APS Top Cop Finds Himself on Hot Seat

By Colleen Heild, Journal Investigative Reporter

Nearly 17 years ago, Gil Lovato took the reins of a school police agency racked by controversy.
Now, as the veteran chief of the Albuquerque Public Schools police department, it is Lovato who finds himself on the hot seat.
He's been on paid leave since Jan. 6, pending an internal audit of the school police department that still isn't complete. Normally, such audits take two weeks.
Outside private investigators have also been called in.
The scope of the inquiry has broadened beyond the initial examination of whether evidence room money was mishandled.
Investigators in recent weeks have been questioning whether Lovato took liberties in running his department and whether he improperly directed APS resources to benefit one of his supervisors.
They've also been looking at several investigations he ordered.
Lovato, 60, has declined to comment publicly since being placed on leave.
"The only thing I can accuse myself of is working hard," he told the Journal last month.
The supervisor, Cynthia West, oversees the eight-person dispatch unit of the school police. She is a 20-year APS employee whose husband works as a school police lieutenant.
West referred questions to her attorney, Kari Morrissey, who said last week she wouldn't comment about specifics because of the ongoing investigation.
"What I can tell you is that I have talked to her (West) and she feels absolutely 100 percent confident that she has behaved professionally and ethically," Morrissey said. "She's never engaged in any type of misconduct, and we expect that this investigation is going to yield those results."
School district officials— who had been sweating out a mill levy election until last week's "yes" vote— remain tight-lipped about the department probe.
They have ordered police employees not to talk and say they don't know whether any aspect of the investigation results will ever be made public.
Journal interviews with current and former school employees, along with documents obtained by the Journal, provide insight into areas of inquiry.
For instance, during Lovato's tenure:

Nineteen people have contacted the school district's Equal Employment Opportunity office to complain about personnel issues in the police agency. Twelve of the complaints name Lovato as a respondent. Allegations include harassment, use of abusive language, sex discrimination and sexual harassment. APS won't say how any of those were resolved.

Hundreds of dollars seized as evidence were moved to the police agency's petty cash fund when the money should have been returned to district coffers.

No documentation exists for deposits into the petty cash fund and records are missing as to how money was spent.

West earned more than $5,000 in overtime last year. While on vacation, she was permitted to add to her paycheck by selling compensatory time back to APS.

During her monthlong vacation, Lovato made 91 calls to West on his APS cell phone, records show.

Lovato approved installing a high-tech surveillance camera at West's home and sent a team of APS detectives to Texas to investigate a suspect accused of harassing her on the telephone— a misdemeanor. No charges have followed.

West is the only civilian in the school district who has a take-home car. She drives an unmarked police car in an agency where a lack of vehicles has forced school police employees to double up or use personal cars to answer calls.

Taking over a 'mess'
Back in 1990, Lovato won out over 69 candidates who wanted to head what was then called APS school security.
Lovato had been a captain with the Albuquerque Police Department at the time— winding up a career that had its ups and downs.
He had a disciplinary record and was sent to "anger management," according to a newspaper account in 1985.
Lovato called it "conflict management" and noted he had 80 letters of recommendation in his personnel file.
Three days after retiring from APD, Lovato took over a school district police agency that outside auditors had characterized as a "mess" and "a disaster area."
The agency of 130 employees is now called the APS Police Department and handles security and law enforcement duties for an 89,000-student district of 131 schools, according to the APS police Web site.
Since Lovato took over as chief, his annual salary has jumped from $37,879 to $77,597. The agency's annual budget has nearly tripled and is now an estimated $2.7 million.

'Unethical activity'
APS documents show that, since the early 1990s, 12 of 19 people who contacted the district's EEO office about police department-related issues complained specifically about Lovato.
Of those who complained, one is a well-known high school principal; another is a high-ranking APS official.
APS spokesman Rigo Chavez wouldn't reveal the outcome of any of the complaints.
In November, a former school police campus service aide filed a lawsuit against APS alleging employment discrimination, retaliation and harassment.
Christine Apodaca alleges that Lovato denied her the opportunity to become a sworn law enforcement officer. She also accused him of belittling her in staff meetings, creating a hostile work environment and intimidating and threatening her.
At least two unsigned letters were sent to APS officials over the past six months alleging, in the words of one letter, "immoral and unethical activity that has been taking place in our police department."
The allegations weren't officially investigated until APS internal auditor Alan Wesson received information in January about problems with the school police evidence room.

