{"id":413222,"date":"2017-08-27T14:12:27","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T20:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=413222"},"modified":"2017-08-27T14:12:27","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T20:12:27","slug":"boyfriends-betrayal-abq-woman-jailed-after-atf-informant-lured-her-into-drug-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/boyfriends-betrayal-abq-woman-jailed-after-atf-informant-lured-her-into-drug-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyfriend\u2019s betrayal: ABQ woman jailed after ATF informant lured her into drug deals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_413227\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-413227 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0-Cover-MAIN-The-Machine2-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0-Cover-MAIN-The-Machine2-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0-Cover-MAIN-The-Machine2-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0-Cover-MAIN-The-Machine2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0-Cover-MAIN-The-Machine2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Illustration by Anson Stevens-Bollen<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">During a nearly two-month courtship, the man kept his government job a secret.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p1\">Jennifer Padilla\u2019s boyfriend was pleading: Call people you used to run with, hook me up with some meth deals so I can pay off my Florida partners.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">He\u2019d been robbed and needed cash, he kept saying. He\u2019d be hurt if she didn\u2019t.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">On parole after a year in prison for a string of Santa Fe burglaries and struggling to stay off drugs, Padilla was conflicted. Stepping back into the drug world unnerved her, but she refused to see the man she loved in danger.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Two calls to three old acquaintances led to a pair of methamphetamine deals last July. Even though she wasn\u2019t present for either, the calls cost Padilla, then 37, her freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/08\/23\/boyfriends-betrayal-abq-woman-jailed-after-atf-informant-lured-her-into-drug-deals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The man who pleaded with her was a paid government informant with a violent rap sheet, brought to Albuquerque last year by agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as part of a massive undercover operation. He was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/15\/atf-used-traveling-well-paid-informants-in-abq-sting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one of five such informants<\/a>\u00a0dispatched into an impoverished, largely minority swath of the city to entice people into gun and drug crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Padilla is one of 103 people arrested by agents in the sting, all delivered by informants, and one of at least 13 targeted by the man she believed was her boyfriend. She has been in jail in Santa Fe for a year and faces a decade or more in federal prison if she\u2019s convicted of conspiracy to distribute meth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">During a nearly two-month courtship, the man kept his government job a secret.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">They had sex several times in the publicly funded halfway house where Padilla lived with other recently released women. But it was more than a physical attraction. He complimented her, listened, drove her to work \u2014 setting himself apart from the abusive men she\u2019d loved before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">When he held her youngest daughter\u2019s hand, strolling along Tingley Beach in search of digital Pok\u00e9mon, it felt like a fresh chance at having a family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">There was darkness, for sure. She fed his marijuana and ecstasy habits with cash. Sometimes he disappeared for days. And he encouraged her relapse, slipping her an ecstasy pill one night at the halfway house. That ended a stretch of nearly two drug-free years in her decade-long battle with addiction.\u00a0<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">But she had fallen in love with him. So when he asked her to set up a drug deal \u2014 scared for his safety after he claimed he\u2019d been robbed \u2014 she called an old acquaintance and made an introduction.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_413228\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-413228\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/1-Padilla-Profile-FB-336x364.jpg\" alt=\"Jennifer Padilla\" width=\"336\" height=\"364\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Padilla, shown in spring 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The informant returned a week later, saying the price had been too high; he still owed money across the country. She needed to make another call, he told her, because she was his girl. So she did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The men Padilla called sold four ounces of meth to an undercover ATF agent working with the confidential informant.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla\u2019s case adds another claim of wrongdoing by the ATF in an operation that has drawn\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/06\/12\/black-community-wants-answers-on-atfs-albuquerque-sting-say-it-was-punch-in-the-face\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">community<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/06\/15\/black-man-swept-up-in-atf-sting-wins-legal-victory-but-stiffer-prosecution-looms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">legal scrutiny<\/a>\u00a0for alleged racial profiling. The operation also scooped up many who did not fit the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d profile trumpeted by federal officials during a self-congratulatory news conference last August,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/07\/feds-sting-ensnared-many-abq-blacks-not-worst-of-the-worst\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a previous New Mexico In Depth investigation<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>found<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla\u2019s lawyer, Santa Fe-based L. Val Whitley, says in a pair of court motions filed last month that the man Padilla thought was her boyfriend, ATF Informant No. 9097, and his handlers went far beyond the questionable \u2014 but legal \u2014 tactics law enforcement often uses in the always-murky world of using one criminal to catch another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The informant exploited their intimate relationship, Padilla\u2019s struggle with drug addiction and her vulnerable station in life to lure her into a crime she would not otherwise have committed, Whitley\u2019s motions say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Whitley says it is entrapment and \u201coutrageous government conduct.