BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION HOMICIDE. CASE AGENT DETECTIVE Russell Broyles CASE NUMBER

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1 Page 1 of 15 BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION CASE AGENT DETECTIVE Russell Broyles CASE NUMBER OFFENSE(S) Embezzlement VICTIM(S) APS School Police OFFENDER(S) Steve Tellez DATE OF INCIDENT 11/01/2013 to 02/13/2014 DATE CASE ASSIGNED 03/11/2014 DATE CASE COMPLETED 07/21/2014 DISTRIBUTION Central Records [X] District Attorney s office [X] Other (Specify) [] (Pbit-p n ri in thø nnrnntiit hnyp

2 .. BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT Page 2 of 15 1 I TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Investigative Report By Detective Russell Broyles 2. Initial Report By Sergeant C. Gandara (with APS) 3. Search Warrant for San Francisco NE OFFENSE: VICTIM: SUSPECT: Embezzlement APS School Police PHONE: (505) Steve Tellez San Francisco NE Albuquerque, NM PHONE:_(505) DOB: /1954 SSN:...5S9251 Kane Garcia PHONE: (505) Carla Gandara PHONE: (505) Gary Georgia PHONE: (505) Steve Gallegos

3 Page 3 of 15. PHONE: (505) Tarni Coleman PHONE: (505) / ext. 15 Sonya Vigil PHONE: (505) Toddy Tackett PHONE: (505) Jennifer Pacheco PHONE: (505) Amanda Peralta PHONE: (505) Tom Lyon PHONE: (505) Mike Dunlap PHONE: (806)

4 Page 4 of 15 c. OThER: OTHER: LOCATION: Robin Doll-TelIez San Francisco NE Albuquerque, NM DOB: J11955 OLN: 3768 Bill Harper ATh Sporting PHONE: (512) ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87125

5 BERNAL.TLLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT Page 5 of 15 ASSIGNMENT On 03/11/2014, this case was assigned to this investigator by Sgt. Pete Golden. With this assignment, I received a copy of the initial report completed by Albuquerque Public Schools Police Sergeant C. Gandara on 02/14/2014. On assignment of this case, I conducted interviews with and/or had correspondence with the above listed subjects. Based on information learned, I determined that approximately one thousand rounds of ammunition of a type that is not usable by the APS Police Department was ordered and received. After the mistake was discovered, Steve Tellez, the then Chief of the APS Police Department, offered to purchase the ammunition from the Department and to that request he was refused on the basis that he may make profit from an exchange based on favorable contracts between vendors and the APS. The Department was to return the ammunition at whatever loss due to restocking fees or other reasons. The ammunition was not returned and remained in the storage closet where other ammunition was kept at. Later, Steve Tellez approved his own request for an AR-15 Armorer s course to which no ammunition was needed and for which the department does not own or use any rifles/firearms pertinent to the instruction. Steve Tellez then had a portion of the ammunition issued to him for the Armorer s course and then attended the course. During my investigation, I obtained a warrant for and did search Steve Tellez residence. During my search, I located ammunition consistent with that of the ammunition that was taken from the store room, but was unable to identify it as the ammunition via markings on the boxes. Also during the course of my investigation, I was unable to locate other individuals, besides Steve Tellez, with motive to take the ammunition. This case was closed and sent to the District Attorney s office for review and possible prosecution. INVESTIGATION On 03/12/2014 at approximately 1300 hours, I made contact with Kane Garcia at 6400 Uptown NE. Kane gave me the following information: Kane has been the Evidence Supervisor for the APS Police Department for seven years and has been on the department for approximately twenty years. Kane s duties include (but are not limited to): Evidence storage, Administrative duties, Response plans, Weapon storage and Dispatch. Kane has