Take-home car
Back in 1997, a member of the APS Board of Education asked during a public meeting why the school police dispatch supervisor needed a take-home car when district finances were tight.
Lovato, according to a news report at the time, replied that the dispatch supervisor also served as the evidence clerk and was on call to enter crime evidence, such as confiscated items.
School district spokesman Chavez said the APS police organizational chart currently shows West as having responsibility for evidence, "but she has not actually had that responsibility for the past three years."
More recently, employees say, Lovato has defended West's take-home car, describing it as a "mobile communications dispatch center."
Last year, APS budget cutbacks forced about three dozen district administrators to give up their take-home cars, according to news reports.
But West was allowed to keep her car. Chavez said APS officials concluded that West and school police were deemed to be "emergency responders" and needed cars.
A Journal survey of UNM police, APD and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department shows none of their dispatch supervisors is permitted a take-home car.
The shortage of APS police cars in recent months has forced some police officials to drive personal vehicles on the job.
Meanwhile, campus police aides have been doubling up or tripling in police vehicles because there aren't enough cars to go around.
Two new vehicles are expected to arrive later this month.

$5,100 in overtime
Investigators have also been looking into compensation issues.
West, who earns $46,597 annually, claimed more than $5,100 in overtime in 2006.
Nearly all of it was for working on Saturdays or Sundays.
Most of the overtime was claimed in the latter part of 2006, while West accrued more than 128 hours of compensatory time from June 2005 to May 2006.
Her reasons for the extra work were listed as "dispatch" or "dispatch shortage."
Lovato generally signed off on her overtime.
At times, her husband, Lt. Dave West, signed on Lovato's behalf.
Since Lovato was placed on leave Jan. 6, West hasn't claimed any overtime. She had two hours of compensatory time last month.
Last September, West announced in an internal e-mail that she would be on annual leave from Sept. 23 to Oct. 23 and an acting supervisor would take her place.
West used 80 hours of compensatory time for the first two weeks and then took two weeks vacation leave.
Investigators looked into a tip that she had paid overtime while she was on vacation.
West was paid $304.10 in overtime following the week ending Oct. 6.
But records show the overtime was for work she did in early September, before going on vacation.
Records also show West sold back 20 hours of her accrued compensatory time to APS last October.
Spokesman Chavez said he is not aware of any written policy allowing such a practice. He said it "is not a common practice," but added, that "it is not unheard of."

Cell phone calls
Investigators have also been looking at Lovato's cell phone calls.
A Journal review of APS phone bills shows 460 calls were placed from Lovato's APS-issued cell phone to West's private cell phone during a six-month period from June 11 to Dec. 12 last year.
During that time period, Lovato received 261 calls from West's private cell phone.
Roughly 60 percent of the calls occurred after 5 p.m., on weekends or while West was on vacation.
The dispatch office said West typically works days, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
On Dec. 4, records show 56 calls from Lovato's APS phone to West's. The calls were made between 5:14 p.m. and 11:56 p.m.
During West's vacation— which included a trip to Europe— 91 calls were made from Lovato's phone to West's.
More recent records weren't available from APS.

Surveillance camera
Last May, the school police dispatch office began receiving hang-up calls. Then an anonymous caller began targeting Lovato and West in calls peppered with insults and abusive language.
Before it was over, Lovato had put four different officers and a police computer technician on the case, which was a misdemeanor crime.
Two APS detectives traveled to Odessa, Texas, to interview a suspect, and Lovato ordered a low-light night vision surveillance camera installed at West's home.
The investigation was estimated to have cost more than $6,000 in overtime and travel.
No arrests related to the telephone harassment case have been made. The camera can still be seen outside West's far Northeast home.

