Sep. 12—New Mexico State Police filed charges this week against a Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who investigators say illegally deposited wage garnishment checks he owed to the City of Aztec and falsely claimed overtime while working for the sheriff’s office.
Trevor Cade Walker, a former Aztec Police Department officer, is charged with third-degree felony counts of fraud and embezzlement on suspicion of illegally depositing the garnishment and overtime checks, which totaled more than $5,000.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court on Monday, New Mexico State Police agents learned that Walker had earlier this year been ordered to pay 25% of his wages with the sheriff’s office to the City of Aztec, but the city never received them.
Court records show Walker owed the city a portion of a $16,000 retention bonus that was contingent on an additional year of employment. Aztec sued for the remainder of the bonus after Walker resigned before the required 12 months had elapsed.
Due to a “clerical error,” State Police say a total of seven garnishment payments totaling $5,316 were delivered this year to Walker’s home address, where Walker is accused of intercepting six of the checks, forging endorsements on them and then depositing them into his bank account. Police confirmed the transactions by reviewing documentation released by Wells Fargo Bank through a subpoena.
State Police also wrote in the statement that Walker is suspected of falsifying timecards to claim unworked overtime pay.
Rio Arriba County Sheriff Lorenzo Aguilar told the Journal that an internal affairs investigation has been opened into Walker, who was hired in 2023 and has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Walker is scheduled for a first appearance in Magistrate Court on Sept. 22.