6 . BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT 4 1 Page 6 of 15 DETECtIVE SIGNATURE APPEARS ON LAST PAGE OF REPORT access to the storage closet and the adjacent vault. Others that have access to the closet are Chief Steve Tellez and Sonya Vigil. The department s ammunition is typically stored in the storage closet and in a locked cabinet. Ammunition is handed out by Sonya Vigil and (according to Kane) Kane never handles ammunition. Others that hand out ammunition include Toddy Tackett. Lieutenants are given temporary access to the storage closet (in order to obtain vehicle keys that are kept in the storage closet), but not the vault. They obtain access to the storage closet by using a key they borrow from one of the three mentioned subjects that have keys (Steve Tellez, Kane Garcia and Sonya Vigil). When asked about the missing ammunition, Kane said that she heard that the Chief took 1 box of ammunition for a class he was taking. After our interview, Kane showed me the storage closet. On entering the closet, I observed on the south wall to the left of the entry door a cabinet where Kane said the vehicle keys were kept. Along that same wall and farther from the door, I observed a cabinet with ammunition of several calibers stacked on and on the nearby floor. Kane indicated that this cabinet is where all of the department s ammunition was stored. Other law enforcement related equipment was also located on shelves in the storage closet. On the North far corner was located the vault access. Kane indicated that no ammunition is stored in the vault, that it is used to store weapons. I made contact with Sgt. Carla Gandara. Carla gave me the following information: Carla is the supervisor of the APS Police department s Internal Affairs and Investigations division. On 02/14/20 14, Chief Steve Tellez contacted Carla and told her to write a report for two cases of ammunition that were stolen. Carla was also told to speak to Overmyer in reference to having a security camera installed at the door of the storage room. To complete her report, Carla received paperwork in reference to the purchase of the missing ammunition. On 02/17/2014, Deputy Chief Steve Gallegos contacted Carla and told her that Chief Te(fez had taken a case of ammunition. Carla, cautious about proceeding forward with the case because it involved the Chief, took the case to the APS administration. Carla does not have access to the property room. I made contact with Detective Gary Georgia. Gary gave me the following information: Gary has been a Detective with the APS Police Department for approximately seven years. Gary was present in Carla Gandara s office when Chief Steve Tellez informed her of missing ammunition and ordered Carla to have a camera installed at the storage closet. The missing ammunition was of a caliber for firearms that the department does not have weapons for. When ammunition is needed, Gary goes to Sonya Vigil. Sonya generally

7 Page 7 of 15. gives out ammunition from a supply that she keeps in her office. Gary has never heard of ammunition or other items ever going missing from storage during his time on the department. I made contact with Deputy Chief Steve Gallegos. Gallegos gave me the following information: Gallegos was with APD for twenty years and has been employed by APS Police since Currently Gallegos is the Deputy Chief of the APS Police Department and the interim Chief. In July of 2012, Sonja Vigil ordered.223 caliber ammunition by mistake along with needed calibers (9mm,.40,.45) from an example order form. When the order arrived, the mistake was discovered and an attempt to return the un-needed portion to the supplier was made. Tammy Coleman was contacted as Chief Steve Tellez wished to purchase the ammunition from APS. The option of trading the un-needed ammunition to APD was brought up, which had never been done before. On or about the 13 th of February, Sonya came to Gallegos and informed him that, while doing an inventory, she discovered two cases of the.223 ammunition were missing. Sonya also indicated that she kept the un-needed (.223) ammunition in a different location in the storage closet (Gallegos stated he did not have a key to this closet) than the needed ammunition. Gallegos told Sonya to start an investigation in reference to the missing ammunition. Gallegos has not been on speaking terms with Steve Tellez as of recent and never spoke to the Chief about the missing ammunition. Sonya told Gallegos that she had gone to the Chief who in turn told her to wait so that he could look into the missing ammunition. Later, Sonya told Gallegos that Chief Tellez had called her and told her that he had taken one of the missing cases of ammunition and used the ammunition at a course he attended. Chief Tellez had a report done for the missing ammunition and a camera installed near the storage closet. Gallegos has never seen the storage closet door open and unattended. Gallegos gave me the name, Mike Dunlap ( ), of a contact in reference to the course Chief TelIez had taken and indicated that Mike told Gallegos that the class had no live-fire portion (no ammunition required for the course). I made contact with Tami Coleman. Tami gave me the following information: Tami is the Executive Director of Accounting for District Funds. Tami handles all questions about appropriate spending. Tami has been in her current position for approximately six years. Tami was approached by Chief Tellez and his bookkeeper in reference to ammunition ordered and received that was not usable by the APS Police Department. Tellez told Tami that they were having difficulty returning the ammunition and that Tellez wished to purchase the ammunition from APS. Tami said that Tellez could not purchase the ammunition and that they had to send the ammunition back at whatever loss. Tami