\u201d He is asking a federal judge to dismiss Padilla\u2019s charges and disclose detailed information about Informant No. 9097 should her case go to trial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cThe court should condemn these actions in the strongest possible way by dismissing this case,\u201d Whitley wrote in one of the motions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Federal prosecutors have until\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_314246091\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Aug. 28<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to respond to Whitley\u2019s motions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">For Padilla, the alleged legal transgression is only one part of a larger whole.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">In a jailhouse interview with New Mexico In Depth this June, she recalled the betrayal she believes led to where she found herself: Sitting in a small, windowless room, her cheeks reddening and her knuckles whitening as she chokes the edges of a plastic chair.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair because he knows how I felt about him,\u201d Padilla says, dabbing her face with the shoulder of her red prison jumpsuit. \u201cI wasn\u2019t out there selling drugs. \u2026 All I wanted to do was just be his girlfriend. \u2026 The only reason I did what I did is \u2026 because it was him.\u201d<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">To tell this story, NMID interviewed Padilla, members of her family and others with knowledge of the informant\u2019s activities. It also reviewed court records and other information NMID has learned from sources and sought comment from the ATF, the informant and the US Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The informant did not return telephone calls seeking comment. NMID is not identifying him out of safety concerns related to his ongoing work for ATF. ATF officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment or detailed questions sent by email.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Elizabeth Martinez, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney\u2019s Office in Albuquerque, which is prosecuting Padilla\u2019s case and the others stemming from the sting operation, declined to comment for this story.<b><i><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla\u2019s arrest has left her parents, who consider themselves pro-law enforcement, and who acknowledge her past run-ins with the law,<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>stunned by how far the ATF went.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI didn\u2019t know that the government did things like this \u2014 that extreme,\u201d Dan Sullivan, Padilla\u2019s father, tells NMID. \u201cThat is so underhanded that it\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla\u2019s five children are struggling, too. Before running away, her 14-year-old daughter grabbed up photos of her mother from her grandparents\u2019 house. The girl was picked up by police on a shoplifting charge and is in juvenile detention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla believes the informant knows what he did was wrong. A few days before her arrest, he showed up at her parents\u2019 house where she had moved after completing 90 days in the halfway house.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cHe was kissing me and hugging me \u2014 we were sitting in the car out in the driveway,\u201d she says. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m just sorry for the way everything turned out and the way everything is.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">His apology confused her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">A few days later, she was in handcuffs. Two days after that, reading her indictment, she realized the secret her boyfriend had kept from her.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>ATF\u2019s Albuquerque sting ran\u00a0<\/strong>from April\u00a0through August 2016 with an express purpose: Arrest people with lengthy violent criminal histories who were moving large quantities of guns and drugs in the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Lauding the operation as an unqualified success, that\u2019s exactly who top federal officials say they nabbed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla didn\u2019t fit either description.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Like scores of others\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/05\/07\/feds-sting-ensnared-many-abq-blacks-not-worst-of-the-worst\/?mc_cid=a60e464d88&amp;mc_eid=efc8d6333c\">identified by NMID<\/a>, Padilla has past convictions for drug possession and property crimes, but no violent felonies \u2014 unlike Informant No. 9097. He spent time in prison in another state for drug trafficking, aggravated armed robbery, felony drug possession and possession of criminal tools, court records show.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">And like many others, Padilla\u2019s struggle with drugs centered around addiction, not trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Accusations of illegal \u201cselective enforcement\u201d have dogged the operation, too, with black people dramatically overrepresented among those arrested. Hispanic people also were arrested in disproportionate numbers; white people, including Padilla, were heavily underrepresented by population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Legal and policing experts have criticized how ATF used out-of-state informants \u2014 three black, including Informant No. 9097, and two Hispanic \u2014 saying that tactic was likely to net lower-level defendants of color.