A 38-year-old Albuquerque police officer with the APD aviation division has been charged with rape and placed on unpaid leave after an airport security guard reported that she was forced to conduct a sex act on the officer in a closet at the Albuquerque Airport.
The 38-year-old Johnny Garcia is a member of the aviation unit of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and stands accused of raping an airport security guard at the Albuquerque International Airport.
According to a report from the Albuquerque Journal, Garcia was investigated about the alleged incident as far back as March of this year when he was placed on administrative leave. According to the report, the two came into contact as far back as February when Garcia obtained the security guard’s phone number from her supervisor about a potentially lost ID badge. Later, after meeting in the parking lot and returning the badge, Garcia allegedly expressed interest in establishing a relationship with the woman.
Eventually, the two met up and left the airport in Garcia’s personal car where the two engaged in consensual kissing. According to the report, the two didn’t have much contact after that until later in February when Garcia who was still on duty unlocked a storage closet door at the airport and asked the woman who’d recently finished her shift, to join him in the closet.
Once inside the closet, Garcia allegedly began to forcibly kiss the woman, placed his hand in her pants, and ultimately forced her to perform a sex act on him. The Journal’s reporting notes that video evidence after the alleged incident shows a disoriented and confused woman leaving the closet. The woman messaged her friend describing the incident.
Garcia, a married man, later suggested the act was consensual and is accused of attempting to discredit her at work through intimidation tactics with her supervisor and coworkers.
Garcia was arrested, booked, and released earlier this week pending a formal trial.
