Serial DWI offender mistakenly released

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An inmate at the Curry County jail was mistakenly released after a jail employee failed to check to see if he faced additional charges.

Undersheriff Wesley Waller said the sheriff's office was notified of the "inadvertent" release of 45-year-old Johnny Cordova on Monday afternoon. Police searched for Cordova, who had been serving a six-month sentence for driving on a revoked license and other traffic offenses and was awaiting trial on at least his seventh DWI charge.

Cordova was apprehended in Clovis, New Mexico Tuesday afternoon.

Jail administrator Keith Norwood said Cordova was released last Wednesday, and he took the blame for not making sure the sheriff's office was notified immediately.

Norwood said the jailer involved has been fired. The facility has been plagued with similar mistaken releases in recent years.