Evidence room cash
The issue that triggered the current inquiry was whether money seized as evidence from students during campus drug busts ended up being improperly converted to the petty cash fund controlled by Lovato.
Lovato said in early January that his agency's petty cash fund amounted to only a few dollars a month, collected from copying charges for police reports requested by the public.
But APS could produce no ledger or accounting for the fund over the past three years. APS was also unable to produce any records of deposits, even from fees for copying police reports.
More than a dozen handwritten receipts APS turned over show Lovato tapped the fund to buy bottled water, soda for the office, and to get his patrol car washed in 2004 and 2006.
There were no receipts for the year 2005.
APS records show at least $300 was transferred to the petty cash fund after being seized as evidence and forfeited by a District Court judge in 2005.
Other records obtained by the Journal show $1,085 was placed in a police department safe in late 1998— only to be depleted by a series of withdrawals.
One document has handwritten entries showing six withdrawals of $165 or more at various times during 1999.
The withdrawals appear to have been made by Lovato or his secretary, and most carry his initials.
One handwritten note dated Sept. 23, 1999, states "$300 to Gil Lovato." Underneath that sentence is another handwritten note stating, "Returned $300 on 10/6/99."
Another note dated Dec. 30, 1999, states "$200 to G. Lovato for flashlight Y2K."
By September 2000, the last $165 was removed from the fund.
"New balance from evidence is 0," states a handwritten notation.
State law requires that money seized as evidence or "fruits of a crime" be returned either to the rightful owner or be forfeited.
If a judge had approved a forfeiture, the money should have been returned to the APS general fund where administrators could allocate it back to the police department, according to former APS business officer Michael Vigil.
Vigil said he would never have approved a loan from the fund.
Lovato has said the money was transferred appropriately and was used to buy office supplies.

Independent agency
When Lovato was tapped for the APS job, he faced a major public relations task.
His predecessor, security chief Daryl Harrell, had resigned in the wake of a Journal investigative report.
According to story published in February 1990, Harrell and his operations assistant, Roxie Joyner, had spent work time together in a Sandia Mountains cabin.
The story also reported Joyner had collected $25,000 overtime in a 30-month period. The Bernalillo County district attorney and the Albuquerque Police Department launched a joint investigation.
No criminal charges were filed. But the APS-funded audit that followed was highly critical, citing a lack of accountability and professionalism within the department.
School board member Leonard DeLayo was quoted back then as saying his primary concern is "what kind of system do we have that lends itself to no accountability."
DeLayo, who didn't seek re-election and leaves the board March 1, said in a recent interview that he has heard nothing negative about the APS police agency with Lovato as chief.
He added, "I think one of the issues with that department is that it traditionally has been independent, and I think as a result of that independence things tend to get skewed."

Victim's relative: Cop had lax penalty

By Michael Gisick, Abq Tribune
Friday, January 19, 2007

The granddaughter of the 74-year-old woman killed last year when an Albuquerque police officer lost control of his car and crashed says the officer's three-week suspension isn't nearly enough punishment.

"If he were a regular person, he would be charged with reckless driving or voluntary manslaughter," Denise Baker said. "Instead, in our eyes he gets a vacation while our family suffers every day."

Baker said she had been told the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office would take the case before a grand jury in March to determine whether Zachariah Floyd, 23, broke any laws. She said the officer should be suspended until then.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said the case likely would be taken to grand jury, though she said she couldn't confirm when.

"Car accidents do happen, and there isn't always a crime involved," she said. "The issue here is whether any laws were broken."

Police confirmed this week that Floyd had been suspended over the incident and said the case had been forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for review.

A police investigation following the May 21 crash found that Floyd was speeding through a neighborhood as he responded to a domestic violence call.

He swerved to avoid another vehicle, then hit a brick wall at 5208 Crestview Place S.W. The impact killed Flora Aragon and injured her daughter and a family friend.

Baker said Police Chief Ray Schultz called her Wednesday and told her Floyd had been suspended for three weeks.

"He said that was the longest he could suspend him because of the union," she said.

Police spokesman John Walsh said department rules prohibit him from confirming the length of the suspension, saying only that it was "substantial."

He said Floyd would return to patrol duties following the suspension and would also be required to talk to cadet classes about his experience.

Police Watchdog Leaving Position

Tuesday, December 19, 2006


Journal Staff Report
Albuquerque's top police watchdog will soon be out of a job.
Jay Rowland, 60, a retired Air Force colonel who has headed the city's Independent Review Office for the past four years, learned Monday his expired contract with City Hall isn't being renewed, he said.
As the review officer, Rowland receives complaints from citizens about possible Albuquerque police misconduct. He can also make policy recommendations to the mayor, police chief and other city officials.
Rowland said he plans to continue with the job until a successor is hired, as is called for under his contract.
Mayor Martin Chávez commended Rowland for his job performance. "I think he's had a good run in there," Chavez said late Monday. The mayor also said a change would be healthy for the office.
Rowland's tenure included the 2005 investigation into problems within the police evidence room. A 1,000-page report that Rowland signed found that former Chief Gilbert Gallegos didn't follow basic procedures.
Through the end of October, Rowland's office had received 248 complaints alleging misconduct by police officers or police department employees. Of those, 206 had been investigated and 42 were pending, according to the most recent documents available.
Citizen complaints about misconduct have increased in recent years, according to city statistics. In 2003, there were 220 complaints of misconduct; in 2005, the figure climbed to 351.
Chavez said he expects the search for a successor could take a couple of months. A finalist selected by Chavez will go before the City Council for approval.

