A memo recently released by the Española Police Department reveals a former City of Española finance director contacted a police officer directly to inquire how they could help their relative get out of jail after an arrest.
April Moya, the city’s finance director from October 2023 to March 2025, called a transport officer after police arrested her nephew Brian Martinez on Feb. 22, 2025, according to the memo. An officer arrested and charged Martinez for reckless driving and aggravated driving under the influence.
The memo, written by Sgt. Adrian Martinez and addressed to Police Chief Mizel Garcia, outlines a series of phone calls regarding Brian Martinez’s arrest, which included the phone call by Moya, as well as a phone call made by Española Fire Department Assistant Chief John Wickersham.
“April advised (transport) Officer (Arcenio) Garcia that her nephew Brian had been incarcerated by the Española Police Department,” the memo states. “April further inquired as to who the arresting officer was and if there was any was to help her nephew get out of jail.”
Moya did not return multiple messages asking about the contents of the memo.
In a telephone interview, Mizel Garcia said personal connections can often lead to poor decision-making, but law enforcement must put factors like this aside and uphold the law.
“We can’t take into consideration personal connections, and that’s something since I’ve started that I’ve advocated,” he said.
Unfortunately, Mizel Garcia said, this situation like the one described in the memo, is not unique but he has plans to try and decrease them from happening.
Effective immediately, Garcia said he will enforce a directive within the department to limit communication between officers and anyone not involved in an incident.
“At any point of time during the ongoing incident, if anyone outside our department that’s not directly involved in the incident calls and requests to talk to either the on-scene supervisor or one of my officers, that will not happen,” he said.
The arrest
Brian Martinez was driving his Dodge Ram truck when he nearly hit a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was assisting with a vehicle collision near the intersection of State Road 76 and South McCurdy Road, the police report, written by Española Police Officer Andrew O’Hara states.
O’Hara left the scene of the vehicle collision to follow Brian Martinez, and pulled him over around 5 p.m. near U.S. Highway 84/285 and State Road 106.
After administering three field sobriety tests, Brian Martinez declined a breath alcohol test, the police report states. O’Hara arrested him for reckless driving and aggravated driving under the influence. He also detained the passenger of the truck for interrupting the tests, but later released him, along with Brian Martinez’s girlfriend, who was allowed to drive his truck away from the site of the arrest.
After receiving his medical clearance from Presbyterian Española Hospital, Garcia transported Brian Martinez to the Santa Fe County Detention Center and charged him in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court on the non-felony DUI charges.
The charges against Brian Martinez were dropped on Feb. 24, 2025, according to a notice of dismissal filed by Assistant District Attorney Shelby Bradley.
The memo
While the subject line of the memo is listed as “confidential,” the Rio Grande SUN obtained the document through an Inspection of Public Records Act request.
Adrian Martinez wrote that O’Hara informed him about a text message he received from Wickersham around 8:30 p.m.
According to the memo, Wickersham incorrectly identified Brian Martinez as Moya’s son and asked O’Hara to call him. During the phone call, Wickersham advised him to “watch out” because City Manager Eric Lujan said the arrest occurred outside Española city limits.
When O’Hara asked Wickersham how he found out about the arrest so quickly, Wickersham responded that people were discussing it at an event he was attending in Albuquerque, but the memo does not state who was part of this discussion.
In a telephone interview, Wickersham said that given the police department is dealing with its own issues, as recently discussed during the May 13 Española City Council meeting, he doesn’t understand why Mizel Garcia and Mayor John Ramon Vigil choose to concentrate on his involvement in an incident like the one outlined in the memo.
“It’s sad,” Wickersham said.
Public
information
Vigil wrote a memo to Lujan on May 14, in regard to the one written by Adrian Martinez.
Mizel Garcia contacted City Attorney Frank Coppler the day before to ask if the confidential memo must be released as a public record, Vigil wrote, and that Coppler confirmed it was a publicly available document.
“To avoid any appearance of impropriety, and per advice of the city attorney, the HR Director and the Municipal Clerk, you are hereby directed to cease any communications regarding the report, or any of the issues, questions, incidents, allegations, or statements in or related to anything in the report,” Vigil wrote. “Because you may be a witness in any further proceedings, and to avoid any appearance of impropriety, you are to completely separate yourself from any proceedings that may come about regarding John Wickersham’s involvement.”
During a telephone interview, Vigil declined to comment further on Wickersham’s involvement because it is a personnel issue.