New Mexico and ABQ News, Sports, Business and more

By Elise Kaplan / Journal Staff Writer Published: Friday, May 20th, 2022 at 1:57PM Updated: Friday, May 20th, 2022 at 3:36PM

An Albuquerque Police Department officer working in the aviation department has been charged with rape, false imprisonment and intimidation of a witness after a security guard at the airport reported he forced her to a perform sex act on him.

Johnny Garcia, 38, was booked into jail and then released Thursday night.

Rebecca Atkins, an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman, said he is on unpaid leave and an internal investigation is ongoing.

“We are not able to comment on the details of the case, except to say the department took the victim’s allegations very seriously,” Atkins wrote in a statement. “Our sex crimes sergeant conducted the criminal investigation and worked with the District Attorney’s Office to determine charges.”

She did not immediately answer questions about how long Garcia had been with APD and when he was put on leave.

Garcia’s attorney declined to comment at this time.

The security guard reported the assault in mid March. She told investigators she had met Garcia in December after he got her personal cell phone number and called to tell her he found the ID badge she had lost. She said he insisted on returning it to her apartment and she met him in the parking lot.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Garcia would talk with her at work and call her on her phone and indicate he was interested in a relationship. She said in January she got in his personal car and he drove her off the airport grounds where they talked and kissed consensually during her break.

The woman told investigators that Garcia didn’t talk or text her for a number of weeks after that. She said she had concerns about him “because of the rumors of him with other women, and the fact he was twice her age” although he told her he was not married and didn’t have children.

Then in February, the woman said she had just left work around 2 p.m. when Garcia — on duty and in uniform — began to talk to her as she walked out near the baggage claim. According to the complaint, the woman said Garcia opened a closet door, using his security key, and called her into the room.

Once inside, Garcia began to “forcibly kiss” the woman, put his hand in her pants and although she tried to leave and said “no” he forced her to perform a sex act on him, according to the complaint. She said he intimidated her and she did not feel as though she could resist him.

Afterwards Garcia left her in the closet to go respond to a call for service, according to the complaint. Investigators found surveillance videos that they say show the woman leave the closet and appear to be disoriented and upset.

When Garcia was interviewed he said he had not had a relationship with the security guard and he didn’t know her very well. He said she was the “aggressor” and “instigator” and led him into the closet that day. But he didn’t want to talk about what happened next except to say it was consensual.

Garcia said he is married and “was not supposed to be doing that kind of thing with other women.” According to the complaint there had been a previous incident in 2019 where Garcia was “dating” a female clerk at the airport who was also seeing another officer.

The complaint states that “there was a conflict between the three parties” but does not provide any other details. APD spokespersons have not responded to questions about whether Garcia was investigated or disciplined for that incident.

While the investigation into the reported sexual assault was ongoing, investigators say Garcia repeatedly called the security guard’s co-workers, supervisors, and other officers “in an attempt to discredit and intimidate” her.

The complaint states he called two of her co-workers from a blocked number, and when “the security guards answered the calls, officer Johnny Garcia was agitated, accusatory and even started to cry when they refused to participate in his efforts to discredit (the woman).”

Your email is safe with us, we don’t spam