ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – A former municipal judge candidate has been charged with embezzlement after he stole more than $40,000 from one New Mexico law enforcement agency. A plea deal kept him from getting serious prison time and the group he stole from is okay with that. Timothy Davidson was once a member of the New Mexico Mounted Patrol. 

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Patrol members believed him to be someone they were proud to have with them. “He was, at the time of him joining, was very outgoing. he was probably one of our hardest workers that put in quite a bit of time working out on the streets alongside the Roswell Police Department and the Chaves County Sheriff’s Department,” said Jason Holloway, chief of the NMMP.

Patrol members noticed something wasn’t right with their accounts when Davidson was the treasurer in 2020. They were able to find that Davidson stole $43,788 from the troop. He repaid $24,750 but there is still $19,038.52 missing.

Davidson was looking at nine years in prison but struck a plea deal to pay the $19,038.52 back in month payments and serve only 10 days in jail that will take place on the weekends.

The mounted patrol agreed with the sentence for Davidson.

“When the district attorney reached out to me personally, she asked if I was ok with it,” Chief Holloway said, “Her thoughts being that ‘restoration for the money lost by him having to pay us monthly would be a better fit for our organization than him spend time in jail or prison.’”

Though it was tough on the mounted patrol, they do have one message.

“Regardless of this hit that we’ve taken, we are going to continue serving our communities in Roswell and throughout the state because that’s what we all feel called to do,” said Deputy Chief Kevin Berry.

Davidson told the court he had no excuse for what he did. He will be making monthly payments to pay back the missing money and the court said if he misses a single payment, he could face the full sentence.