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla\u2019s case highlights additional questions: How closely were ATF agents monitoring informants in Albuquerque, and was the agency following its own rules?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">There have been problems before. A government watchdog recently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/3701698-OIG-Audit-of-ATF-s-Management-and-Oversight-of.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">criticized the agency<\/a>\u00a0for<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>loose informant supervision in other stings across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">In Kansas City, an informant was having sex with targets and using and selling drugs during an operation, yet was allowed to follow ATF for a subsequent sting in St. Louis, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/reports\/2016\/o1606.pdf#page=5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one report<\/a>\u00a0by the Justice Department\u2019s Office of the Inspector General.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_413229\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-413229\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/3-Padilla-Family-771x681.jpg\" alt=\"Jennifer Padilla\u2019s family\" width=\"771\" height=\"681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/3-Padilla-Family-771x681.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/3-Padilla-Family-336x297.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/3-Padilla-Family-768x678.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/3-Padilla-Family.jpg 864w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Marjorie Childress \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Padilla\u2019s family doesn\u2019t shy away from her spotty past, but they say the ATF crossed a line. From left: Dan Sullivan, Jennifer\u2019s father; Denise \u201cScooter\u201d Sullivan, her mother; and Andrew Padilla, Jennifer\u2019s oldest son.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p2\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\"><b>Padilla admits how her own decisions<\/b>\u00a0helped lead her to where she is now, and her family speaks in exasperated tones about her past.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Her parents, Dan and Denise \u201cScooter\u201d Sullivan, say she associated sometimes with a trouble-prone crowd at Del Norte High School. There were a few trips to juvenile detention for running away, they say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">At 21, her life began to stabilize when she married. She and her parents say her 10-year marriage marked a period of relative calm, although that\u2019s when she first discovered painkillers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">After her divorce in 2010, a boyfriend introduced her to heroin, and she was hooked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Drug possession charges followed, then guilty pleas to 11 burglary counts, for which she was sentenced to probation.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla couldn\u2019t stay off heroin, however, and her probation was revoked after she earned another possession charge in June 2014. She spent 15 months in the state women\u2019s prison in Grants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Wanting to continue the drug-free stretch she\u2019d managed in prison, Padilla applied for residence at Covenant House, a kind of way station for women leaving the corrections system, run by St. Martin\u2019s Hospitality Center that offers behavioral health services, addiction treatment and other programs. She was accepted for a 90-day stay after her release on March 21, 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">She took a job at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w2k3QZmJL_o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bucket Headz<\/a>, a soul food restaurant in the southeast Albuquerque neighborhood where, at about the same time, the ATF was beginning to focus its sting operation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI was the happiest I had been in a long time,\u201d Padilla says. \u201cI was up. I was working, I was seeing my kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The restaurant catered mostly to black people. She would later learn three frequent patrons were ATF informants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">But she didn\u2019t know that in May 2016, when she caught the eye of one. They exchanged telephone numbers. Straight away, he seemed different from other men she\u2019d known.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cIt was the little things he did: show up to drive me to work in the morning when it was only a block away,\u201d Padilla says. \u201cLittle shit like that. I\u2019m a female, it works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">He visited her at the halfway house the first night they met and many nights thereafter. Sometimes, other men came. She later learned they were also ATF informants. The men drank, smoked marijuana and took ecstasy. They shared the drugs with other women at the house, Padilla says, although she at first abstained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">ATF can authorize illegal activity by its confidential informants, or CIs, during an operation, according to an agency manual obtained by NMID. That includes possessing and using drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Supervisors must approve the activity and reauthorize it every 90 days. CIs are required to sign a form acknowledging they understand the constraints on their criminal activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">It is unclear whether any of those safeguards were met in the Albuquerque operation \u2014 or whether agency officials cleared the informants to use drugs or share them with women in the halfway house \u2014 because ATF would not answer questions for this story.