ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico FBI's weeks-old public corruption hotline has received complaints about everything from high utility bills to problems with Internet orders. But so far, a top official said, it hasn't gotten anything he would characterize as "the juicy, insider phone calls" that could lead to prosecutions.

That doesn't mean the FBI thinks the state, which has had its share of public corruption scandals over the years, is now free of them. More likely, people just aren't aware of the hotline, might not know what public corruption actually is — or aren't reporting it because they're involved, the agency said.

"Public corruption is kind of one of those unique violations where if everybody's happy, if everybody's making money, there are very few complaints," said Rodney Miller, assistant special agent in charge of the criminal branch in the FBI office in Albuquerque. "As everybody's kind of benefiting from public corruption, there's no need to report it unless there's a falling out or we develop some great sources."

Additionally, New Mexico has had a culture that "kind of accepted it and maybe didn't understand that it was, in fact, illegal to do," said Mark Humphrey, FBI special supervisory agent in charge of public corruption and white-collar crime. "I think the mindset in the state has been that's just the cost of doing business versus this is corruption."

The hotline, in operation since March 31, averages a call or two a day, Miller said. Most have been complaints about public services at the local, state or federal level, Miller and Humphrey said.

The FBI has passed some complaints to local and state authorities or other federal agencies. But none has met Miller's definition of public corruption: "Any public official who tries to gain some kind of financial benefit from illegally taking advantage of his position."

Corruption investigations focus on contract fraud, procurement fraud, bribery, misappropriation or misallocation of government funds, things "that would lead to a lack of public trust," Miller said. It's the FBI's top criminal priority.

Federal investigators and prosecutors have pursued high-profile New Mexico public corruption cases. In 2006, former state treasurers Robert Vigil and Michael Montoya were convicted in a kickback scheme involving state investments. In 2008, former state Senate president Manny Aragon pleaded guilty to three federal felony counts of conspiracy and mail fraud in a scheme to defraud the state during construction of an Albuquerque courthouse.

Last month, a former New Mexico Corrections Department official was indicted on federal charges after an FBI investigation. Officials allege she accepted bribes from a roofing company in exchange for selecting the firm for numerous government projects. Last year, a Border Patrol agent in Deming who helped drug traffickers smuggle cocaine and marijuana was sentenced to six years.

Still, Miller said the agency hadn't been getting tips about allegations of misappropriation or misuse of government funds, contract or procurement fraud — what he calls "the traditional type of public corruption one would see in any normal city."

That was unusual, so the FBI's website at www.fbi.gov/albuquerque includes questionnaires covering public contracts, extortion or coercion by public officials, misuse of federal stimulus money or people getting benefits from government programs to which they're not entitled.

"If you answer yes to any of these questions, you might want to give us a call," said FBI spokesman Frank Fisher.

The hotline is 505-889-1580. People also can send a report online at https://tips.fbi.gov or emailing AQ.FBI(at)ic.fbi.gov.

The New Mexico FBI started the hotline after Fisher discovered other FBI offices used them. It wasn't very complicated to establish. "They told me, 'Get an answering machine and hook it up,'" he said.

An analyst checks the machine several times a day and follows up on calls that appear substantial.

"We're looking for the smoke," Miller said. "If we can find the smoke, we can usually find the fire — any string, any pattern of calls that we get that would hopefully lead us to where we want to go and we can target individuals for either source information or criminal activity."

He believes once people understand public corruption, hotline calls will increase.

"It's our first baby steps, something new for New Mexico," Miller said. "We know corruption is out there."



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