New Mexico State Police place DWI officer on leave in FBI corruption case
Feb. 14—New Mexico State Police placed its poster boy for DWI enforcement on administrative leave as the FBI investigates a racketeering case in which a prominent attorney paid off law enforcement officers to sabotage their own drunken driving cases.
State Police Chief Troy Weisler on Friday said Sgt. Toby LaFave is on paid leave as the agency does its own internal investigation into allegations that LaFave — featured for years in state ENDWI campaigns — was involved in one of the largest public corruption cases to hit the state.
LaFave, referred to as the "DWI King" for amassing thousands of such arrests, has not been criminally charged. He is the first State Police officer to be tied to the FBI's investigation in the 14 months since the decadeslong racketeering and bribery criminal enterprise became public.
Over the past three weeks, federal prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from three former Albuquerque Police officers, attorney Thomas Clear III, the self-admitted leader of the operation, and his law firm's paralegal Ricardo "Rick" Mendez. All five have pleaded guilty to criminal charges that included bribery, racketeering conspiracy and extortion.
Clear and Mendez stated in court records that the so-called "DWI Enterprise" involved law enforcement officers from the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico State Police. The two admitted that, typically, the DWI officers would arrest a suspect for drunken driving, and then refer them to Clear to get their criminal case dismissed. To ensure that happened, the officer would miss required pretrial interviews, court hearings, or fail to turn over evidence. Then Clear would file a motion to dismiss the case as a sanction.
The investigation came to light in January 2024 after FBI agents raided the homes of several officers, Mendez's home and Clear's law office.
APD has since placed 12 officers on leave, 10 of whom have since resigned, retired or been fired as the department conducted its own internal probe into the allegations. BCSO has placed one deputy on leave in connection with the FBI's case, but Sheriff John Allen has said BCSO is not yet planning to start an internal investigation of its own.
Weisler said in a statement Friday that the internal investigation into LaFave "is a top priority" for State Police.
"Let me be clear — any misconduct or criminal behavior within our ranks will not be tolerated..." Weisler said in a statement. "If it is found Sergeant LaFave's actions have violated the law or our policies, he will be dealt with swiftly and decisively."
LaFave, who joined State Police in 2012, said in an online video posted this week that he had made 3,000 arrests during his 20 years in law enforcement. In those same videos, he is referred to as holding the record for the most DWI arrests in the history of the agency. Last year, LaFave made headlines when he arrested an APD officer for driving drunk in his police SUV.
Court records show LaFave has filed at least 1,300 felony and misdemeanor DWI cases from 2009 to this month. Of the 31 DWI cases where LaFave was the arresting officer and Clear was the defense attorney, 17, or 57%, were dismissed.
During his time with State Police, LaFave has been lauded for his work.
In 2018, LaFave was given a plaque and recognized by lawmakers and Mothers Against Drunk Driving at the state Legislature for making more than 100 DWI arrests in a year. He has been repeatedly featured in posters and commercials for the New Mexico Department of Transportation's ENDWI campaign, from 2015 to several months ago.
"We undertake a variety of narrative approaches for our ENDWI campaigns," a NMDOT spokesperson said Friday. "Officer participation is at the discretion of New Mexico State Police. We have no comment on the involvement of Sgt. LaFave in previous campaign materials; he is not featured in current ENDWI material."
Six months ago, the campaign featured LaFave, a re-creation of him knocking on someone's door to tell them their relative died in a DWI crash.
In a video published on the Facebook page of True Crime News earlier this week, LaFave addressed his moniker, saying "if it means I'm the King of DWI, I'll take it."
LaFave described his job as a "cat-and-mouse game."
"People are out after work, drinking in a bar. I'm at home, getting ready to go to work and, eventually, our paths are going to cross," he said in the video. "Hopefully, it will be a life-changing event for them."
Another officer interviewed in the video said LaFave has "a knack for being in the right place at the right time." The officer, who said he trained LaFave, said "you could tell from the get-go that there was something unique about him."
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