By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — State Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel says he is working with the FBI to determine whether there are any additional allegations of rape by former Los Lunas prison guard Kenneth Carrejo and whether “anyone else is complicit” in allegations that surfaced against Carrejo in a civil rights lawsuit filed last week.
“The bureau is looking into both of those things,” Marcantel told the Journal. “I absolutely have to take these allegations seriously, and if there’s any truth to any of it, I will not tolerate it.”
The lawsuit names as defendants Carrejo, a former captain at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, and Anthony Romero, prison warden when Carrejo allegedly raped inmate Kenneth Morgan several times in 2011.
Marcantel has ordered an administrative investigation into whether Romero tried to obstruct an FBI investigation into the alleged rape, an allegation in the lawsuit filed by attorney Matthew Coyte.
But Marcantel said that based on conversations he has had with the FBI and other information he has reviewed, it does not appear Romero broke any laws or violated any Cor- rections Department policies.
The lawsuit claims Carrejo raped Morgan at least twice while Morgan was handcuffed. An FBI agent agreed to come into the Los Lunas prison undercover to get DNA evidence Morgan had collected.
But, according to the lawsuit, a Corrections employee got wind of the undercover operation and told Romero about it. Romero called State Police, which sent Carrejo’s brother - who is an officer with the department - to question Morgan on June 2, the same day the FBI agent was scheduled to visit.
Marcantel said the FBI had called the Corrections Department to tell officials about the pending undercover operation as a professional courtesy. “It wasn’t any kind of black bag deal,” he said.
Marcantel said he knows which Corrections employee notified Romero of the pending FBI visit, but he declined to name the person because of the ongoing investigations.
He said Romero did not know Carrejo was the rape suspect when he called State Police. The call, Marcantel said, was made according to Corrections policy regarding criminal allegations in the prison.
Coyte said following such a policy is “ludicrous and madness.” He said it is unclear whether Romero knew who had allegedly raped his client.
“But for Mr. Romero to call State Police two hours before the FBI were scheduled to conduct an undercover operation is insane,” Coyte said. “And if he had to follow some kind of policy - it would have made more logical sense to call State Police after the FBI interviewed my client.”
Romero took over as warden of the prison in May 2009, according to the Corrections Department. He was reassigned to the Santa Fe prison as deputy warden on June 25 for personal reasons, weeks after Morgan was questioned. He was named deputy director of the department’s Adult Prisons Division on Dec. 10.
Marcantel has not placed him on leave but has reassigned him to oversee an information technology project until the investigations into the rape allegations are completed.
Copyright 2012 Albuquerque Journal