{"id":37063,"date":"2012-02-23T06:42:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T13:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37063"},"modified":"2012-02-24T08:07:34","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T15:07:34","slug":"investigative-agencies-converge-on-sunland-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/02\/investigative-agencies-converge-on-sunland-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigative agencies converge on Sunland Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A screen shot of the City of Sunland Park\u2019s website home page.<\/p><\/div>\n

The FBI, state police, district attorney and state auditor are all scrutinizing situations in the City of Sunland Park, which has long been plagued by problems.<\/h4>\n

The FBI is looking into contracts between the City of Sunland Park<\/a> and some businesses, and the state auditor has been conducting a risk analysis of the city\u2019s books and is likely to conduct a special audit, NMPolitics.net has learned.<\/p>\n

Both agencies were looking into potential problems in Sunland Park before New Mexico State Police raided city hall on Tuesday<\/a>, but this is the first time the probes by the FBI or State Auditor Hector Balderas\u2019 office<\/a> have been disclosed publicly.<\/p>\n

The FBI doesn\u2019t confirm or comment on ongoing investigations, but NMPolitics.net was able to verify the existence of its investigation through multiple sources.<\/p>\n

NMPolitics.net also confirmed that the auditor has been conducting its risk analysis for several months and plans to release it soon. That release will likely be accompanied by an announcement that the auditor will more closely scrutinize financial dealings in the city, a community of just over 14,000 people in southern Do\u00f1a Ana County that borders El Paso and Mexico.<\/p>\n

More on state police raid<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, the public learned more Wednesday about the state police raid on city hall, which apparently related to an attempt to get a mayoral candidate to drop out of the race. The city\u2019s municipal election is March 6.<\/p>\n

The details of a search warrant related to the state-police probe remain secret, but KFOX-TV in El Paso had this report<\/a> Wednesday:<\/p>\n

\u201cKFOX14 learned that a leaked sex tape of a mayoral candidate could be at\u00a0the center of a police investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunland Park mayoral candidate Daniel Salinas and his supporters said that\u00a0they stumbled upon video that tarnishes\u00a0the\u00a0credibility his opponent, Gerardo Hernandez.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Hernandez has confirmed with KFOX14 that law enforcement is looking into possible extortion charges because of the tape.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hernandez, according to KFOX, said he was approached by a man who threatened to release a video or photos of him if he didn\u2019t drop out of the race. The station quoted Salinas as saying his campaign found the video on a flash drive placed anonymously in their tent outside city hall, and he didn\u2019t think he \u201cshould hold back on having this information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The El Paso Times reported that state police were looking for surveillance camera video<\/a> that may have captured an incident in the city hall parking lot and information on city computers. The district attorney is working with state police on that investigation.<\/p>\n

The police raid has lots of people talking, particularly with the upcoming election, but the situations being looked into by the FBI and auditor are potentially more serious. NMPolitics.net wasn\u2019t able to verify specific details about the probes, except that the FBI investigation relates to contracts the city awarded to various businesses.<\/p>\n

City contracts were in the news last fall because Mayor Martin Resendiz \u2013 who isn\u2019t seeking a second term and who Salinas, Gerardo Hernandez and Jose Luis Hernandez are seeking to replace \u2013 admitted in court records to being drunk<\/a> when he signed nine contracts with a company that was suing the city.<\/p>\n

A history of problems<\/h3>\n

Sunland Park municipal government has often been dogged by scandal since its incorporation in 1983. Some recent examples:<\/p>\n