Details Sought In Shooting

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
By Carolyn Carlson
Journal Staff Writer

Black community leaders are urging anyone who has any information on how Jerome J. Hall ended up shot to death along North Fourth Street on Thanksgiving to come forward.
"We are asking (investigators) to be vigilant to find the culprit," Joe Powdrell, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday.
More than two weeks after Hall, 42, was found dying on Fourth Street near Schulte NW, investigators are still trying to piece together how he ended up there. Hall was found suffering from gunshot wounds. He died on the way to the hospital.
Detectives with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department have not released many details about the shooting, except that Hall died of gunshot wounds.
"We have made some progress, but it has more to do with eliminating things," Lt. Gregg Marcantel, lead homicide detective for the Sheriff's Department, said Friday. "We do not have a clear suspect yet."
Powdrell said the fact that no real evidence has surfaced could create a sense of fear in the community.
"The city does not need a person who killed another person running around loose," Powdrell said.
Marcantel said no other details of Hall's autopsy or details from the crime scene are being released. He said doing so would undermine the case.
Six days before Hall died, a federal jury had awarded him $307,000 in an excessive force case against three Albuquerque Police Department officers. Hall had not collected any of the money at the time of his death.
Marcantel said he appreciates the leaders of the black community urging anyone who may have any information to come forward, because it will only help the investigation.
Marcantel has said that on Thanksgiving afternoon, several residents living in the area where Hall was found called the Sheriff's Department at least four times to report gunshots being fired.
But when deputies went out on the calls they did not find anyone shooting guns or any evidence that shots had been fired, until they found Hall, according to Marcantel.
According to federal court documents in Hall's excessive force case, in 2002 the officers said Hall was acting suspiciously as he looked into Nob Hill business windows.
The officers said Hall was combative and that is why they used a Taser on him. Hall was so severely burned by the Taser that he lost part of an ear.
In a Journal interview after the verdict, Hall said he did not want anyone to know where he was living because he feared retaliation.
Marcantel said anyone with any information on Hall's death, or information on the gunshots that were heard Thanksgiving Day, can call Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP or 980-2496 if they want to talk directly with a detective working the case. Either way, Marcantel said, they can remain anonymous. A $1,000 Crime Stoppers reward is being offered.

Black Leaders Seek Witnesses

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Around the Metro Area
Journal and Wire Reports

"Black Leaders Seek Witnesses
Black community leaders are urging anyone who has any information on how Jerome J. Hall ended up shot to death along North Fourth Street on Thanksgiving to come forward.
"We are asking (investigators) to be vigilant to find the culprit," said Joe Powdrell, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Two weeks after Hall, 42, was found dying on Fourth Street near Schulte NW, investigators are trying to piece together how he ended up there. Hall was found suffering from gunshot wounds. He died on the way to the hospital.
Six days before Hall died, a federal jury had awarded him $307,000 in an excessive force case against three Albuquerque Police Department officers. Hall had not collected any of the money at the time of his death."

Residents Called Sheriff About Shots

Thursday, November 30, 2006
By Carolyn Carlson
Journal Staff Writer

Residents living in the area where Jerome J. Hall was found shot on Thanksgiving called the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department at least four separate times that afternoon and evening to report gunshots being fired.
Six days before Hall died, a federal jury had awarded him $307,000 in an excessive force case against three Albuquerque Police Department officers.
Lt. Gregg Marcantel, lead homicide detective for the sheriff's department, said the calls started about 4:30 p.m. with the last one coming in about 9:30 p.m., shortly before deputies found Hall, 42, suffering from gunshot wounds. He died on the way to a hospital.
"The shots-fired calls ceased with that event," Marcantel said Wednesday during a news conference.
He said when deputies went out on the calls they did not find anyone shooting guns or any evidence that shots had been fired, until they found Hall.
"We are appealing to the public for any knowledge of who may have been doing the shooting," Marcantel said.
He said the shooters may have been in a car.
"It sounds like it did involve autos and the discharging of guns," Marcantel said. "It is unclear if the shots were into the air."
He would like to talk to anyone along Fourth Street, from Guadalupe Trail to Paseo del Norte, who heard gunshots or saw someone possibly in a car shooting a gun during those five hours.
"The Los Ranchos area does not get frequent shots-fired calls," Marcantel said.
He said detectives have not found any locations where bullets may have hit.
"Someone may have heard or seen something at 5 p.m. and not connect it to the 9:30 p.m. shooting," Marcantel said. "They may not be connected but we still want to know what, if anything, the public saw or heard."
Marcantel did not release any other information other than Hall's autopsy confirmed he died of gunshots.
He said they were keeping any pertinent information "within the notepads of the detectives and close to our chests."
He said he did not want to undermine the detectives working the case. Detectives are looking in a number of directions, he said.
Marcantel said newspaper coverage of the award might have suggested to someone Hall possessed lots of money, even though he had none of it yet because of the lengthy legal process.
According to court documents in Hall's excessive force case, the officers said Hall was acting suspiciously as he looked into Nob Hill business windows in 2002.
The officers said Hall was combative and that that is why they used a Taser on him. Hall lost part of an ear because he was so severely burned by the Taser.
In a Journal interview after the verdict, Hall said he did not want anyone to know where he was living because he was afraid of retaliation.
Anyone with any information should call Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP. If they want to talk directly with a detective they can call 980-2496. Either way, Marcantel said, they can remain anonymous.

