How several local law enforcement officers fared under criminal charges

Dismissals and diversion programs. Uncooperative witnesses and lack of evidence. One acquittal.

That’s how most of the six criminal cases brought against local law enforcement this year have resolved. All of the charges involved off-duty personnel, and two of them occurred in Rio Rancho.

Only one of the cases, involving a DWI charge against an Albuquerque officer, is still awaiting trial.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies Adrienne Seay, 43, Daniel Vazquez-Moreno, 29, and Michael Borrecco, 35, were charged in separate incidents while off-duty, all involving alcohol, in just over a month’s time.

BCSO spokeswoman Jayme Gonzales said all three are no longer with the agency.

Albuquerque Police Department officers Isaiah Ortiz y Pino, 27, Jordan Hernandez, 25, and Breeyn Arrey, 22, were also charged in separate crimes, most of them involving alcohol, between February and July.

APD spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins said Hernandez and Ortiz y Pino are no longer with the department.

She said Arrey, a new recruit, is on administrative leave while APD conducts an internal probe into allegations she battered her girlfriend — charges which were later dismissed.

The case against Hernandez, who was allegedly pulled over while driving drunk, is still awaiting trial.

‘The end result’

Dennis Kenney, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence and mental health issues have historically been a problem for law enforcement during their careers.

He said that’s often due to rigorous work schedules and stress from the job exacerbating issues in their marriages and home lives. Kenney said the number of officers and deputies charged in a short time raises questions on the selection process and psychological screening done on recruits.

“Most departments don’t have the ability to detect when problems are developing, and they have no meaningful mechanisms available to be able to respond to and help an officer who’s having emotional or substance abuse problems and put those two together,” he said.

Kenney said even when resources are available, reaching out for help can be an issue and can be seen as “career suicide” for law enforcement.

“The systems generally tend to be designed for them not to come forward, not to seek any sort of help, because then that puts them in a difficult position with their agency, and may take them off duty,” he said. “And so the ability to get help is pretty limited, and you’re seeing the end result of that.”

Additionally, Kenney said, it puts the officer in an awkward position “to come forward and say, ‘I’ve got problems.’”

“That’s a difficult thing for anybody to admit, much less a police officer, and particularly in a line of work that is largely seen as being kind of macho, and where you suck it up and you deal with the difficult, dangerous things and so forth,” he said.

BCSO spokeswoman Jayme Gonzales said the agency has established “a rigorous hiring and screening process” under Sheriff John Allen, who took office in 2023, in addition to boosting the resources and support offered to deputies.

“While these standards have been consistently thorough over the last year and a half, we continually review and adapt our procedures to align with best practices and ensure the highest quality of law enforcement personnel,” Gonzales said.

APD spokeswoman Franchesca Perdue said the department “regularly assesses” the process of screening new hires, which includes a leadership review of potential candidates, and she said its behavioral health program for officers is already one of the best in the nation and offered to officers’ families as well.

“It is seldom that the department becomes aware of a concerning incident after a candidate is hired,” she said. “It is always disappointing when an employee doesn’t uphold the standards, but APD is selecting among the general population, and inevitably a few will not meet the standards.”

APD Chief Harold Medina said, in a statement, “Hiring qualified, exceptional candidates as officers is the expectation of the community, and we know it is our responsibility to ensure they have resources available to them as they move through this sometimes difficult career so they can maintain the standard set forth.”

Here is what happened to the cases involving local law enforcement that were resolved:

APD officer Isaiah Ortiz y Pino, recruited 2022

On Feb. 4, Ortiz y Pino allegedly roughed up his girlfriend during an argument and left her Rio Rancho home with his daughter. The girlfriend told police that Ortiz y Pino, who had a prior restraining order against him by another woman, had gotten physical with her “numerous times” and told her he “could not get in trouble with the law.”

After his arrest, APD officers took Ortiz y Pino’s “work-assigned firearms” from his home and the girlfriend filed a restraining order against him.

