Drug Enforcement. . .
Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said the absence of search warrants served in Rio Arriba County does not mean the task force isn't investigating narcotics cases here.
"It could be that (the agents) are finishing case work," Olson said. " It could be they've got all the information they need for the cases they're working."
Española Police Sgt. Christian Lopez said Region III was particularly active in Rio Arriba County in the summer of 2006, but the particular Santa Fe Sheriff's deputies and Santa Fe Police officers who were then investigating cases up north have since left the task force. Lopez would not identify the agents by name, since Region III agents are undercover.
Lopez said Española Police Department itself has not had officers belonging to the task force since 2001. In the late 1990s the Department had a detective devoted part-time to the agency, but that was ineffective, because the dual assignment compromised the detective's undercover status, Lopez said. Española Police Public Safety Chief Julian Gonzales said his Department currently does not have the funding to devote any officers to Region III.
Olson said the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department and the Santa Fe Police Department each have officers assigned to Region III (which serves Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Taos counties) — while neither the Española Police Department nor the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department are currently participating agencies. For reasons of officer safety, he said, Olson would not release specific numbers, except to say there are 10 to 20 officers assigned to Region III, with State Police contributing the most, followed by the Santa Fe Police Department.
However, both Santa Fe agencies were willing to provide their numbers. Santa Fe Sheriff's Department secretary Roxanne Lujan said her department has two deputies assigned to Region III. Three Santa Fe Police officers and one sergeant are assigned to the task force, Deputy Chief Benjie Montano said.
Olson said whether an agency participates in Region III tends to be a matter of staffing levels in that agency, because any officer assigned devotes all of his or her time to the task force. The Española Police Department is currently down six officers — Santa Fe Sheriff's deputy Ernie Romero recently transferred to the Department, and a second new hire, George Martinez, will begin officer training in July. The Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department is also understaffed, with a shortage of three deputies — or seven, if you don't count uncertified officers who must be accompanied by certified deputies, Rio Arriba County Human Resources Director Jessica Madrid said.
Lopez said ideally, his department would have one investigator devoted exclusively to narcotics, like the District 7 State Police criminal investigations unit, based in Española, had until recently. It would not be necessary for that narcotics officer to be part of Region III, which would possibly cause him or her to work in Santa Fe most of the time anyway, where Region III has its headquarters, Lopez noted.
But as of last month, the District 7 State Police officer temporarily designated an undercover narcotics agent in the criminal investigations division has become a criminal agent, and is no longer undercover, or dedicated solely to drug cases, Olson said. That means there is not a single local narcotics officer in all of Rio Arriba County.
"One sole agency cannot be responsible to prevent the drug problem we have in this County," State Police Sgt. Chris Valdez, head of the District 7 criminal investigations division, said of the burden placed on his department. "I think Region III is a necessity."
Changes Planned
Region III itself is currently being restructured, a change that is "long overdue," Olson said. In the past, each "sponsoring agency" assigned officers to the task force without further screening by State Police, which supervises Region III.
"The standards are going to be a little stricter on who can and can't be a narcotics agent," Olson said. "We've determined it needs to be a much more rigorous process."
A former agent with Region III, David Ramirez of Santa Fe Police Department, was indicted on federal charges in May 2007 for allegedly appropriating money seized in an undercover drug operation, court documents state. Ramirez was no longer with Region III at the time he committed the crime, having only served in the task force a short time before being transferred out as part of "restructuring," Santa Fe Deputy Chief Eric Wheeler said. Ramirez was accused of seizing an amount "well in excess of $8,646" during a May 2006 marijuana and cocaine bust in Santa Fe, documents state. Ramirez pleaded guilty to embezzling, stealing or knowingly converting to his own use $5,000 that was under the custody of Santa Fe Police Department.
State Police Capt. Scott Weaver has been newly assigned to the task of overseeing this transition, Olson said, by researching how successful narcotics agencies in other states are structured.
"It's a little premature to discuss what changes will be taking place," Weaver, a former State Police lieutenant based in Roswell, said.
Olson said during the transition, certain tactics of Region III officers will be on hold, such as hand-to-hand undercover narcotics purchasing. But as recently as April 22, according to court documents, Region III officers charged Samuel Villalobos-Bojorquez, 25, of Santa Fe with trafficking after arranging to buy $2,200 worth of cocaine from him.
