ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - May 9, 2011 - A good Samaritan claims Albuquerque police filed a bogus felony charge against him in a harebrained sting they set up by planting a backpack with beer, cigarettes and a computer outside a high school. He says he picked up the backpack so children wouldn't drink the beer or smoke the cigarettes - for which he was charged with felony larceny.
Preston Sanchez says he stopped by a downtown ATM machine to withdraw money when he and a woman in line saw the backpack, "abandoned next to the ATM" and "in plain view of a charter high school."
"On inspection the backpack contained beer and cigarettes," Sanchez says. "The backpack had been left across the street and in plain view of a charter high school. I was worried the children from the high school would find the backpack and make use of the beer and cigarettes."
So after he withdrew money from his account, Sanchez says, he was forcibly detained by police as he tried to get into his car with the backpack. He attempted to explain to the police that he did not want the beer to be taken by nearby schoolchildren, but to no avail.
Albuquerque police Office Benjamin Melendrez arrested him for felony larceny for taking the backpack. Sanchez spent the night in jail, and only then, or later, did he discover that it was the cops' beer, the cops' cigarettes, and the cops' backpack.
Sanchez says Melendrez had placed the backpack next to the ATM, and the police officers waited to see who would pick up the backpack."They deliberately placed objects of enough value (beer, cigarettes and a computer) in the backpack so they could charge people with felonies," he says.
Sanchez says the backpack sting operation was part of Albuquerque Police's "TAC plan", which involves officers leaving 'bait' for people to take. Such stings have become a practice and policy of the Albuquerque Police Department; at least ten people have been arrested pursuant to this unconstitutional policy.
Sanchez has filed a lawsuit and seeks punitive damages from the officers, the city, and Police Chief Ray Schultz, for false arrest, false imprisonment, and Fourth Amendment violations.
