Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima says it was appropriate for the Las Cruces Police Department to ask the sheriff to take over an investigation into two incidents involving City Manager Terrence Moore and his ex-wife.
The mayor also said he hopes the investigation is complete before the city council discusses issues involving Moore behind closed doors on Monday.
“I would like to see what the sheriff’s department comes up with. And I would like to have it before we go to closed session on Monday,” Miyagishima said.
The mayor said he had no other comment, except that he thinks it was the “appropriate move” to give the investigation to “any agency other than LCPD.”
Miyagishima may not get his wish on the timing of the investigation’s completion. Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison has told NMPolitics.net that his agency’s intent “is to get it dealt with as quickly as possible.”
But Garrison said Sunday his understanding was that Moore’s ex-wife was not available for at least a week. Garrison also said the department’s ability to focus on the case this week would depend on whether other crimes were committed that consumed a great deal of investigative resources.
As NMPolitics.net reported Monday, the sheriff’s department took over the LCPD probe after the district attorney raised concerns about LCPD investigating a case involving its own boss and urged the transfer.
Moore oversees the police chief and, by extension, the police department.
Last year, Las Cruces police looked into injuries Moore’s then-wife suffered in late 2008 and questions surrounding a police report the city manager filed over a prescription-drug incident in January 2009, treating the two incidents as a single case. Las Cruces police closed the case last year without filing charges.
Interim Police Chief Pete Bradley has said the case was dropped because no one, including Moore’s ex-wife, alleged a crime, and police didn’t have probable cause to proceed. Moore has pointed out that no one has alleged “that I’ve done anything wrong.”
Martinez has said Moore should have been interviewed, and the sheriff’s department says it intends to attempt to speak with the city manager.