Since The New Mexico Independent and NMPolitics.net first reported on the sheriff taking over a Las Cruces Police Department investigation into two incidents involving City Manager Terrence Moore and his ex-wife, two other media outlets have done their own reports on the situation.
The first came from ABC-7 in El Paso and aired Tuesday evening. You can view it here by scrolling to 6:35 in the video:
The other report ran today in the Las Cruces Sun-News.
As The Independent and NMPolitics.net reported Monday, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department has taken over the LCPD investigation 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.
The Las Cruces City Council is set to discuss these and other issues involving Moore in closed session on Monday.