The case against Ortiz y Pino was dismissed on May 29 without prejudice, which means it could be refiled, “in the interest of justice.” A spokeswoman for the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said the case was dismissed because the victim declined to cooperate.

Ortiz y Pino was fired from APD on July 30.

He declined to comment to the Journal.

BCSO deputy Daniel Vazquez-Moreno, recruited 2019

On Feb. 12, Vazquez-Moreno was arrested by Rio Rancho police after allegedly shoving his girlfriend — also a BCSO deputy — during a Super Bowl party and fleeing from arriving officers. His blood alcohol level was three times the presumed level of intoxication and he was charged with DWI and battery of a household member.

Vazquez-Moreno’s girlfriend and a mutual friend of the couple, both BCSO deputies who were intoxicated during the incident, according to court records, were placed on paid administrative leave for “conduct unbecoming of a deputy” due to the way they treated Rio Rancho police.

Vazquez-Moreno’s girlfriend didn’t cooperate in the case and the battery charge against him was dismissed, according to court records. Vazquez-Moreno pleaded guilty to DWI, his first offense, on Aug. 13.

Court records show he received a deferred sentence and was referred into Sandoval County DWI program.

Vazquez-Moreno resigned from BCSO on April 3.

Vazquez-Moreno’s attorney, who also represented Seay, did not return calls for comment.

APD recruit Breeyn Arrey, recruited March 2024On June 13, Arrey was charged with battery and false imprisonment after allegedly assaulting her girlfriend and not letting her out of Arrey’s car.

Soon after, according to court records, Arrey’s attorney asked her pretrial release conditions be changed to allow her contact with the girlfriend, believing she “would like peaceful contact” with Arrey.

Court records show that, on July 18, the case was dismissed as Arrey was accepted into the 2nd Judicial District Court’s Pre-prosecution Diversion Program.

“Charges may be refiled if the program is not completed successfully,” according to the dismissal motion.

BCSO deputy Adrienne Seay, recruited 2018

Seay was arrested on New Year’s Eve after pulling into a DWI checkpoint and telling New Mexico State Police that she drank “some glasses of wine before driving,” according to court records. Officers said she slurred her words, smelled of alcohol and “performed poorly” on sobriety tests but she refused to take a breathalyzer.

Court records show the aggravated DWI charge against Seay was dismissed on June 7 “due to insufficiency on evidence.” Prosecutors said, in their dismissal, that Seay admitted to drinking but the officer’s lapel camera did not capture her apparent intoxication and how she performed on sobriety tests “cannot be seen clearly.”

Prosecutors note that a previous hearing also found “no probable cause” in the charges against Seay and that, combined with the lack of evidence, “the state declines prosecution,” according to court records.

Seay resigned from BCSO soon after the arrest.

Her attorney did not respond to calls for comment.

BCSO deputy Michael Borrecco, recruited 2015

On Jan. 25, Borrecco was charged with aggravated assault and negligent use of a deadly weapon after allegedly pointing his duty pistol at two men at a gas station. Borrecco, who had just gotten off work, was in his unmarked deputy vehicle and didn’t initially identify himself as a deputy to Albuquerque police.

Borrecco was released by an APD sergeant and turned himself in the next day after officers found a gun and empty alcohol bottles in his vehicle.

The matter went to trial, and a jury found Borrecco not guilty of all charges in the case on Sept. 13, resulting in an acquittal. The next day, Borrecco’s attorney filed a motion to get back his handgun, extended magazine and all 37 bullets seized by APD.

He got his gun and bullets back on Sept. 18.

Borrecco was on paid administrative leave, according to BCSO, as the agency’s internal investigation into the incident “can resume following the conclusion of the criminal investigation.”

He resigned from BCSO on Sept. 20.

Les Romaine, Borrecco’s attorney, said during trial “the truth came out.” He said the witnesses “had checkered pasts and were deemed to be untruthful.”

“We are just grateful that the jury listened to the evidence, listened to the testimony and came to the result that they did,” Romaine said.

Arrey’s attorney did not respond to a call and message for comment.