Deja Vu for Jessica Tyler

Board Sends Case Back to Square One

Ex-boss No Longer with NMLEA

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI The hearing officer who recommended that APD Major Jessica Tyler keep her law enforcement license, and whose recommendation raised conflict-of-interest allegations, is no longer working for the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. David Linthicum's recommendation that charges against Tyler be dropped was rejected by the NMLEA board on June 9. Linthicum stopped working for the agency in March or April, NMLEA director Stephan Marshall told ABQ Free Press. Exactly why Linthicum - who had previously supervised Tyler - no longer works for the NMLEA isn't clear. Marshall said Linthicum was gone before he, Marshall, became the NMLEA director on April 28. But it could be related to the Tyler case because, when it rejected Linthicum's recommendation that Tyler keep her cop license, the NMLEA board made it clear that the board was concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest, Marshall said.

The case against Tyler

Last year, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales filed paperwork with the NMLEA to revoke Tyler's license for allegedly misleading him about a $25,000 training academy for reserve deputies that the sheriff's department held. Linthicum spent 30 years at the BCSD where he rose to the rank of chief deputy. While chief deputy, he supervised both Jessica Tyler and her husband, Robert Tyler. Linthicum, who was an NMLEA hearing officer, was assigned to hear the allegations against Jessica Tyler.  Lawyers contacted by ABQ Free Press said Linthicum should have recused himself from the case because of his past supervisory relationship with Jessica Tyler and her husband. Linthicum instead recommended that Jessica Tyler be cleared. Tyler is the head of APD's training academy. She was picked for that job by Gorden Eden without undergoing the required background checks. ABQ Free Press called two phone numbers in an attempt to reach Linthicum. One was for Darren White Investigations & Protections Group, where Linthicum is listed as a team member. Another was for a David Linthicum in Bosque Farms. Both numbers weren't working.

Back to the beginning

Now that the NMLEA board has rejected Linthicum's recommendation that Jessica Tyler be cleared, the case basically has to start over again, Marshall said. Marshall will schedule an informal hearing in the case, which he will preside over. If Jessica Tyler doesn't agree with his recommendation, she can ask for a formal hearing before an NMLEA administrative law judge and someone other than Linticum - her former supervisor - will hear the allegations of misconduct made against her, Marshall said. The NMLEA could order that Tyler's certification to be a cop in New Mexico be revoked.

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