Ex-prostitute, state settle suit over officer

Sept. 04--The state has settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of an ex-prostitute who alleged she was forced to perform sexual acts on an officer for the state Special Investigations Division.

The amount is confidential under the state's risk management statute for six months.

Still unresolved is a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former Department of Public Safety officer who alleges he was wrongfully fired when he reported suspicions about ex-SID officer Timothy Carlson to higher-ups.

The woman in the just-settled lawsuit was identified only as "S.B." Attorneys Joseph and Shannon Kennedy represented the alleged victim.

Tony Lynn, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said in an email that his office is barred by statute from talking about the matter.

Carlson, 36, was fired by the state and was criminally charged in Bernalillo Metropolitan Court with criminal sexual penetration, extortion, receiving a bribe by a public official and criminal sexual contact.

Albuquerque police became aware of Carlson in March 2011 after uniformed officers saw a man in a pickup engage strobe lights and pick up a woman standing on the corner. The driver, Carlson, wore a badge and a duty weapon and identified himself as an SID officer on his way to work.

According to the civil law- suit, APD initiated surveillance of Carlson in March 2012 and saw him pick up S.B., and he told her he would take her to jail if she did not cooperate with his requests for sex. Carlson's vehicle was taken into custody and searched after officers obtained a warrant, finding biological residue throughout the vehicle.

He posted $50,000 bond in March 2012 following an appearance to plead not guilty in Metropolitan Court and was released.

The charges against Carlson were dismissed by the state in May 2012 while prosecutors in the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office reviewed evidence. No new charges have been brought against him.

"We're still looking at the case," DA spokesman Kayla Anderson said Wednesday.

S.B.'s civil lawsuit contended Carlson had a history of rape allegations -- later dismissed -- while he served as a military police officer in Washington state and that he should never have been hired by the state.

The whistleblower lawsuit, which relates indirectly to Carlson, was filed in July 2013 by Jeremy Romero against two supervisors and the DPS.

Romero, hired in August 2011 and fired two months later, said he saw Carlson twice with a woman who appeared to be a prostitute in his vehicle, though Carlson's job was liquor law enforcement. Romero claims he reported the matter to a supervisor and was subsequently assigned to a detail in Las Cruces, denied a transfer to Santa Fe and terminated, according to his lawsuit.

He contends he was retaliated against for reporting criminal conduct by a fellow agent.

Romero says he wrote both the state DPS and Gov. Susana Martinez. In its answer, DPS acknowledges receipt of a tort claims notice and a letter to the governor.

Romero alleges -- and DPS denies -- that the director built a file containing negative information about Romero resulting in false issues about his performance.

Romero was unable to obtain employment for 14 months. He was hired by the Corrales Police Department but sustained spinal cord injuries when the police vehicle he was driving was struck during a high-speed chase.

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