Thomas R. Rodella, 53, the former Rio Arriba County Sheriff,
was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge James O. Browning for his
conviction on criminal civil rights and firearms charges. Rodella was sentenced to 37 months in federal
prison for his deprivation of rights conviction and an additional seven years
for brandishing a firearm while committing the civil rights offense, for an
aggregate sentence of 121 months of imprisonment. Rodella will be on supervised release for
three years after completing his prison sentence. Rodella also was ordered to pay a $200,000
fine U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez for the District of New Mexico announced.
“When he attacked a defenseless innocent civilian, Sheriff
Rodella chose to abuse his power rather than uphold his oath to protect the
public,” U.S. Attorney Martinez said.
“The Justice Department will continue to vigorously investigate and
prosecute officers who cross that line because they discredit the noble service
of every other law enforcement officer and weaken the public’s trust in those
who are sworn to protect them. I commend
the prosecutors and investigators for their outstanding work on this case.”
“The American people hold their law enforcement officers to
high standards, and those standards are even higher for the leaders of public
safety agencies,” said Special Agent in Charge Carol K.O. Lee of the FBI’s
Albuquerque Division. “Although the FBI
realizes the majority of officers perform their duties in an exemplary and even
heroic manner, we will not hesitate to investigate those who betray the
public's trust. I want to thank the FBI
Special Agents and support staff who worked on this investigation, as well as
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a successful prosecution in this case.”
On Sept. 26, 2014, a federal jury found Rodella guilty of
the crimes alleged in a two-count superseding indictment. Both crimes arose out of an incident occurring
on March 11, 2014, in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, during which Rodella
engaged in an unjustified high-speed pursuit and unreasonable seizure of a
victim identified as “M.T.” Count 1 of
the indictment charged Rodella with violating the victim’s civil rights by
subjecting him to an unreasonable seizure while acting under color of law. Count 2 charged him with brandishing a
firearm during a crime of violence.
Rodella was the sheriff of Rio Arriba County when the jury returned its
guilty verdict. He resigned from his
position as sheriff on Sept. 29, 2014.
The trial evidence established that on March 11, 2014,
Rodella and his son Thomas Rodella Jr., who were in Rodella’s personal vehicle,
engaged in an unjustified high-speed pursuit of the victim and used the vehicle
to block the victim’s vehicle on a dead-end lane. Rodella, who was not in uniform, jumped out
of his vehicle with firearm in hand, entered the victim’s vehicle and assaulted
the victim with the firearm. Rodella Jr.
dragged the victim out of his vehicle and identified the victim’s assailant as
the sheriff. When the victim requested
to see Rodella’s badge, Rodella pulled the victim’s head up by his hair and
slammed his badge into the victim’s face.
The victim suffered injuries to his face and his hand as a result of the
assault; the injury to the victim’s hand required surgical repair.
The evidence also established that Rodella instructed his
deputies to arrest the victim and detain him at the Rio Arriba County Detention
Center. The victim was released from
custody two days later after appearing before a state magistrate and the
charges against him were dismissed on March 26, 2014. Deputies of the Rio Arriba Sheriff’s Office
testified they did not conduct any investigation of the incident or prepare any
reports until after the case was dismissed.
The case was investigated by the Albuquerque and Santa Fe
offices of the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara C. Neda
and Jeremy Peña.
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