Ex-cop's record questions APD standards

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Ex-Officer David Maes won't be the poster boy for Albuquerque police recruitment now that four written reprimands and a pending rape charge have some wondering how he was allowed to be hired in the first place.

When he filled out his application, Maes admitted to past incidents of theft, vandalism, bribery and drug use. Internal documents show he lied about drug use on a polygraph test.

A background report showed Maes failed tests for two different Colorado police departments. But police psychologist Pete Divasto passed him, and the Albuquerque Police Department hired him in December 2004.

Documents show Maes soon was the subject of complaints from outside and inside APD.

In August 2005 an accused shoplifter complained of rough treatment by Maes, but an internal APD investigation exonerated him.

Four months later, Maes left his patrol area without permission, and then asked his supervisor to lie for him.

His bosses recommended termination, but Chief Ray Schultz overruled that and suspended Maes instead.

In July 2006, Maes hit a bicyclist outside the APD Foothills Substation. He didn't take a report or tell his supervisor, which led Schultz to issue him a written reprimand.

In November 2006 Maes was arrested and criminally charged with hunting on private property. He pleaded no-contest.

Schultz gave him another written reprimand for a September 2007 incident where Maes, responding to a reported battery, sped through an intersection going 83 mph in a 40 mph zone.

His boss called that "dangerous" and a "blatant disregard for safety." The chief gave Maes yet another written reprimand, his fourth.

It was one week later when Sylvia Córdova accused Maes of rape. She was in a stolen vehicle and running from police when she crashed into a tree.

She was injured and taken to the hospital where Maes was guarding her. Córdova later said Maes fondled her and masturbated although she didn't report it.

"I was scared," she told KRQE News 13.

When Maes left the hospital with Córdova, he took her by her sister's house to change clothes, and then hauled her off to jail. Maes was convicted when they collected DNA evidence from Córdova.

Maes claimed the sex was consensual. Meanwhile Córdova's attorney said Maes should have never been on the force to begin with.

Police Detective Oscar Medrano, who ran background checks on APD recruits, swore under oath that he felt pressure from the Mayor Martin Chávez's office to push candidates through and "soften standards."

Medrano says the mayor's office was flooding him with applications, pushing 1,000 officers for what he called, "political reasons."

Neither Chávez nor Schultz would answer News 13's questions about Medrano's allegations.

However Chief Public Safety Officer Pete Dinelli did.

"His perception is not reality; in fact I think he's stretching it quite a bit," Dinelli said. "If he felt he was being pressured he should have brought that to the attention of his supervisors.

"Under no circumstances did the mayor or this chief give any sort of order to lower our training requirements or admission requirements."

Medrano declined to be interviewed about his deposition.

Maes, through his attorney, wouldn't comment either. He resigned in December 2007.

Even though Gilbert Gallegos was APD chief at the time Maes was hired, most of Maes's time on the force was under Schultz's command.

APD spokesman John Walsh says the current chief has no plans to go back and review any of his predecessor's hiring decisions.