr. Heh’s candidacy for mayor. Clearly the IRO’s office has ZERO jurisdiction over a private citizen who is NOT a city or APD employee. So why all the questions about Mr. Heh and his campaign? Why the visit? Why the false representation of appearing as if you work for APD?
The answer is obvious: intimidation.

You see when personnel arrive in pairs, knock on your door in an authoritative manner, wear lanyards containing their identification, and have “POLICE” insignia on your lanyards and ID card holders, it is very easy for a citizen to presume they are being contacted by the police. Aside from the fact that the IRO and its investigators are not even remotely connected with APD, this conduct is illegal on so many levels it truly is repugnant. You see, there are election laws that address this activity, and these two fellows are indeed suspects of having violated them:

NMSA 1978, 1-20-14. INTIMIDATION

Intimidation consists of inducing or attempting to induce fear in any member of a precinct board, voter, challenger or watcher by use of or threatened use of force, violence, infliction of damage, harm or loss or any form of economic retaliation, upon any voter, precinct board member, challenger or watcher for the purpose of impeding or preventing the free exercise of the elective franchise or the impartial administration of the election or Election Code

NMSA 1978, 1-20-13. Coercion of employees.

Coercion of employees consists of any officer or agent of any corporation, company or association, or any person having under his control or in his employment persons entitled to vote at any election, directly or indirectly discharging or threatening to discharge such employee because of the employee's political opinions or belief or because of such employee's intention to vote or refrain from voting for any candidate, party, proposition, question or constitutional amendment.

And..

NMSA 1978, 30-27-2.1. Impersonating a peace officer.

A. Impersonating a peace officer consists of:

(1) without due authority exercising or attempting to exercise the functions of a peace officer; or (2) pretending to be a peace officer with the intent to deceive another person.

B. Whoever commits impersonating a peace officer is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Given Mr. Skotchdopole’s already sketchy history of litigated civil rights abuse claims while he was a Belen police officer, we have to ask the obvious: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING BERRY and IRO HAMMER? A complete investigation of this incident must be completed by BCSO or NMSP. To have city employees committing what appear to be felony crimes is unacceptable. And once again….where’s Berry?

 

PS:Oh and don’t think we aren’t working on something for the expected showdown between APOA presidential candidate Greg Weber and the citizens who have been rallying for change in this Monday’s city council meeting...

Albuquerque's Independent Review Office has Another Problem

Since 2000, Bill "Trey" Flynt has been an investigator with the city of Albuquerque's Independent Review Office. The IRO is the primary office which receives and processes complaints against APD officers. Upon receipt of the complaint (known as a CPC), either the IRO handles the investigation of the complaint or it is assigned to personnel in APD's Internal Affairs unit.

Any officer who has been the target of a CPC, or a witness, or a supervisor has undoubtedly come in contact with Mr. Flynt. Mr. Flynt's reputation as promoting himself as the most knowledgeable IRO employee and the most experienced of IRO investigator's precedes himself. Now it seems Mr. Flynt has let his overconfidence get the best of him.

As recently reported, Mr. Flynt was caught selling counterfeit NFL jerseys. But not only was he caught unlawfully doing this thanks to his self-promoting ads on Craigslist.com as a direct supplier where purchasers can "bypass middlemen" but he apparently did this on City time and on City property. You see Mr. Flynt sold to an undercover news crew! Given that as of this posting the city's transparency site states that Mr. Flynt earns $25.40/hr and has year-to-date earnings of $46,736.00 we wonder what time he spent "investigating" was actually in furtherence of his on-line retail activities? Given Mr. Flynt committed these crimes while at work, it seems his timesheets should be subject to scrutiny to see if we taxpayers paid hiim while he was working outside the scope of his official duties!

Making matters worse, our Eyes have alerted us that Mr. Flynt's activities were widely known on the APD's 5th floor where he frequently gave jerseys of the favorite teams of department leaders and other personnel. Given it seems that it was widespread knowledge that Mr. Flynt was up to no good, why did Chief Schultz and former IRO Deaton permit this activity to continue? What did they know and when did they know it?

Lastly, because Mr. Flynt's activities involved interstate commerce, it seems only natural federal law enforcement agencies should be involved. Our Eyes tells us that exactly is the case in that property and computer in possession by Mr. Flynt have been seized and are being analyzed....Where is Tera Neda when you need her?  Of course Ms. Neda has no family ties to the phony NFL supplier, right?
 

Wouldn't it be ironic if after all the endless incidents of misconduct and crimes by the leaders of APD, that what ultimately brings them down is their own greed for NFL jerseys....?

It should be noted, APD's PIO. Rob Gibbs. said that Trey may not have committed a crime because the buyer "should know" they aren't getting what they're paying for. So in his simpleton logic, because a victim believes they may be victimized, the offender has no longer committed a criminal offense.