{"id":28512,"date":"2011-04-19T14:07:25","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T20:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=28512"},"modified":"2011-04-20T08:50:35","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T14:50:35","slug":"ag-declined-to-investigate-bribery-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/04\/ag-declined-to-investigate-bribery-case\/","title":{"rendered":"AG declined to investigate bribery allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_14276\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 270px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14276 \" title=\"King, Gary\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/King-Gary-300x243.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/King-Gary-300x243.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/King-Gary.jpg 325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After reviewing a complaint from the N.M. Corrections Department, Attorney General <a href=\"http:\/\/nmag.gov\/office\/Divisions\/EO\/kingbio.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Gary King\u2019s<\/a> office declined last year to investigate a former corrections official accused of bribery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter a review of the information provided, it does not appear that a possible criminal violation has been identified,\u201d Investigations Division Director Earl Holmes wrote in <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/Documents\/0903.2010.AGLetter.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">a Sept. 3 letter<\/a> to the Corrections Department\u2019s general counsel.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI and U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, however, believe they have found significant criminal activity. A federal investigation proceeded, and last week Laurie Chapman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/04\/former-corrections-official-charged-with-bribery\/\" target=\"_blank\">was indicted by a federal grand jury<\/a> on 30 felony counts of bribery. Chapman is accused of soliciting and accepting $237,080 in bribes to steer Corrections Department construction contracts to a particular roofing company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorruption of this nature strikes at the heart of good government and erodes public confidence,\u201d U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said last week. \u201c\u2026 This kind of betrayal of the public\u2019s trust cannot and will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not the answer the Corrections Department got when it went to King\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned with the allegation of criminal activity within the state government,\u201d Holmes wrote to Corrections General Counsel James R. Brewster. \u201cHowever, without additional information we cannot pursue this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf in the future you do find new information concerning this matter, please feel free to contact our office,\u201d Holmes wrote.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Questions for the AG<\/h3>\n<p>Friday morning, NMPolitics.net sent these questions about the situation to AG spokesman Phil Sisneros:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can you say anything about what information the AG reviewed before determining\u00a0that there was no identified criminal violation?<\/li>\n<li>Does the AG\u2019s Office stand by its decision in this case?<\/li>\n<li>Any additional comment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Monday morning, NMPolitics.net had not heard back and sent Sisneros a follow-up e-mail, and received this response:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am working on this&#8230;waiting to hear back from some folks.\u00a0 As soon as I can I will give you a comment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NMPolitics.net has received nothing since. When Sisneros provides comment, NMPolitics.net will publish it.<\/p>\n<h3>Update, 5:40 p.m.<\/h3>\n<p>Sisneros wrote in an e-mail that the request from Brewster to investigate \u201cdid not set out facts sufficient to constitute probable cause to believe that a felony had been committed.\u201d He said the Sept. 3 letter detailed in this article \u201cproperly reflects that without additional information the AGO could not pursue the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that the state auditor is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/abqnews\/abqnewseeker-mainmenu-39\/25203-state-audit-checking-nm-corrections-contractors.html\" target=\"_blank\">conducting an audit<\/a> of the situation \u2013 an audit that could be referred to the AG if possible criminal violations are found. That audit is not yet complete and has not been sent to the AG\u2019s office for consideration.<\/p>\n<p>The AG doesn\u2019t normally talk about \u201cpending criminal matters\u201d such as this federal case, Sisneros pointed out, but he said \u201ccertain comments are allowed to counter the potential for undue prejudice to the adjudicative process caused by the statements of others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, he said he could make comments on this case \u201cin light of the indictment of Ms. Chapman and the disclosure of the 9\/3\/2010 letter to Mr. Brewster.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Update, 5:55 p.m.<\/h3>\n<p>State Auditor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.saonm.org\/about-hector-balderas\" target=\"_blank\">Hector Balderas<\/a> has been working with the feds on their case against Chapman, auditor spokeswoman Caroline Buerkle said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state auditor has been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the Chapman case since last summer,\u201d Buerkle said. \u201cHe has also been providing them special audit documentation to assist them with their case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED: After reviewing a complaint from the N.M. Corrections Department, Attorney General Gary King\u2019s office declined last year to investigate a former corrections official accused of bribery \u2013 the same official a federal grand jury indicted last week on 30 felony counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,114,107],"class_list":["post-28512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-public-corruption","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}