For three decades, Albuquerque defense attorney Thomas Clear bribed police officers to make drunk driving cases against his clients disappear. The cops typically did that by deliberately failing to show up at administrative hearings, pretrial interviews, or judicial proceedings, allowing Clear to move for dismissal of the charges. The latest guilty plea in that wide-ranging corruption case reveals a new wrinkle: Sometimes Clear's paralegal, Rick Mendez, or his associates would "orchestrate" DWI arrests by getting people drunk and arranging for a corrupt cop to nab them after they hit the road.
Lt. Justin Hunt, who was employed by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) for more than 20 years, retired in February 2024 amid the FBI's investigation of the bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have dubbed the "DWI Enterprise." This week, he pleaded guilty to extortion "under color of official right," meaning he used his position to help Clear extract money from clients eager to avoid the consequences of a DWI arrest—profits that Clear would then share with Hunt.
