Former New Mexico deputy sheriff gets 9 years in prison for kidnapping, sexually assaulting woman
A former sheriff's deputy in New Mexico was sentenced Thursday to nine years imprisonment and another three years of supervised release for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman whom he arrested last year, while working in his official capacity for the Doña Ana Sheriff's Office, authorities said.
Michael Martinez, 34, will also be required to register as a sex offender in accordance with the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. He was convicted and sentenced for violating the woman's civil rights and for obstruction of justice.
Martinez pleaded guilty to both counts in April, the Justice Department said. The charges stemmed from his sexual assault of the female arrestee inside of his patrol car in April 2023, and his subsequent attempt to destroy the car's camera system that had recorded footage of the attack.
"Sexual assaults perpetrated by police officers are heinous crimes and a disgraceful breach of the public's trust in law enforcement," said Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney in the justice department's civil rights division, in a statement. "This defendant's misconduct — exploiting the power of his badge, weaponizing his authority as a police officer and sexually assaulting a handcuffed victim in the back of his patrol vehicle — violated the victim's core civil rights and basic standards of decency."
A criminal complaint filed last year and reviewed by CBS News described the crimes to which Martinez later admitted responsibility. According to the complaint, Martinez responded to a car crash on April 30, where a vehicle had struck a tree, and arrested one of the two women present at the scene for driving while intoxicated and careless driving. He transported the woman first to the sheriff's office, where tests revealed her blood alcohol level was half of the legal limit, and a second sample proved "insufficient," the document said.
Martinez then brought the woman, who was still handcuffed, to a medical center for medical clearance. Authorities say Martinez later handcuffed her again and moved her back to his patrol car, where he sexually assaulted her. He then drove the woman to the Doña Ana Detention Center and booked her.
Hours later, Martinez allegedly tried to destroy the WatchGuard DVR system inside of his car. On May 2, he reported a claim of criminal damage to his property to the sheriff's office, saying his vehicle had been broken into and its DVR system was damaged or destroyed along with other technology, according to the criminal complaint. An investigation into that claim uncovered footage of the assault and of him attempting to destroy the recording system. He was fired from the sheriff's office soon afterward.