ALBUQUERQUE – A judge sentenced a former Colfax County sheriff’s deputy to seven years in prison for drug trafficking and theft in New Mexico while in uniform, wearing a badge and driving a patrol car.
Vidal Sandoval hid $4,200 in cash in the tailpipe of his truck, stole more than $13,000 and confiscated marijuana from two men, and accepted $10,000 to escort a load of cocaine through Colfax County without interference, prosecutors said.
Sandoval, 50, told Senior U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera at his sentencing hearing Thursday that he was tempted by the money and had disgraced his law enforcement agency, the public and his family, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
“The idea that someone entrusted with a public duty to protect, serve and thwart violators of the law, that someone who is a police officer could commit these crimes was just shameful. It was also shocking,” Herrera said.
Sandoval pleaded guilty in 2016 to one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of theft of government property, which was related to FBI funds used in an undercover investigation.
“People who become law enforcement officers choose to protect the public. You became one of the people law enforcement needed to protect the public against,” the judge told Sandoval.
Sandoval was a candidate for sheriff in 2014, worked at the Colfax County Detention Center in 2003, was a Raton and Clayton Police Department officer and served in the Air Force from 1988 to 1992.
