When A Corrupt Sheriff Realizes He's Been Arrested

I'm under arrest because I am under arrest I am in handcuffs I'm not free to leave I'm not fatally am I free to leave this is 70 year old County Sheriff James Luhan being arrested by his own people for obstruction during an investigation being carried out against himself an investigation that started when he harbored former city councilor Philip Chacon who was being sought after by the Espanola Police Department for assaulting a man but this chaotic and Despicable situation didn't start here but here yeah yes everybody out huh I don't want to pull them back excuse me on March 26 2020 Espanola police finally issued a warrant for the arrest of Chacon he hid in his residence pretending to not be home no so what happened is they were doing a search for him because a little jip Jacob said that he got assaulted this morning so we were going to search one on that house or one of those motorhomes and then he shot one of his rifles so then we came around this way and right here on the other side where you have that like garage that's open and then there's another garage so then he dropped him and then went back inside and then you tried uh do you guys have there's three that are there and I know he has more how do you know he doesn't work because it's Phil no the officers however heard that he was home through the phone calls they made but couldn't enter on the basis that shakan was suspected to have multiple weapons on his person during the standoff Sheriff James Luhan suddenly shows up on the scene reeking of alcohol and demands the supervisor in charge to pull her men out and leave his men on the scene instead I'm not asking telling you I will bring him in okay we don't need to make this bigger than what it is hey uh the sheriff District pulled in and he's he's asking us to pull back and he'll pull him in but he's been drinking I can smell it on him we're gonna need somebody ah yeah okay we need to pull somebody over here somebody above me because he's he's already pushing his weight around with me so okay despite trying to impose his authority over the supervisor she maintains her composure and decides not to pull back as requested the sheriff is here he's trying to make us pull back and he said he'll call him out but we're not pulling back he does know him but he's not coming we're not gonna We're not gonna pull back because he says so no it's not going to happen just let you guys know okay yeah I'm getting hold of the chief now [Applause] thank you I'm not pulling back hi I'm waiting for I told Jeremy Jeremy's calling command one now uh but do you smell it or am I the only one smells yeah please do something about it right [Applause] I know [Applause] we're here in Tabitha I know I know Tabitha but Hey listen Michelle's Michelle's a supervisor in charge okay I'm running the top team the attack fun okay I know he just texts me he's like Tabitha's coming do me a favor okay tell him to cooperate with me tell him to trust me okay tell him to call me I know that's why we're here one end and then he shot uh while the cops were here Tabitha settle down okay tell him to text me and call me okay okay thanks bye I'll call command one now yeah do it do something about that you're the supervisor so it's gonna be on you right so what how can he he can't be here at this point everything looks extremely suspicious and there's a clear confrontation between authorities but what's more interesting is how the captain tries to turn off the supervisor's body cam to then ask how it is that Luhan got there in the first place to make matters worse Luhan then disobeyed city and state police and walked up to chacon's Residence Into The Hot Zone of the scene with his phone in hand as if on a call with someone surprisingly not long after this shakan left the residence and was finally put under arrest yeah you told me to uh 22 get up and I'm gonna take over from I have to keep the front door by the way oh the front door get his front door his wife gave it to me little did Luhan know this had been his first step into prison the following day an investigation revealed that Chacon could possibly have a connection with a man named Ramon vigil who then was issued a search warrant for his phone in order to find valuable information to incriminate Chacon even further immediately after police officers from the Espanola Police Department were dispatched to Ramon's house this is a copy for the search warrant of your cell phone so today you will be seizing your cell phone this is your copy okay Mom they gotta search for it on myself Ramon starts by showing surprise on the news and immediately tries to discredit the warrant's legality he calls someone who appears to be his lawyer and gives him guidelines on how to proceed then out of the blue Sheriff James Lujan shows up on the scene unannounced and explains that Ramon was the one who called him yeah I took the copy of the wrong one yo I think he would want to make sure his he's not going to be arrested no yeah no that's not gonna happen he thought it was a municipal court judge signing out all right so uh that that's the big thing yeah he called me and he's all scared and I go what's going on come on come in my house yeah no and I and I told him where we lost book I have this open I went to the front of the house nobody answered we came back the garage door was closed so we knew somebody was home yeah I said finally Ramon's phone was confiscated unlucky for Sheriff Lujan Ramon's phone was yet another link to his corrupt actions and not long after a search warrant was also issued but this time it was for his own phone at his own headquarters Espanola police officers are seen looking for Sheriff James Luhan with two search warrants to confiscate both his personal and work cell phone as it is believed he had been having communication with chicon and City councilor Ramon vigil and they want to see if he was abusing his power in the cases he was involved