8 Page 8 of 15. explained that it is against policy for the APS to sell items and for employees to benefit from the probable lower cost afforded to the APS by the supplier. Tami added that the ammunition quantities were not mentioned to her and that she had never had a request like this for any type of item in her time in her position. I made contact with Sonya Vigil. Sonya gave me the following information: Sonya has been the Administrative Supervisor at APS Police Department for approximately five years and has worked for the department for approximately eight years. Sonya s supervisor is Chief Steve Tellez and her duties are as follows: place all orders for office supplies, manage the budget, oversee clerical staff and issue equipment. Sonya needed to order ammunition in July of She discovered that one of the suppliers did not have one of the ammunition types that the department needed. Sonya wanted to order all the ammunition from their other supplier but did not know all of the part numbers for this manufacturer. Sonya went to Chief Tellez who then gave Sonya a quote that had the part numbers on it, but that also included part numbers for an ammunition type that the department didn t use (.223). Sonya placed her order and mistakenly included this un-needed ammunition in her order. After the order arrived and the mistake was discovered, Sonya and Chief Tellez went to Tami Coleman. Tami told Chief that he could not purchase the ammunition from APS. Sonya attempted to return the ammunition, but because one case had been opened and the supplier was only willing to give a 60% refund for the other case, the ammunition was placed in the storage closet. It was mentioned that a trade with APD could be possible, but Sonya said nothing ever came of this idea. In June of 2013, Chief Tellez requested a training course (through Tom Lyon) as well as a case of the.223 ammunition to use during the class. In July of 2013, Sonya issued Chief Tellez one case of the.223 ammunition, but did not get a signature. Sonya could not remember if she gave the Chief an opened or closed case of ammunition. An inventory was done during which Sonya was unable to locate the.223 ammunition. Sonya forgot that she had issued a case to Chief Tellez. Sonya therefore thought that two cases were missing and informed the Deputy Chief (Steve Gallegos) that two cases were missing. After informing Chief Tellez of the missing ammunition, Tellez told Sonya that he would look into it. Tellez returned to Sonya and asked her what she would do about the missing ammunition and Sonya

9 0 BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT Page g of 15 DETECTIVE StGNATURE APPEARS ON LAST PAGE OF REPORT said that she would file a report. Later the same date, Tellez called Sonya and reminded her that she had issued him a case of the ammunition. A report was filed and a camera was installed near the storage room. Sonya believed that the case of ammunition she had issued to Chief Tellez had been used for the class he took until she was informed by Bob Casey (admin. Investigator) that the class did not require ammunition. Sonya did not ask for the ammunition to be returned. Sonya gave some general information in reference to the activities surrounding the storage closet the missing ammunition was kept in. Sonya said that Chief TeIlez makes his access key available to other members of the staff besides herself and Kane. Sonya said that Toddy is aware of the location Chief Tetlez kept his access key, in the right drawer of his office desk. Sonya indicated that Kane, regularly, gives Tom O Connor her key. Sonya mentioned that she believed that Chief Tellez had worked over the winter break when no others had worked and said she would obtain card access logs for deputies. End of information provided by Sonya on 03/12/14. I made contact with Toddy Tackett. Toddy has worked for APS Police for approximately five and one half years in her current position. Her job tasks include: police report processing, receptionist and receiving shipments. Toddy was informed by Deputy Chief Gallegos that an investigation would be carried out, but ammunition was not mentioned to her. Toddy believed that she may have signed for the ammunition in question on arrival from the shippers, but couldn t be sure. Toddy generally put single box shipments of ammunition on Sonya s desk rather than put them into the storage room. Toddy remembered an occasion where the incorrect items were delivered, but did not have details. According to Toddy, when Sonya is not in the office, Sonya makes her keys available by putting them into a filing cabinet near the reception desk. Chief Tellez also made his key available by leaving it in a drawer in his office. Toddy has not observed the storage room door left open or unattended. On one occasion, Deputy Chief Gallegos let Toddy into Chief Tellez s office to retrieve Tellez s key from the drawer of his desk. Amanda Peralta may have had access to the storage area at some point. Toddy is unaware of any training courses that Chief Tellez may or may not have taken. I made contact with Jennifer Pacheco. Jennifer has been the APS police communications supervisor since 2008 and with APS for approximately nineteen years. Jennifer runs the dispatch center which is maintained twenty four hours a day. Jennifer does not have

