Cop admits to crime but no charges filed

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Should a State Cop have been charged for what he did to a suspect?

In February, State Cop Robert Holguin arrested a woman near Deming on outstanding warrants. On the way to the jail he pulled over and had sex with the woman in his patrol car. He then took her to jail.

Because of his position of authority over the woman and because she was in custody, it is considered rape.

State Police had no idea about any of this until two weeks later when a tipster told them Holguin wouldn't stop texting the woman.

“When the officer was confronted he admitted to a sexual relationship of some sort that possibly had criminal implications,” said NM Police Chief Robert Shilling.

Holguin resigned on the spot and State Police decided they'd handle the investigation into one of their own.

“The alleged incident occurred in a rather rural part of the state with small police department and small sheriff's office and we have a number of highly trained highly qualified and professional investigators in the State Police and we are certainly not afraid to investigate our own,” said Shilling.

When they contacted the woman Shilling said she “emphatically denied the incident even occurred.”

There was belief that the kept seeing each other after the arrest and that the woman may have been covering for Holguin. Without a witness or a victim willing to cooperate, State Police dropped the case.

“Hindsight being 20/20 getting another set of eyes on that is probably, certainly warranted,” said Shilling.

Shilling admits his officers should have filed a police report and let the DA decide if Holguin should be charged.

Chief Shilling is adamant that his officers weren't covering up anything, even citing the fact that his department turned the officer in to the state law enforcement board. Last month that board stripped him of his right to be a cop.