in for yourself so one on your personal cell phone and one on your uh 20 seconds do you want [Music] hold on to that this is file today you have earphones which case what case is this so that is in reference to uh stemming from the original charges which one you got a search warrant on a misdemeanor so EA approved it out of uh instead of Socorro somewhere yeah hmm well he has my personal phone and my work phone okay okay so it's gonna stay there until I get it cleared through my attorney first fair enough busy right now it doesn't have the case number on here for the original okay that's a PD 's number it doesn't have a magistrator district case this is in District Court two and this is the magistrate warrant okay this case is already in District Court this is a match before you understand that this case this case is in District Court after being delivered the warrant and notified of the situation Luhan immediately gives his phone to his undersheriff to then call his lawyer he then tried to find flaws in the document to invalidate it but to no avail and in order to avoid any more time being wasted the district attorney herself called lujan's lawyer to make things even easier once again the whole situation has become extremely Shady but not hostile yet and it is here when Luhan shows concern about the number of units Espanola police dispatched it's out there so yeah so I have all my units here who do you see here the other Sheriff myself the transport deputy the ongoing report that's okay sounds good so you know I'm gonna do something well we don't know you don't know really Ernest really sure wow okay well then right you're gonna stand outside of my office [Applause] as an interesting observation when the officer tries to explain the situation to the undersheriff he answers in a hostile way that shows disrespect and annoyance at the whole situation clearly siding with his own Sheriff the lawyer I'm assuming but despite having a search warrant Sheriff Lujan still refuses to give his phone to authorities and what's even more weird is that despite having the warrant the officers are not taking any step forward toward Luhan giving him time to wander around with his phone to do whatever he pleases giving him ample time to delete crucial information yeah we just wanted I'll have to go call my attorney from my office and see how my phones um [Applause] just says neat then after a long wait the chief of Espanola police steps into the room but he wasn't as patient as his officers sure [Applause] is he going to comply or no waiting for us so he has the warrants they're signing their legal it's a court ordered I know I know you guys are just doing your job but I don't want you guys in the middle of this all we need is the phones that's it once again says advice long as a journey we'll do that I got them you have your phone PS4 yes okay can I see them at least so I could give you that professional courtesy okay so I don't understand whether a legal order why he's fighting if you have them that's all we want that direction right yeah but he has the court orders so uh you know our attorney called his attorney so she told him exactly what well maybe that's why he's not answering because he's on the phone okay so I also I showed a call Thomas Campos you know I don't want to take you there I didn't want to go this far just want the phones I'd say it would be out of your hair I don't know at this point it is clear that Luhan is trying to save himself from trouble and so are his deputies and to show the gravity of the matter the undersheriff even asks the chief to pull his men back feeling threatened by their presence at the scene which we can't see from this camera footage angle but are all well prepared in case anything bad happens nothing just happened well I'm not the one making the show I had only sent these guys in here you know I I just again we want the phone that's fine you probably won't get the phone but wait until close as you know I wonder Sheriff it's not probably there's a court order you know I don't want to I I really don't I don't want to have to put anybody in class I don't but if if that's what I have to do then I will do it I don't want to do that and you're saying him oh because he's the one not complying with the court order you know if you have the phones then we don't need to be having this conversation you know and that's just me I I don't want to do anything else I just want the phones and we're out of here that's it you know I we're trying to do I try to call you this morning and meet up but because of time sensitivity you know I was trying to give you guys the professional courtesy lrc fighting I'm not surprised you guys are doing this right all right you got to do what you got to do right that's your that's on your shoulders okay go ahead and let them Mark to know that keep one all right we don't work that way too do you guys want to come back well I don't know why they're here so if I yeah I tried calling you on your shirt I tried to call him and he went straight to voicemail foreign not long after the conversation between the undersheriff and the chief Luhan comes out of his office making matters worse [Music] thank you that's it I told you you have your search warrant says to search me for personal phones he has a phone so he already told me he has a phone okay okay so you want us to lock down the Sheriff's Office go ahead and call them back you're going to say I just want to stay out here because Roger under Sheriff you can go through the court system we are we're going to lock down this building until he gives me those spots really yes [Applause] if this wasn't enough already while the chief was talking to the undersheriff sheriff Luhan is seen attempting to leave in his car [Applause] [Music] you're not going to stop me from leaving if I want to leave am I under arrest if we have to am I under arrest not not now get away not now anymore please go back in the office [Music] you can go in the