June 06--LAS CRUCES -- Police have filed bribery charges against former Sunland Park City Councilor Angelica Marquez and another woman who planned to run for the council in the ongoing investigation into the hiring of a former police captain.
Police in late March arrested former Councilor Daniel Salinas, who won the mayoral election but was prevented from taking office, and the city's former acting Police Chief Luis Monarez on charges of bribery and conspiracy in the case.
Investigators say Salinas offered to hire Monarez, then working in Alamogordo, as a police captain in Sunland Park if the police officer persuaded his sister, Veronica Monarez, not to run for a council seat on a slate headed by Salinas's main rival for mayor in the March city election.
Since the arrests of Luis Monarez and Salinas on the bribery charges, new evidence surfaced that more firmly established the involvement of Marquez, 41, and Veronica Monarez, 30, in the bribery scheme, said 3rd Judicial District Attorney Amy Orlando.
The new evidence includes text messages between the Monarez siblings in advance of a meeting with Salinas as they discussed their bargaining position the day before the candidate filing deadline.
Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
