Bad APD cop out of prison, back in town

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - He was a rogue Albuquerque cop who committed hundreds of crimes, he was even suspected of murder. He was dangerous, so dangerous he was shipped off to San Quentin and Pelican Bay in California to serve his time. But now Bob Davis is back in Albuquerque, a free man.

Davis was supposed to be Albuquerque’s finest. But after a string of burglaries, prison escapes and overall bad behavior, those most threatened by the former law man thought he would be in prison for a lot longer than he was.

“He's made several statements to different people that he was going to get me one way or the other,” former APD cop and Torrance County Sheriff Dick Ness said back in 2005.

Davis ended up under Ness' watch after he was convicted for a three state crime spree in the 70's. Investigators say Davis and three other APD cops, all members of the department's softball team, would travel for games and pull off robberies in the same town.

Their haul came to about a million dollars and their prison sentences for the crimes locked them up for years. But Davis never seemed to accept his sentence.

This is where Ness comes in. Davis was serving his time in Torrance County when he helped another inmate escape.

“We charged him with assisting escape, and I testified against him,” Ness told News 13 in 2005.

Davis also had a gun in jail. Ticked at Ness, Davis vowed revenge. Davis was sent to the state prison in Los Lunas, where he escaped by hiding in a delivery truck.

And just a few years after that Davis broke out of the old state pen in Santa Fe after he got onto the roof. Cops set up roadblocks and searched for Davis and they had a good idea where he was heading.

"When he escaped he left directions in his cell to my house,” said Ness in 2005.

New Mexico had had enough of Davis; he was shipped off to California. After serving half his time, which was the law when he was sentenced, he was released in May.

Davis is back in Albuquerque and is on the strictest level of parole. That means he has several meetings with his parole officer every week, on top of home visits, drug tests and work requirements.

We spoke to Dick Ness for this story; he did not want to go on camera to speak about Davis.