A federal grand jury has indicted former Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy Paul Jessen Jr. on charges that he used his badge to help a defense attorney get DWI cases thrown out across New Mexico, accepting a grill, a flat-screen television and a toolbox in exchange, according to court documents. The indictment alleges the scheme ran from March 2018 through January 2024 — nearly six years — and comes just months after Jessen was convicted in a separate federal case tied to tipping off DEA targets.
Allegations Detail a Six-Year Pattern of Missed Hearings
According to court documents cited by KOAT, Jessen conspired with attorney Thomas J. Clear III and Clear’s paralegal, Ricardo Mendez, to help DWI offenders who hired Clear avoid criminal and administrative penalties tied to their arrests. Prosecutors allege Jessen repeatedly failed to appear at required criminal court settings for those offenders, knowing his absence would allow Clear to seek dismissal of the proceedings, as reported by KOB 4. Jessen is now charged with conspiracy to commit interference with commerce by extortion under color of official right, a count that carries up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
The indictment also describes how Jessen got paid. Rather than taking cash, he agreed to accept gifts instead — including a Pit Boss grill and smoker, a Sharp large-screen television, and Craftsman tools and a toolbox, per the same court documents. He also allegedly received free legal services, alcohol, hotel rooms and other benefits, including representation while he was under investigation for tipping off DEA targets. KOB 4 reports that Jessen raised concerns to a senior BCSO deputy about taking cash payments for his role in the scheme, suggesting an awareness of the arrangement’s risk even as it allegedly continued.
A Second Federal Case for the Same Former Deputy
This is not Jessen’s first brush with federal prosecutors. He was convicted in July of tipping off DEA targets in a separate case, having obstructed a DEA investigation and made false statements to the FBI, according to KOB 4. The exact details of that earlier conviction vary by source: the Albuquerque Journal reported that a federal jury convicted Jessen on four of five felony charges on July 10, 2026, after a four-day trial. A separate Department of Justice release attributes the conviction to July 14, 2026, stating that a New Mexico jury found Jessen guilty of one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, two counts of obstruction of justice, and one count of making a false statement following a five-day trial.
The newly unsealed indictment names thirteen people, including Clear and Mendez, who have already pleaded guilty to federal charges tied to the conspiracy, KOAT reports. No statement from Jessen, his attorney, BCSO or federal prosecutors responding specifically to this new indictment was included in available court filings.
Part of a Much Larger DWI Corruption Investigation
Jessen’s case sits inside a sprawling investigation into what federal prosecutors have called the “DWI Enterprise,” which they say Clear orchestrated beginning in 1995, paying officers to skip court appearances or suppress evidence, according to a separate KOAT report on the broader scandal. That earlier KOAT analysis found that 16 officers had been charged or implicated in the scandal, with four admitting to accepting bribes of at least $5,000 per case — a count that reflects that specific report and should not be combined with other tallies. A January 2026 report from Reason put the number of people implicated at two dozen, including Albuquerque police officers, Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies and a New Mexico State Police sergeant, noting that half of them — including Clear and Mendez — had pleaded guilty by that point.
The fallout has been significant for New Mexico’s courts. KOAT reported that Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman was forced to dismiss 150 pending DWI cases the prior year because of the investigation, with another 100 dismissed by the time of that report. A separate accounting from the Albuquerque Journal found that the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office has dismissed more than 260 DWI cases linked to the federal cases. Court analyses cited by KOAT found that 57% of Clear’s cases were dismissed overall, compared with a 36% dismissal rate countywide — a gap the Albuquerque Journal said nearly doubled further when cases were filed by a select group of APD DWI officers.
Fallout Inside the Police Department
The scandal has also reshaped staffing at the Albuquerque Police Department. APD created an Internal Affairs Task Force in January 2024, and the Albuquerque Journal reported that 14 officers had since been fired, resigned or retired during the internal investigation. On August 31, 2026, six APD officers were placed on leave amid the probe, though the Journal noted those six had not been charged in the federal case at that time. A plea agreement cited by the American Bar Association Journal described a pattern in which officers referred DWI cases to a co-conspirator and to Mendez in exchange for payments or other benefits, with hearings scheduled in a way to ensure the officers would not be there — clearing the path for dismissal requests based on nonappearance.
