Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — Today former Albuquerque Police Department officer Nelson Ortiz joined former APD officers Honorio Alba Jr., Joshua Montaño, Neill Elsman, and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeff Hammerel in pleading guilty to the DWI scandal. Ortiz worked with paralegal Ricardo “Rick” Mendez and Defense Attorney Thomas Clear III to get DWI cases dismissed between April 2020 and January 2024. He admitted to federal investigators that even after leaving the DWI unit, he continued to refer DWI suspects arrested by other APD officers to Mendez and Clear, for which he receive a “referral fee”.
