A 31-year-old woman facing forfeiture of her 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser for alleged violations of her ignition interlock contract with the Santa Fe Police Department says she believes the local ordinance is unconstitutional.

The city plans to file a petition in state District Court to seize the SUV belonging to Lara S. Gibbs — even though she has not been convicted of driving while intoxicated.

This is the first time the city has tried to take away the vehicle of someone who has failed to live up to the terms of an ignition interlock agreement, according to city prosecutor Alfred Walker. The car is worth $20,000 to $25,000 depending on condition and mileage, according to the website AutoTrader.com.

Gibbs' attorney, Aaron Boland, said Tuesday, "Our position is that it is unconstitutional to forfeit a vehicle before there has been a criminal conviction."

And, he added, "You cannot contract away your constitutional rights."

Gibbs was arrested last August and charged with aggravated DWI. In order to get her car back, she agreed to install an ignition interlock while her drunken-driving charge was pending.

According to Lt. Louis Carlos of the Santa Fe Police Department, since Aug. 23, 2011, interlock company records show she had 14 failures, seven of them for high breath alcohol content, including one BAC of 0.072.

A failure means that Gibbs tried to start her car but was prevented from doing so by the ignition interlock.

Gibbs said Tuesday that she had never received any notification — on paper or verbally — of contract violations.

Moreover, she said most of those recorded took place in the morning, and that she "wasn't aware that mouthwash, orange juice and even perfume" could cause failures.

Gibbs, who worked in sales until Tuesday, said she lost her job because her car was impounded Friday by the police department. "This has really hit me hard," she said.

According to online records, Gibbs also was booked into the jail on March 13, 2011, on charges of aggravated DWI and speeding. She pleaded guilty to careless driving; the other charges were dismissed by the prosecutor.

The city is seeking forfeiture in the August case.

Under the city's seizure and forfeiture ordinance, a person arrested for a first or second DWI can elect to install an ignition interlock, or to have the vehicle immobilized while the charges are pending.

"What we say is, 'We're giving you this opportunity. We're not going to take your car. But if you put an interlock in it and then still try to drive drunk, we're going to take your car,' " Walker said.

The city hasn't previously filed forfeiture cases because of a lack of resources. But last November it got a grant from the Traffic Safety Division of the New Mexico Department of Transportation to pay for a full-time attorney — Walker — to handle them.

This one, Walker said, "is not a close call. She's had a number of violations and a number of high BACs."

Although the ignition interlock actually prevented Gibbs from starting her car because it detected evidence of alcohol, by simply trying to drive she has "given up her right to elect the ignition interlock," Walker said.

The city ordinance states: "Any vehicle which has been declared to be a public nuisance as defined in this ordinance shall be subject to civil temporary seizure or permanent forfeiture proceedings."

Cindy Olivas, manager of Interlock Systems of New Mexico, said she gives clients "every piece of information" to help them be successful using the interlock.

Among other things, she recommends that those who drink buy a digital alcohol detector called an Alcohawk to prevent bad blows. "I train clients how to never have them," she said.

The ignition interlock, Olivas explained, records every attempt a driver makes to start his or her car and shows when a client is blowing again and again until the engine turns over.

That's a red flag to the police department.

A person with an interlock is required to bring the car to the installer each month — or at least once every 60 days — where the data is stored and then downloaded and shared with state officials and the compliance officer with the police department.

The full report on every blow is 40 pages long, but the agencies normally receive only a two- or three-page version detailing the bad blows. It is up to the agency to decide whether to take the vehicle, Olivas said.

Of Gibbs, she noted, "She lost a beautiful car."

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.