Case against accused UNM Health dentist dismissed

Melissa Ivers, 41, of Albuquerque, was arrested for shoplifting on December 13 at the Target on Coors Blvd. in Albuquerque. She has been identified as a UNM Medical Group dentist that works in Rio Rancho.

According to Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court documents, the case against her was dismissed by a judge but she will be required to attend a Pre-Prosecution Diversion Program because it is her first arrest. She was also placed on administrative leave by UNM Health and Health Sciences.

Pre-Prosecution Diversion(PPD) is a six to twenty-four month diversion program that provides an opportunity for defendants charged to avoid being convicted of a low level felony level criminal offense. Supervising officers from PPD work with defendants, community members, and victims with the goal of providing a pathway for rehabilitation of the individual and restoring the harm committed by the offender. Since PPD’s inception in the 1970s, thousands from Bernalillo County have entered and successfully graduated the program.

A criminal complaint filed with the court says police were dispatched to the Target in reference to a shoplifting call. Sergeants let the officers in route know that the suspect had shoplifted on previous occasions. They had not been able to identify her as Ivers until now though.

When officers arrived, they saw Ivers leaving the store with a cart full of merchandise. They commanded that she stop and detained her then.

They escorted her to Target Loss Prevention where the manager confirmed that she stole items from the store. The manager said she acted like she was returning the items but just left the store when she passed all registers.

The manager scanned the items which totaled at $210.99. The manager added that Ivers had shoplifted on three additional occasions within the last 90 days. Police confirm that applies to aggregate charges or in other words they could charge her with all incidents at once.

The manager specified that on November 11, Ivers stole $595.00 worth of merchandise, on November 28 stole $132.99 and on December 6 stole $173.87. Including her December 13 incident, merchandise stolen totaled to over $1,000.

Had she been convicted, Ivers would have faced up to 3 years in prison and paid $5,000 in fines.