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Arrests of Prominent People
Lately, the tide is turning against the former privileged class: politicians and police. While the majority are still likely to talk their way out of an arrest when no accident is involved, more and more are finding out that the law is affecting them, too.
Visit this excellent website for more examples: www.sbdui.com/truebeliever/index.html
JUDGE ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES
Lawrence County Jurist's Bond $1M
Lawrence County Justice Court Judge Bobby Fortenberry, a
16-year veteran of the bench, was arrested on felony drug
charges Friday after a four-year investigation, law enforcement officials said.
Fortenberry, 46, of Newhebron had 2.5 grams of crystal methamphetamine in his possession
when he was arrested on Mississippi 550 in Brookhaven, said
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Capt. Mike Aldridge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No Drugs in Bag Seized From Judge
APD Detective James Hopper was arrested over Memorial Day weekend in Red River, just outside Questa in northeastern New Mexico. Red River police say Hopper had alcohol on his breath.
At booking, he refused a breathalyzer test, enhancing the charge to aggravated driving while intoxicated, said Red River police Sergeant Jerry Hogrefe.
Hoppers attorney, Tom Clear, says Hopper was not drunk, and did not refuse the test. Instead, he says Hopper was chewing tobacco, and told officers they would have to wait 20 minutes for it to leave his system.
The Red River police report says Hopper had difficulty maintaining his balance. During a field sobriety test, the report says Hopper could not complete the one-leg stand, count to 21, or recite the alphabet. Also, according to the report, Hopper asked Hogrefe to give him a break since he was an officer too.
Clear denies the allegations, saying Hopper was off-balance because he was standing on a steep incline. Clear also says Hopper never asked for a break.
Hopper is
an undercover narcotics officer. A spokesperson for APD refused an interview, and would
only say Hopper is on the force, but was reassigned out of the narcotics unit.
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KOBTV: Albuquerque police say Judge John Brennans blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit for driving on the night he was arrested.
Brennan was arrested early Saturday morning near a DWI checkpoint. Police say he was driving and trying to avoid the checkpoint. He and his passenger, Patricia Mattioli, a state Commission on Higher Education employee, were arrested and charged with drug possession after police say they found cocaine on his pants.
A toxicology report says Brennans blood-alcohol content was 0.16, twice the legal limit of 0.08. Whether cocaine was in his system wont be known for several more weeks.
Brennan is the chief judge of the Second Judicial
District, which is based in Albuquerque. His peers elected him to that position in 1983.
Brennan has served on family and civil courts since 1979.
Brennan is on a paid leave of absence, and is in an undisclosed rehabilitation center in California. His cases have been divided up, and Childrens Court Judge Tommy Jewel is the acting district court chief.
Brennan has not yet been charged with DWI.
The state Supreme Court ruled that Brennan would not be immediately suspended, but needs to appear in front of the court July 14 to argue for his job.
The Judicial Standards Commission had sought
Brennans temporary removal from all judicial duties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Santa
Fe-AP) -- A Santa Fe police detective has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving while
intoxicated.
Records
show the plea was entered in April by 45-year-old Donato Velasco in magistrate court in
Santa Fe.
Records
also show Velasco received a suspended 90-day jail sentence and was ordered to pay a $300
fine and $515 in court fees. He has been
ordered to attend DWI school.
State
police say Velasco was arrested last November First at a Santa Fe street intersection
after an officer noticed Velascos vehicle failed to use a turn signal.
Authorities
say Velascos breath alcohol test registered .089 percent.
New
Mexicos legal blood alcohol limit for drivers is point-08 percent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The son of a northern New Mexico district attorney was allowed to go home with his father and wait about two hours before he was administered a breath test that showed his blood-alcohol level was above the legal level.
It allowed him to sober up and not get an aggravated DWI, said Las Vegas resident Sean Harapat.
Police say what the officer did was not normal procedure and action will be taken. The district attorney says he was only helping his son and didnt do anything wrong.
When 23-year-old Marcos Sandoval got his truck stuck in the mud in Las Vegas at 1:00 a.m., court documents show he told a state police officer he was putting up campaign signs for his father, San Miguel District Attorney Matt Sandoval.
Police suspected that Sandoval had been drinking and called his father to the scene.
According to the elder Sandoval, the police officer told him that he had to respond to an emergency call, and Sandoval said Okay, Ill take him to my house.
Roughly two hours later, the officer went to the Sandoval home and took Marcos to State Police headquarters in Las Vegas where blood-alcohol testing revealed a level of .14. An individual is considered legally intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of .08.
I think its pretty disgusting the way somebody gets a two-hour break in order to take their breathalyzer test, says Las Vegas resident Sean Hapapat. It gave this individual time to sober up.
Had Marcos blood alcohol level been two one hundredths higher, at .16, he could have been found guilty of aggravated DWI and faced a minimum of two days in jail.
Instead,
Sandoval received no jail time, and his $500 fine was suspended. He will have to attend driving school.
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Santa Fe candidate apologizes for lying about DWI | |
A state Senate candidate has apologized for failing to disclose a past drunken driving conviction. State Senate candidates from Santa Fe were asked during a forum earlier this week if they had ever been arrested for driving while intoxicated. All of the candidates, including Letitia Montoya, said no. But the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Tuesday that Montoya was convicted of DWI in 1984 in Bernalillo County. Montoya issued a written statement yesterday saying she didn't tell the whole truth when answering the DWI question. She says her children were in the audience during the forum and were not aware of the conviction. Montoya says she didn't want to embarrass herself or her children by answering the
question candidly. |