Sept. 14--Albuquerque Police officer David Taylor, whose wife is accused of acting as a straw buyer of firearms for a convicted felon, was disciplined at his previous law enforcement job in connection with a questionable firearms purchase, officials said.
In early 2002, while working at the University of New Mexico Police Department, Taylor and another officer used that department's letterhead to purchase assault-style rifles for themselves, according to Edgewood Police Chief James Daniels, who was a commander at UNMPD at the time.
Daniels said he intercepted two AR-15s when they were delivered to the department's campus office. The officers, he said, sent a letter to a gun dealer stating that the rifles were for UNMPD, but in reality the officers had used their own money to purchase them as personal weapons.
Daniels said he ordered the officers to return the weapons, which he remembered as "semiautomatic" rifles that wouldn't have necessarily required the umbrella of an accredited police department for purchase.
"To the best of my recollection, they did give the guns back," he said.
An internal investigation ensued, resulting in letters of reprimand for Taylor and the other officer, Nicholas Onken, now a sergeant and spokesman with the Rio Rancho Police Department, according to UNM officials.
Onken confirmed the discipline in a telephone interview but declined to comment further.
Taylor could not be reached.
UNM spokeswoman Dianne Anderson said officials at the university police department notified the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives about the purchase.
Taylor has been with APD since mid-2004, officials said.
He was placed on leave late last month, then moved to desk duty last week while APD criminal investigators tried to sort out whether he "knew or should've known about his wife's (alleged) activities," Police Chief Ray Schultz said last week.
Deputy Police Chief Paul Feist said Thursday that detectives had concluded Taylor committed no criminal acts, and an Internal Affairs investigation will now look into whether he violated any department policies.
Elizabeth P. Taylor, 30, allegedly purchased at least four handguns for 32-yearold Christopher Blattner, aka Chris Blatiner, who used at least one of them to fire shots at APD officers trying to arrest him on a warrant at his Albuquerque home on Aug. 22. None of the officers was struck.
Blattner is accused of killing George Orozco in 2007 and dumping his body near the Route 66 Casino. He also has been questioned in the disappearance of 62-year-old Kathy Paquin of Albuquerque, who was reported missing by her family Aug. 15.
Elizabeth Taylor was arrested Aug. 25 at the Taylors' Albuquerque home and charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of methamphetamine possession and one count of conspiracy to commit a fourthdegree felony.
Feist said Thursday he didn't know whether David Taylor was at the home when his wife was arrested.
Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
