Albuquerque, New Mexico: Former Deputy Paul Jessen Jr. Indicted in DWI Corruption Case

A federal grand jury has returned the first indictment in the long-running DWI corruption investigation in Bernalillo County, charging former sheriff's deputy Paul Jessen Jr. with using his office to help dismiss DWI cases, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico announced.

Jessen is charged with conspiracy to commit interference with commerce by extortion under color of official right. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

What prosecutors allege

According to court documents, between March 2018 and January 2024 Jessen conspired with Albuquerque defense attorney Thomas J. Clear III and Clear's paralegal, Ricardo Mendez, to help DWI offenders avoid criminal and administrative penalties tied to their arrests. Prosecutors say Jessen failed to appear at required court settings for offenders who had hired Clear, knowing that his absence would let Clear ask for the cases to be dismissed.

Court documents say Jessen told a co-conspirator, a senior Bernalillo County deputy, that he was uneasy about taking cash for his part in the scheme. He agreed instead to take gifts. Prosecutors list a Pit Boss grill and smoker, a large-screen Sharp television, Craftsman tools and a toolbox, and other benefits that included alcohol and hotel rooms.

The gifts also included free legal services, prosecutors say, including representation while Jessen was under investigation in a separate case for tipping off targets of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Thirteen guilty pleas so far

The indictment is the first in the investigation, but it is not the first case the inquiry has produced. Thirteen people, including Clear and Mendez, have pleaded guilty to federal charges tied to the conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Reason, which reviewed the indictment, described the arrangement at the center of the scandal this way: Clear promised people arrested for DWI that hiring him could make their cases disappear, and officers who failed to show up at the proceedings where their testimony mattered made that possible.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, special agent in charge of the FBI's Albuquerque Field Office, announced the indictment. The FBI investigated the case with help from the Albuquerque Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico is prosecuting it.

A separate conviction came first

Jessen already faces sentencing in the separate case the legal services were tied to. In July 2026, a federal jury convicted him of obstructing a DEA investigation, conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI. Those convictions carry combined maximum penalties of 65 years in prison.

Prosecutors in that case said Jessen and another deputy, Kyle Linker, tipped off a drug dealer who worked as a confidential informant about planned federal operations. After agents searched the man's home in December 2021 and found more than 470 grams of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills and a firearm, he told agents he had been warned in advance.

Jessen joined the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office in 2013 and worked in its DWI unit from 2016 to 2020 before moving to drug cases, Reason reported. Local station KKOB reported the indictment on November 5.

An indictment is an allegation. Jessen is presumed innocent of the new charge until proven guilty in court.