10 Page 10 of 15 DETECTIVE SIGNATURE APPEARS ON last PAGE OF REPORT access to the storage room and does not have a key. Jennifer obtains a key from Vigil or Garcia when she needs to retrieve headsets and other communications related equipment from the storage room. Jennifer has gone to the storage room accompanied and by herself. Jennifer understood two cases of ammunition that were kept in the storage room were taken and as per her duties in communications assigned a case number to the incident. Jennifer said that she did not want or need to know any further information about the incident. All other information Jennifer learned was from the news media. Jennifer has never issued ammunition to officers. Jennifer has never received shipments for items. Jennifer has never observed the storage room left unattended, and only observed Vigil and Garcia in attendance. Jennifer mentioned that she did not have a good relationship with Chief Tellez and has not verbally communicated with Te(lez for several months. I made contact with Amanda Peralta. Amanda is a payroll technician and has worked in her position since July Amanda processes overtime, absences, badges, filing and determining supply needs. Amanda has had to obtain keys (less than five times) from Sonya to access the storage room. Amanda has issued ammunition to officers from a supply in Sonya s office three to five times. Amanda has received a shipment of ammunition (around second or third week of January 2013, when Sonya was on vacation) and was aided by Lt. Paul Brady in storing the ammunition in the storage room. On the day the shipment was received, Amanda gained access to the storage room when Steve Tellez opened the door to it for her. The only information that Amanda is aware of in reference to this incident she learned from the news media. Amanda knew that ammunition had been taken, presumably, by Steve Tellez. On 03/13/2014, I made contact with Tom Lyon. Tom has been the Training coordinator for APS police for approximately six years and with the APS police for eight years total. Tom ensures training compliance for APS police employees (approximately 150 employees) and maintains their training files. In reference to an armorer s course taken by Steve Tellez between 07/16/13 to 07/18/13, Tom showed me a certification of completion for the course. Tom was under the impression that Steve Tellez needed ammunition for the course, but said he had no part of the arrangements that Steve made in obtaining the information. For other armorer s courses for other officers, Tom believed that those officers needed ammunition for those classes as well. Tom registered Steve Tellez for the course, but did not receive any further communication in reference to the class. Tom did not question Chief Tellez about the class. Tom thought it was strange that the course was for a rifle, which the department does not utilize. Tom was satisfied that Tellez was