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Drug and alcohol use are forbidden at Covenant House, says Nevin Marquez, St. Martin\u2019s director of behavioral health services. With few exceptions, residents are not allowed to have visitors either. Violations are managed by St. Martin\u2019s staff, who are supposed to keep a near-constant presence in the house, and can result in expulsion.<br \/>\nMarquez declined to comment on Padilla, citing privacy laws. He would not confirm whether she had been a resident.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Speaking generally, he says staff do the best they can to enforce the rules \u2014 sometimes a difficult task, given the population they\u2019re dealing with. That mission includes walking a fine line between privacy, an essential element of the program, and assisting law enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">For example, residents agree to random searches of the house by state probation and parole officers before they move in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">An ATF informant bringing drugs into the house and having sex with a resident<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>would be another matter, he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI\u2019m not an attorney, but what you\u2019re telling me raises a flag,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p2\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\"><b>It is not clear whether agents knew the\u00a0<\/b>extent of their informant\u2019s relationship with Padilla. But just before Padilla introduced Informant No. 9097 to her old drug dealer friends, he told his handlers he had known her for nearly two months and she had been living at a halfway house, NMID has learned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Also unclear is whether the informant had been eyeing Padilla as a target from the beginning. She remembers a moment less than two weeks into their relationship that makes her question his motives now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Wondering if she was connected to Los Padillas, the Albuquerque street gang, he asked her to introduce him to some big-time drug dealers. She refused, saying she wasn\u2019t a gang member and was on parole.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI kind of feel that\u2019s where he maybe tried to \u2014 \u2018Can\u2019t you hook me up with your people?\u2019 \u2014 and I\u2019m like, \u2018No,\u2019 \u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A few weeks later, a party was in full swing outside Covenant House.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cHe was like, \u2018Take a couple drinks,\u2019 and I did,\u201d she says. \u201cHe popped [an ecstasy pill], and then he was like, \u2018Do you want one?\u2019 \u201d After a year and a half clean, the choice anguished her. \u201cAnd he was all, \u2018Well here, just take it, just take it.\u2019 So I did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Ecstasy, a popular party drug that leaves users euphoric, is often cut with heroin \u2014 Padilla\u2019s drug of choice.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The pill had scratched an old itch, and a few hours later, she had a needle full of heroin in her arm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The relapse came in waves, she says, with intermittent attempts at stopping. The informant promised to help her quit. He didn\u2019t follow through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla moved out of Covenant House and in with her parents.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Dan Sullivan remembers meeting the new man in his daughter\u2019s life in the driveway one night. He was suspicious, and neither he nor his wife wanted the man around.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">That didn\u2019t stop Padilla from seeing or scheduling outings with him and her children, including one to Tingley Beach where they played Pok\u00e9mon GO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cHe was really into it,\u201d Jennifer\u2019s 20-year-old son, Andrew, recalls. \u201cHe was really good with the kids; he hung out with the kids. \u2026 It seemed like a normal type day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">A few weeks later the informant came to Padilla with the story about the robbery and his needing quick cash. She made the call for the first deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Then, ATF Special Agent Carlos Valles stepped in, pretending to be the informant\u2019s partner as he discussed the second transaction with her, NMID has learned.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">She was never promised money for setting up the deals, she says, although Valles, working undercover, gave her $100 the day after the second one late last July.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">After her arrest weeks later, she worried the man she believed was her boyfriend would be next. Her worry was misplaced. She discovered his lie Aug. 12 when she read her indictment, listing the dates of the two meth deals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cI went: \u2018Motherfucker,\u2019 \u201d she says. \u201cIf he was working for them and he was being legit about it, that\u2019s one thing. But he\u2019s not. He\u2019s dirty. \u2026 I feel stupid and I feel used. I feel, just, disgusted and taken advantage of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p2\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\"><b>NMID knows some details about CI No.\u00a0<\/b>9097 beyond his real name and criminal record. But Whitley, Padilla\u2019s lawyer, wants to learn more about his work for ATF in Albuquerque and elsewhere.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Like numerous other law enforcement agencies, ATF relies heavily on CIs to make its cases. As of January 2016, the agency managed 1,855 informants who were working either for money or in exchange for leniency in their own cases. According to a Justice Department Office of the Inspector General report published earlier this year, ATF spends about $4.5 million in taxpayer money each year on informants.