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Defense attorney takes plea deal in sprawling DWI corruption case
Albuquerque Journal ^ | February 12, 2025 | Colleen Heild and Matthew Reisen

Posted on 02/27/2025 7:14:59 PM PST by Morgana

For nearly 30 years, Albuquerque attorney Thomas Clear III says he led a criminal racketeering enterprise that paid off generations of law enforcement officers to get his clients’ DWI cases thrown out.

The admission came Wednesday as the 67-year-old Clear, at an unannounced hearing in U.S. Magistrate Court, pleaded guilty to bribery of Albuquerque Police Department officers, racketeering conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and interference with commerce by extortion. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

“Today, Thomas J. Clear III admitted to leading a decades-old criminal enterprise wherein he abandoned his own ethical duties as a lawyer, corrupted generations of law enforcement officers, and perverted the criminal justice system in order to feed his own greed,” U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander Uballez said in a statement to the Journal. “With this conviction, we end this ignominious scheme that has shaken the faith of all New Mexicans. But we are not done digging. Now is the time to come clean — if you were ever involved in this deceit, now is the time to come to the table.”

While Clear was the fourth defendant to take a plea in recent weeks — following his former investigator and two former APD DWI officers — his account that the scheme went as far back as the mid ‘90s is new and raises more questions than it answers.

APD’s sprawling Internal Affairs probe has traced the alleged corruption to about 2003. Another major participant who has pleaded guilty, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, admitted going to work for Clear in 2007 and helping in the scheme beginning in 2008.

(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: albuquerque; alexanderuballez; ambulancechaser; arrests; colleenheild; donutwatch; dui; lawyer; matthewreisen; newmexico; racketeering; ricardorickmendez; thomascleariii
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1 posted on 02/27/2025 7:14:59 PM PST by Morgana
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To: Morgana

Better Call Saul!


2 posted on 02/27/2025 7:15:57 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Morgana

I thought bought Judges fixed tickets.


3 posted on 02/27/2025 7:18:37 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Click on the link and listen to the whole story. this is a new one.

This guy been doing it since the 90’s with several law enforcement agencies. I can’t believe they just now caught him.


4 posted on 02/27/2025 7:22:59 PM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul )
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To: Secret Agent Man

S’all good, man


5 posted on 02/27/2025 7:24:38 PM PST by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: Morgana

This should be a life sentence crime and confiscation of his property and conviction for anyone in his office who knew, along with any cops who knew.


6 posted on 02/27/2025 7:27:26 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Morgana

“This guy been doing it since the 90’s with several law enforcement agencies. I can’t believe they just now caught him.”

He didn’t pay off some new players so he got busted.


7 posted on 02/27/2025 7:27:55 PM PST by Redcitizen
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To: Morgana

It’s gotten worse since this article. A State Policeman, lauded as the best DWI chaser by MADD ended up being dirty, as well as the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Under sheriff (#2 at the department).


8 posted on 02/27/2025 7:27:59 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: monkeyshine
"S’all good, man

'Breaking Bad' is one of the best television series of all time bar none. Saul Goodman was a great character.

9 posted on 02/27/2025 7:28:12 PM PST by wildcard_redneck ( )
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To: Morgana

They need to find every dismissal that this firm was involved with and bring those officers in and investigate. Wonder how many other lawyers were running the same scam and how many dangerous drunk drivers walked and how many cops made a profit.


10 posted on 02/27/2025 7:28:19 PM PST by gunnut
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To: ansel12

Who knew that a rabid warmonger would also be a viscous “law and order” nutjob?


11 posted on 02/27/2025 7:29:42 PM PST by wildcard_redneck ( )
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To: Paladin2

Read the article


12 posted on 02/27/2025 7:30:40 PM PST by TexasGator (I'')
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To: Morgana

This happens in nearly every jurisdiction in the US.

Our system is completely corrupt, probably beyond repair.


13 posted on 02/27/2025 7:31:19 PM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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To: Redcitizen

One of the bad cops arrested a paralegal who, based on bodycam didn’t appear intoxicated. There were enough sketchy things about the arrest and the cop trying to “sell” him on the dirty lawyer that the guy started recording everything without their knowledge and raised red flags.


14 posted on 02/27/2025 7:32:46 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: wildcard_redneck

That didn’t make any sense, you must be drunk or something.


15 posted on 02/27/2025 7:33:36 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Morgana

“this is a new one.”

Bribing the police is as old as the hills.


16 posted on 02/27/2025 7:36:09 PM PST by TexasGator (I'')
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To: Secret Agent Man

He was a real life Saul Goodman


17 posted on 02/27/2025 7:36:41 PM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul )
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To: wildcard_redneck

I agree. It was a lot of fun to watch. Great concept. Good direction. Fun ride of twists and turns. Some of the dialogue was a little unreal but that’s OK. So without ranking them I would say The Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire were among the best shows in the last 25 years. I’ve watched them all so many times now it’s hard for me to enjoy much of anything else.


18 posted on 02/27/2025 7:37:29 PM PST by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: clee1

When it gets exposed, it gets exposed. Now it’s the internet age and once there is even the smallest leak in the dam soon there is a flood.


19 posted on 02/27/2025 7:38:30 PM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul )
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To: TexasGator

Difficult to believe that local judges were not involved in some fashion.


20 posted on 02/27/2025 7:42:41 PM PST by Paladin2
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