11 REPORT PREPARED BY DET R BROYLES Page 11 of 15 fuifllling a portion of his required training time. Tom does not approve training for officers, rather only registers officers for approved training. Tom did not know what an FIC (Firearms Instructor) was. It should be noted that an armorer repairs firearms and armorer s courses generally have no live fire involved. Tom has never observed the storage room unattended. On 03/19/2014, I made telephonic contact with Mike Dunlap. Mike told me that he was the instructor for the PATC AR-15 armorer course between 07/16/13 and 07/18/13. Mike said, that like all the armorer classes he teaches, this class provided all materials needed and that there was no live fire during the course. I asked Mike if there was any reason a student would need to bring ammunition to his course and he said no. Mike told me that he had been contacted prior to me and had refused to speak to a private investigator. Before he returned my call he checked with Santa Fe offices to make sure I was a sworn law enforcement officer. On 03/24/2014, I reviewed several documents provided by APS in reference to this incident. I observed what appeared to be quote or invoice of an order of ammunition from supplier GT Distributors. On the invoice, two cases, as described as those missing in this incident, were shown to have been ordered: one case of.223 Gold Dot 64gr valued at $ and another of 5.56 Lawman 55gr Rifle ammunition valued at $ I observed a purchase order with a matching requisition number (R#702499) and approval date of 07/27/2012. I observed an invoice, apparently generated by GT Distributors, with corresponding values to the previously stated documents. This document had a line that stated/pricing per New Mexico State Contract. I observed a packing slip that indicated two cases of 223 REM 64GR Gold Dot ammunition was received on 01/15/2013. I observed several documents detailing an Armorer Course put on by PATC in the Santa Fe area scheduled for 07/16/13 to 07/18/2013. Chief Steve Tellez was approved to attend the course and for APS to pay the $475 fee by Brad Winters. A

12 Page 12 of 15. class sign-in-sheet with a signature for Steve Tellez which could indicate he had attended. I observed multiple inventory listings. None of which indicate that the ammunition missing in reference to this incident were tracked. I observed a list of all APS board meetings and their dates, to include those that were cancelled. In conjunction with these dates, I observed two transaction logs indicating card key access records of entries into 6400 Uptown. Several entries are highlighted indicating specific entries by Steve Tellez into the building. These entries coincide with times that Sonya Vigil believed inappropriate for Steve Tellez to be in the office or to have used that entry. As no evidence indicating an approximate time when the unaccounted for case of ammunition was taken has been found, to this point, the evidentiary value of this data is not known. On 03/25/2014, I identified San Francisco NE as a possible address for Steve Tellez and went to the residence. On arrival, I had no contact with anyone at the residence. As Sgt. Golden and I had been unable, to this point, to make contact with Steve Tellez or his legal representation, there was some concern as to his welfare. After checking San Francisco NE, I then checked several of the surrounding residences. I made contact with Damien Gonzalez who resides at San Francisco NE. Damien told me that he knows Steve but had not seen him for a minimum of two weeks. Damien commented that he usually observed Steve Tellez walking his dog in the neighborhood. I made contact with a male and female who reside at San Francisco. The male subject told me he had seen Steve Tellez the previous date (03/24/2014) leaving his residence. The subject also mentioned that Steve had taken his dog to the park lately. It should be noted that I mentioned nothing of this case to any of these subjects and only mentioned that I was wishing to check the welfare of Steve Tellez. I checked several of the other surrounding residences, but had no contact at them. I located a report ( ) in which Steve Tellez s spouse Robin Doll-Tellez had reported a fraud in On that report was a telephone number ( ). I then made telephonic contact with Steve Tellez. I arranged for an interview to occur at the Sibrava Substation on 03/26/20 14 at 1330 hours. After a short time, Steve Tellez called back. Tellez told me he spoke to his attorney and was advised to cancel the appointment. Steve told me that his attorney would contact me.

