Peña denies claims he embezzled from union fund

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The president of the local police union is denying allegations that he embezzled thousands of dollars worth of membership dues.

According to a recent report by the New Mexico State Police, former Gallup Police Officer Owen Peña wrote $3,075 worth of checks payable to himself and his wife from a local bank account set up for union business. Though even the report concedes that Peña may not have done anything technically criminal, it could provide ammunition for the Attorney General's Office when it attempts to strip Peña of his certification before the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy a week from now.

Peña and McKinley County Deputy Sheriff Tom Mumford began the local union the Gallup Police Officers Association in 2004, collecting dues and paying the New Mexico branch of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) for legal representation and protection. Checks, said Mumford, who is extensively quoted in the report, were to be paid to the order of the FOP only; however, according to copies of the checks attached to the report, Peña wrote three checks out to himself and one to his wife.

But that's as far as the report's case goes. It does not specify what the money may have been used for Peña insists it was for union business and concedes that he probably broke no laws whatever the checks paid for. According to Mumford, the union had only a verbal agreement that the dues would be used to purchase flowers and to pay the FOP. But without any written bylaws stipulating what the dues could and could not pay for, the report concludes, the state would be hard pressed to pursue any criminal charges even if Peña did embezzle.

The report may not explain where the $3,075 went, but it points out that the money did not go to the FOP. In the report, New Mexico FOP Executive Director David Heshley claims the local union owed it more than $3,000. Peña said the union stopped paying its FOP dues last December in protest of its alleged failure to help a local officer. Heshley could not be reached for comment.

So the state doesn't know what happened to the money, and it doesn't believe it can press charges. But that's not stopping the Attorney General's Office from considering using the information in its case against Peña on June 9. The office's Betsy Salcedo reportedly asked for a copy of the State Police's incident report to help prepare.

But according to Peña, the June 9 hearing has nothing to do with allegations of embezzlement. The state's original case, he said, involved allegations that he battered individuals on two separate police calls back in 2000 allegations he also denied. The Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the case.

Although it's the state that's raised the allegations of "possible embezzlement" and the state that's trying Peña next Friday, Peña suspects his former employers, the City of Gallup, as the driving force behind it all.

"They want to get into this mud slinging competition with me, and I'm not (going to)," he said.

If they did, there would be plenty of mud to sling.

According to Police Chief Sylvester Stanley, the FBI has been investigating Peña for accounting irregularities with the city's Toys for Tots program, which Peña oversaw. The FBI will neither confirm nor deny the investigation.

The Gallup Police Department issued Peña a notice of termination Jan. 4, 2005, for a separate incident. According to the notice, Peña once used his police car to drive his family to Wal-Mart while off-duty. What made the incident a terminable offense, the report reads, was Peña's decision to lie rePeñatedly about the incident; however, instead of terminating Peña, the department accepted his resignation.

Peña declined to comment on his departure from the department, referring all related questions to his attorney. Steven Seeger did not return a message left at his law office Thursday afternoon.

Then there's Peña's entanglement with City Hall.

As part of his case against the city accusing top officials of conspiring to strip Silver Stallion Saloon owner Benny Padilla of his liquor license in hopes of transferring it to a "whiter establishment," attorney William Stripp deposed Peña. Having already agreed to resign, Peña claimed the officials instructed him to focus his liquor inspections on specific bars, including the Silver Stallion.

The officials have either declined to comment on an active lawsuit or denied the allegations; meanwhile, the notice of termination calls Peña's credibility as a witness into question.

Because he lied about the incident with his police vehicle, the notice reads, "your viability as a credible prosecution witness will be seriously diminished, if not extinguished, since it will be difficult to prove crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the testimony of one who has been disciplined for failure to tell the truth."

Because he agreed to resign, Peña was never technically disciplined; however, if disciplined by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy, Peña could potentially lose his job with the Navajo Nation Police Department, where he now works.