ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A 37-year-old northern New Mexico man has pleaded guilty to falsely impersonating a federal officer to help a now-former sheriff’s deputy steal $7,500 from motorists who actually were undercover law enforcement investigators.
Leon Herrera of Las Vegas entered his plea Thursday in federal court in Albuquerque, where former Colfax County sheriff’s Deputy Vidal Sandoval awaits trial in December.
Herrera’s plea agreement said he and Sandoval were friends and that Sandoval asked him to pose as a federal drug agent in December 2014 to seize money that Sandoval found in the motorists’ automobile during a traffic stop.
Herrera said in the agreement that Sandoval offered him $1,000 for his help by having a telephone conservation with one of the motorists.
“At that time, I knew that my false statements and misrepresentations to the motorist served the purpose of assisting Sandoval in stealing the money found in the car,” Herrera said. “I now know that the motorists were actually undercover law enforcement investigators and that Sandoval stole approximately $7,500 in cash from them that actually belonged to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Herrera faces up to three years in prison when sentenced.
Sandoval, who resigned following his arrest, faces federal charges of attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and two of theft of government property.
Sandoval has pleaded not guilty.
FBI agents and New Mexico State Police arrested Sandoval on March 13 on an indictment accusing him of protecting people who were transporting cocaine in exchange for a cut of drug profits. A superseding indictment issued in April added two theft counts.
Authorities said they began to investigate Sandoval in 2014 after two men complained that an officer seized marijuana and cash from them during a traffic stop without giving a receipt.
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