13 Page 13 of 15. On 03/28/2014, I was contacted by Steve Tellez telephonically. Steve inquired about the case. I told Steve that he had already indicated that he would not speak to me without an attorney present and that it would therefore be inappropriate for me to speak to him about the investigation. Steve then asked me if the case was completed as he wanted to get on with his life. I told Steve that the investigation was currently not complete, but may be completed in the near future possibly next week. Steve asked if he could call me in the future to ask if the case was complete and I told him he could. On 03/31/2014, Judge John Duran (Metro court Div. 8) signed a search warrant for San Francisco NE, the residence of Steve Tellez. At approximately 1315 hours, I called Steve Tellez, but reached Robin Doll-Tellez. Robin said that she was at home, but that Steve Tellez was not. I explained that I was coming to serve a warrant on her residence in reference to an incident related to Steve Tellez s APS position. She requested that I return in a half an hour when Steve had returned home. I told her that I would be arriving in a few minutes and requested that she step out the front door of her residence. On arrival to San Francisco, I observed Steve Tellez step out the front door and requested that he remain outside the residence, which he did. I explained that I had a warrant and showed him the copy that I later left at the residence. Mr. and Ms. Tellez were cooperative for the duration of the warrant. At one point detectives located a safe in one of the garages of the residence and Steve entered (after several attempts) the combination and opened the safe for detectives. In that safe, I observed multiple firearms to include a Rock river AR-15 which is designed to use ammunition such as the type (.223/5.56) taken in reference to this APS incident. I observed numerous boxes of ammunition to include.223 caliber ammunition. A portion of the ammunition was collected as evidence in this case. On 04/14/2014, I contacted GT Distributors who then referred me to Bill Harper with ATK Ammunition. I was unable to make telephonic contact with Bill and sent him an with my questions about the ammunition collected from the warrant on San Francisco. Below is a cut/paste copy of my to Bill: Good afternoon,

14 Page 14 of 15. I am Detective Russ Broyles with the Bernalillo County Sheriff s Department in Albuquerque NM. I am currently investigating an incident that occurred at the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department located at 6400 Uptown Blvd NE in which several cases of ammunition went missing. During the course of my investigation, r obtained ammunition (still In the boxes they were shipped in) but without the shipping labels. I am trying to determine whether these are actually the cases that went missing. The ammunition that went missing was drop shipped by your company to 6400 Uptown Blvd Albuquerque NM STE 100E through GT Distributors. I have packing slips, invoices and the boxes I obtained ready to do a comparison. GT Distributors indicated to me that you might be able to help me if given information on the boxes (i.e. a Lot number). Below is several alpha numeric features of these boxes of ammunition: Below a UPC is the number: On both ends of the box is a stamp: LOTU 49 Z570 I have two boxes, both marked similarly If there are any other features of the boxes that you might need please let me know. Anything you can do to help me would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Detective R. Broyles Bill responded and told me that he would attempt to trace the ammunition and if they sold the ammunition or not. On 04/23/2014, I sent Bill Harper another in reference to my information request. On 06/30/2014, I sent Bill Harper another , again, in reference to my request. On 07/01/2014, I received a reply from Bill Harper. In his correspondence he told me that the ammunition referenced in my previous message was sold to GT Distributors on 06/30/2009. Below is a cut/paste copy of this message: Russell, This is what I was able to find out. I hope it helps = Lot Number Z570 = June 18, 2009 It does look like this product was shipped to GT Distributors on June 30, 2009 Thank you Bill Harper Sergeant First Class, Ret

15 .. BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF S DEPARTMENT Page 15 of 15 Law Enforcement Sales Specialist ATK Sporting End of pasted text. It should be noted that the time period the ammunition found during the search was shipped is significantly earlier in relation to the ammunition that went missing from the APS storage area. It should also be noted that this ammunition appears to have been shipped to GT Distributors and the ammunition that went missing, according to shipping documents, was shipped from ATK directly to APS (drop shipped, without a stop at GT distributors) on 01/08/2013. All other ammunition collected from Steve Tellez residence was determined to be that of a different type then that of the ammunition that was taken from APS. CONCLUSION Based on the above facts this case will be considered EXCEPTIONALLY CLEARED. It will be forwarded to the DISTRICT ATTORNEY S OFFICE for consideration of prosecution and to the CENTRAL RECORDS DIVISION. / Detect e /95(0 s Date Homicide Criminal investigations Division y//y / / SØgeant P. Golden Date /,,&ipervisor, Homicide I- Criminal Investigations Division