Sheriff busted getting on-duty, backseat booty

**Terminator** · 09-15-06, 09:44 PM

Sandoval County Sheriff John Paul Trujillo denies what he calls "very serious allegations" made about him in two Bernalillo Police Department reports.

According to the reports, two officers encountered Trujillo's dark blue SUV on Monday in a Park Õn' Ride lot on U.S. 550, and found "the vehicle shaking back and forth."

As officers approached, one observed the sheriff crawling "from the back seat area of the SUV into the front driver-side seat" and "maneuvering to put his pants on by way of buttoning and zipping." The officer also observed "in the back seat area the figure of a female crouching down obviously not wanting to be seen."

According to the report, the officer asked what was going on and Trujillo responded that "everything was fine."

Officers subsequently left to respond to a burglary call. No charges have been filed.

Trujillo couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, but in a prepared statement said the reports amounted to "very serious allegations in an attempt to defame my character" in an election season.

In the statement, Trujillo said he had gone to the parking lot pursuing a tip of illegal drug activity.

Trujillo also said that he contacted the State Police and the officers' supervisor, Bernalillo Town Police Chief Fred Radosevich, to have them investigate the matter.

Radosevich said that as his officers were checking on Trujillo's vehicle, they were called away to a burglary in-progress call.

He said the officers were not with Trujillo long enough to identify the woman, and they did not witness any crime.

If the situation had involved nonofficials, Radosevich said, his officers wouldn't have initiated paperwork because they did not witness a crime, only suspicious activity.

"If it would have been anybody else, a report probably wouldn't have been completed," Radosevich said.

But the report was done because of Trujillo's status in the community, he said.

State Police spokesman Peter Olson said Trujillo had called State Police Chief Faron Segotta about the matter, but the department is not investigating anything.

"The chief could not determine what, if any, crime had been committed," Olson said.