office because you're not certified so back up seeing the situation has escalated the officer from whom we see the perspective speaks to an officer who's outside the building and explains they're locking up the headquarters um he's not complying he doesn't want to give up the phones he gave the phones of the under sheriff and said search me knowing that he gave the phone to the undersheriff they're not voluntarily giving them up so we're going to lock down the building after communicating to this officer that they'll be locking down the sheriff's headquarters the chief tries once again to talk reason with Lujan 's a judge judgment on my case on your case yeah yeah the case is going to District Court right you continue to continue yes twice twice twice that's okay you have your you have your opportunity in court I'm here I will you on a misdemeanor okay for now for now for now then why not give me the false I'm seeking legal counsel first I have that right do I not have a right to so you have no order yeah and it doesn't say how long I have to give it to you does it it says now yes yes strong support order you have the copies it says now yeah when do you okay so you get a search warrant you just do it whenever you want that's today's date so I'm serving it then finally Sheriff Lujan decides to give the chief his phones but because they only have the order to seize them they can't actually go through them until they have a new order that allows them to do so sure so just the knowledge of that this is all harassment retaliation because I told the city council that you shouldn't be the chief that's what it is think whatever you want I don't think I know okay okay exactly what it is these phones are not to be gone through until you have a warrant for the content you only have a warrant for the phone you're absolutely right good luck good luck come through a magistrate you better go through a district court judge thank you thank you have a good day [Music] unluckily for Lujan the Chief came back the next day and this time with a search warrant for the headquarters for refusing to cooperate on an investigation by not providing access to his phones but this time they weren't going to go that easy on him as this time SWAT forces were called to the scene and they locked down the building with Luhan in it we're trying to do everything peaceful we tried to okay that's all we're doing we're done here we're leaving okay we'll get out of here then you're done you know we'll leave when we're ready yeah we're wrapping it up right now you know how it goes you know how it goes we're doing our law enforcement duties that's it District Court Sunday that's it okay okay so as soon as we're done we're gonna get out of your hair why are you calling everybody here this is our house well right now it's ours right now it's ours we own the building right now shut up easy shortly after this confrontation another one occurs between the chief and undersheriff where the charges against Luhan are explained okay finally we see that sheriff Lujan was put under arrest what's interesting is how he recognizes the person recording as one of his own men that's what I'm saying let's get them on the opposite side of this truck what you got Tabitha over there [Applause] Sheriff Lujan then discovers that the Press is taking pictures and recording him so he asks the officers to put him inside hi [Music] this is ridiculous come over here stay out here sir no they're not loose a remark that maybe not all of you know is that the officers that are grabbing him right now are actually luhan's people making this whole situation the more sad and Despicable the same detective we saw earlier had a discussion with the undersheriff then shows up and informs Luhan of everything that's going on can you take these handcuffs off bigger they hurt am I under arrest you're being detained well yeah why do I have to have cuffs on they hurt we'll take them off you have a search warrant for my iPhone you got my iPhone you bought a surfboard for the building you're searching the building I don't know what you're searching for though I'll tell you okay let me explain Sheriff Luhan is supposedly not arrested at this point he's just detained but the decisions he takes in the following minutes are what finally put him in the back seat of a police car you need to authorize the raises your phone okay search your phone excuse me the authorization for you to do unlock your phone unlock it give it back to me and I'm going to remove the security settings I don't want your passcode I'm not asking for your passcode I'm asking you to unlock the phone for the search warrant you can read it if you want under number two I will if I get a chance to talk to my attorney it doesn't work like that Marty [Music] this is not a this is not a negotiation Sheriff [Applause] answer you can talk to your attorney well this is all done asking when this is all done you can call your attorney or right now we're we're getting trying to get you to comply with the warrant the warrant stipulates exactly what we want can you give us that we'll get the phone we're out of here that's it what do you want to do sure right now I'm under arrest because I am under arrest I am in handcuffs I'm not free to leave I'm not free today am I free to leave no no then if I'm under arrest I have a right to an attorney correct you do okay and I'm not questioning you I'm invoking my right to an attorney right now okay you understand that so take care for obstruction obstruction I'm not obstructed over here they're gonna book me what are you doing look what is this [Music] Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan was finally arrested and on December 29 2020 he was sentenced to three years in prison for aiding a felon and intimidating a witness

Channel: Detective Williams

Views: 5,019,925

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Id: ZP4gie6zVUA

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 05 2023