Sheriff moves out of state - collects pay

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Sierra County stretches from the White Sands Missile Range in the east to the Gila Wilderness in the west.

The 4,000 square miles of rugged southwestern New Mexico includes Truth or Consequences, Elephant Butte Lake and Caballo Lake. But today, one thing Sierra County doesn’t include is its duly-elected sheriff, according to an investigation by News 13’s Larry Barker.

“I asked him, ‘It would have been nice if you had notified either the (county) commission management or administration that you are going to be gone for this period of time – either e-mail, cell phone, pigeon, I don’t care,’ ” said Walter Armijo, chairman of the Sierra County Commission. “And he says, ‘I don’t have to tell anyone where I’m going.’ That’s the last I heard from him.”

News 13 recently paid a visit to the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office in T or C and asked to see Sheriff Joe Baca.

“Have a seat if you would like to wait,” a deputy said. “He’ll be back June 1st.”

As it turns out, Baca, 39, packed up his wife, kids and the family’s belongings some time late last year and moved to the Ozarks in southwestern Missouri. The sheriff didn’t tell the county commission, and even some of his own deputies said they were surprised to hear he’d left town without even saying goodbye.

Baca, who is also a first lieutenant in the New Mexico National Guard, left Sierra County to attend a six-month-long leadership training class at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri. The class, called a “captain’s career course,” is essential if an officer wants to be promoted up the National Guard ranks.

Officially, the National Guard ordered Baca to active duty so he could attend the class in Missouri. However, his enrollment in the class was voluntary.

The military pays all his expenses, including moving and travel costs, housing, meals, per diem and his regular guard pay. In addition, Baca continues to draw his sheriff salary.

By the time June rolls around, Baca will have been paid $44,876 by the military and $35,438 by Sierra County taxpayers.

Commissioner Armijo said Baca’s undersheriff is running the office.

“How’s it work?” Armijo said. “I guess (the undersheriff) picks up the phone every morning and asks what (the sheriff) wants to do. I don’t know. It’s not fair to the citizens of Sierra County. To me, if you are an elected official, your duties and responsibilities is to the taxpayers to be at your home base.”

Responsibilities to county citizens aside, continuing to accept his sheriff paycheck while continually out of state is illegal, said New Mexico Attorney General Gary King.

“If you are an elected public official and you are absent from your office for more than 30 days, you are deemed to have abandoned the office,” King said. “But then there is an exception for military service, which I think is appropriate. That law would say that you wouldn’t continue to get paid for your office while you are on military service. But when you come back, that you would be reinstated.”

News 13 wanted to talk with Baca, so we traveled to the Midwest last week and met him at a local diner in St. Robert, Missouri. He admitted he “absolutely” made a mistake in this situation.

“I have no issue with sending the money back,” Baca said. “What I’m going to do is I’m going to draft up a letter and send it to the county commission saying that they need to suspend my pay and that if I owe them any money, that I will pay that money back.”

The sheriff also admitted he didn’t tell members of the county commission he was leaving for six months.

“The county commission aren’t my per se boss,” he said. “I did let citizens know.”

On Friday, Baca directed Sierra County to stop his payroll checks and said he will repay money he received in January and February.

“They are welcome to suspend my salary until I return,” Baca said. “When I get back on June the 5th, I am the sheriff.”

On Wednesday, the Sierra County Commission named a temporary Sheriff to run the department until Baca returns in June