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The informant Padilla knew as her boyfriend was paid for his work in Albuquerque, though it is not clear how much. A review of court records and other documents show that another informant brought in for the Albuquerque operation earns an annual salary of $80,000 working for ATF, while another said he was paid $1,400 a week plus \u201cbonuses.\u201d<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">People interviewed for this story say CI No. 9097 seemed to enjoy his time in New Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">He drove a slew of high-dollar rental cars around the city, including a Camaro, a convertible Mustang, a Lincoln Crossover, a BMW and a Dodge Charger. The man never had cash, but carried a single credit card he used to make purchases and rent the cars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">He appeared to maintain a near-constant buzz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cHe would pop ecstasy, he\u2019d drink and he\u2019d smoke weed all day long,\u201d Padilla says. \u201cAll day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Andrew, Padilla\u2019s son, who has a medical marijuana card, recalls smoking with the informant several times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Dante Dellesite, Andrew\u2019s friend, says he saw the informant purchase marijuana and ecstasy on several occasions \u2014 usually just $20 to $40 worth at a time \u2014 and saw him use the drugs. The seller was never arrested, court records show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Dellesite also watched on Snapchat as the informant drove to Denver with another acquaintance to purchase marijuana. As they drove, they appeared to drink alcohol and continuously smoked marijuana, he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Dellesite says the informant stuck around in New Mexico after the operation ended. He saw the man at least one more time after Padilla\u2019s arrest. On that occasion, the informant was peddling Nike sneakers, belts, subwoofers and other wares out of the trunk of his car.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cAnybody can presume that something coming out of a trunk may not be legitimate,\u201d Dellesite says. \u201cAfter that, he was just, poof, gone in thin air like a magic trick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">One of his destinations was Truth or Consequences. That\u2019s where he was cited last fall for marijuana possession and reckless driving, court records show. The informant pleaded guilty to both misdemeanor charges, never hired a lawyer, paid $282 in fines and served 30 days of probation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The informant use manual says all arrests of CIs must be reported for purposes of reassessing whether they should remain on the ATF payroll.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The man was still working as an ATF informant as of February 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>By early August 2016, Jennifer Padilla\u00a0<\/b>had<b>\u00a0<\/b>decided to kick heroin again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">She completed a 10-day detox and was living at her parents\u2019 home, waiting to get checked into an inpatient treatment center. Her probation officer had even agreed not to revoke her status for a previous dirty urine test.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">She was scheduled to get an injection of Vivitrol, a drug that reduces cravings and the effects of heroin, on Aug. 10.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">She never made it.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Scooter Sullivan, Padilla\u2019s mother, remembers that morning: Three agents clad in black balaclavas and raid vests rushed through the backyard gate as she drank coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Dan Sullivan answered the front door to see a larger group of agents there to arrest his daughter, a woman with no violent criminal record.<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cSome of them had ARs on them,\u201d he says. \u201cThey looked like a SWAT team. Absolutely overwhelming force.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cAll this for making a couple of phone calls,\u201d Scooter adds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The agents woke Jennifer up and told her she had a warrant. She was confused. But reality set in when, handcuffed, she saw more agents in front of the house including Carlos Valles, who had been introduced as her boyfriend\u2019s partner in the drug trade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">If she\u2019s convicted of two counts of conspiracy to traffic meth, she could face 10 years or more in federal prison. If prosecutors decide to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence based on her previous felony drug possession conviction, that could swell to 20 years or more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">The year in jail has further distressed Padilla\u2019s children, who are living with their father and occasionally staying with their grandparents. Scooter says the younger children cry at night, asking for their mom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">Padilla and her family hope US District Judge William P \u201cChip\u201d Johnson, a George W. Bush appointee, will dismiss her case once he learns how ATF used CI No. 9097 to target her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-p3\"><span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-s1\">\u201cHe set her up,\u201d Dan Sullivan says. \u201cPredatory is a very good way to put it. That\u2019s absolutely what he was doing: He was preying on her.\u201d<span class=\"m_-7493271169524216710gmail-Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a nearly two-month courtship, the man kept his government job a secret.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":413227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,142,203,116],"class_list":["post-413222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-albuquerque","tag-crime","tag-law-enforcement","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413222","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=413222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}