Las Cruces City Manager Terrence Moore (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
The district attorney says her office is still reviewing part of a probe involving Las Cruces City Manager Terrence Moore, and the sheriff’s department is still investigating other, related allegations.
“We have not made a decision in the case and we will not make a decision until the entire investigation is complete,” Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez said today.
She declined to specify what is still under investigation, but said it is “somehow related to this situation and/or Terrence Moore.” Martinez also said it’s “impossible to tell at this point” how long the investigation will take.
Martinez’s comments differ from those made Thursday by Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Joe Reynaud, who said the department’s investigation into two incidents involving Moore and his ex-wife was complete and had been forwarded to the DA for review. He also said he hoped the DA review would be complete that same day.
But Martinez said it would be improper to make a final decision and publicly release the results of part of an investigation while other, related matters are pending, “because the second phase of the investigation may reveal something that is relevant to the first phase of the investigation, and that may take you back to having to follow up some more on the first part.”
Martinez declined to specify whether what’s pending involves the situation with Moore and his ex-wife or whether the investigation has been expended to include other allegations that don’t involve Moore’s ex-wife. Moore has been under scrutiny lately for two other issues:
• Moore recently reimbursed the city for some costs associated with two business trips he took last year – after a complaint was filed over one trip and an attorney requested documentation about the other.
• He also had his administrative assistant babysit his children on Dec. 21 – while she was on the clock and being paid with public money – so he could attend a city council meeting.
The history
The sheriff’s department has been investigating two incidents involving Moore and his ex-wife. The department took over what was originally an 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.”
LCPD never interviewed Moore. The district attorney has said that should have been done, and that’s one of the reasons she urged a new probe by the sheriff. The sheriff’s department has interviewed Moore.
Reached today, Reynaud said the DA’s office has requested that the sheriff’s department provide copies of audio statements taken from Moore and others “because they wanted to listen to the interviews.”