APD Suit Winner Feared Retaliation

Wednesday, November 29, 2006
By Carolyn Carlson and Debra Dominguez
Journal Staff Writers

The man found dying from gunshots along Fourth Street on Thanksgiving evening earlier had said he was afraid of retaliation after winning more than $300,000 in an excessive force case against city cops.
Jerome J. Hall, 42, told the Journal just after the federal jury reached its verdict that he was living in an apartment but did not want anyone to know where because he was afraid of retaliation.
On Thanksgiving evening, Hall was found suffering from bullet wounds outside of an appliance store near Fourth and Schulte NW. He died while en route to the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Just six days earlier, a U.S. District Court jury awarded Hall $307,030 in damages in an excessive force case against three Albuquerque Police Department officers.
Hall had received second- and third-degree burns when one of the officers used a Taser on him multiple times during a 2002 arrest. Hall lost part of his ear as a result of being burned.
The jury found that officers Tim Gonterman, Sean Higdon and David Hinson used "excessive force" when arresting Hall, according to court documents.
During the Nov. 17 interview, Hall also said he had been sober for 16 months and, despite one recent relapse, was back on the wagon.
"Being in recovery is a new chance to turn my life around," Hall said. He added he was now living in an apartment.
"I don't want to say where— I don't want retaliation. I just don't want anyone to know where I live now," Hall said at that time.
Hall, a self-admitted drug user, said he had occasionally lived on the streets east of Nob Hill before getting his apartment.
Lt. Gregg Marcantel, lead homicide detective for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, said Tuesday investigators are taking into consideration the timing of Hall's death.
"The timing of the award suggests suspicion, but to what extent I don't know," Marcantel said. "We are taking it into consideration that it was publicly announced that he was awarded the money."
Marcantel said the department is not going to release any information that only the offender would know, such as the type of gun used.
"It is not in the best interest of the investigation to undermine the case," Marcantel said.
He did say investigators were looking into a framework of some things occurring in the area.
"There are some things that stand out," Marcantel said.
Terry Hodges, a pastor at the Shilo Baptist Church where Hall attended, said Hall was an "all-around good guy" who had been working hard to turn his life around.
Hall told the Journal on Nov. 17 that he has three boys who live here in Albuquerque and a daughter in Seattle.
According to court documents, Hall had a pending paternity case, filed in March in Bernalillo County by a Frankie Pinkney. The case is still open and paternity has not been established. Pinkney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In order for paternity to be established on a deceased person, the Office of the Medical Investigator must have either the permission of the family or a court order to release blood samples for a DNA test.
Hall said after the jury's award that he wanted to use the money to help his four children and to get his life back on track by going back to college. Hall has said he was a former medical technician and disabled Army veteran.
Hall's mother, Gloria Bishop, came into town from Florida to be with Hall during his federal trial. Hodges said Bishop is too distraught to talk right now. He said Hall's two sisters are now in town and funeral arrangements are being planned.
During the Nov. 17 interview, Bishop said she was in tears when she heard the tapes of the beating and Tasing her son took during the 2002 arrest.
"Here we are in 2006, and I can't understand how this kind of thing is still going on in a country my son willingly and gladly served," Bishop said of her son, who beginning in 1985 served in the U.S. Army Reserves about six years. "It was almost as bad as him being in combat in Iraq. He could have lost his life over this."