COURTS
Undercover agent feared for his life after tip to drug dealer
Testimony in federal trial focuses on alleged obstruction actions of two sheriff's detectives angry with DEA
Published
A veteran Albuquerque police detective recounted Wednesday how he came face to face with a North Valley drug dealer who had been tipped off that he was an undercover narcotics officer.
Herman Martinez sat in his car Nov. 17, 2021, waiting to make an undercover drug buy when Drug Enforcement Administration agents on surveillance nearby suddenly reported a white pickup truck heading his way. The driver was dealer Rod White, instead of the female subordinate Martinez had been expecting.
鈥淗e parked directly in front of me,鈥� Martinez told a jury in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. 鈥淗e looked at me, and I looked at him and at that point I was in fear for my life. I didn鈥檛 know what he was going to do. So I drew my service revolver; I had it on my lap.鈥�
Martinez testified that when seeing the methamphetamine dealer headed in his direction his 鈥渇irst thought鈥� was that White had been tipped off.
The episode ended without incident, but Martinez later learned a fellow law enforcement officer from the Bernalillo County Sheriff鈥檚 Office had enlisted White as a confidential informant months earlier and was feeding him sensitive confidential information to sabotage DEA drug arrests, drug buys and searches. Martinez was working on a DEA task force at the time.
The BCSO detective, Kyle Linker, pleaded guilty in 2025 to one count of federal obstruction of justice after a lengthy federal investigation by the DEA and the FBI. He has since resigned and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He is working remotely in an information technology job with the state of North Dakota, court records show.
Meanwhile, his former law enforcement partner, BCSO detective Paul Jessen Jr., is standing trial on federal charges of aiding and abetting Linker, conspiring to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. Jessen is on administrative leave without pay.
As a witness for the prosecution, APD鈥檚 Martinez testified about his involvement in the investigation that led to the two detectives鈥� indictment.
Weeks after the drug buy went sour when White showed up to the drug buy location, Martinez was among the agents who confronted the dealer outside his Los Ranchos home Dec. 16, 2021. After agents found a pound of meth, a firearm and fentanyl pills in White鈥檚 car, the drug dealer decided to cooperate with the federal government in the investigation of Linker and Jessen.
The pair of BCSO detectives had caught White with meth months earlier and, instead of prosecuting him, allowed him to work as an informant, testimony has shown. Text messages introduced by federal prosecutors, among other evidence, revealed the animosity of the BCSO pair toward the DEA in language that was often crude and obscene.
BCSO Sgt. Jessica Carreon testified Wednesday that the relationship between the two agencies was 鈥渢enuous.鈥� The DEA, as the larger agency, had been accused of stealing BCSO narcotics targets, its drug cases and its confidential informants.
鈥淚 do know there was friction between the two 鈥� (when BCSO detectives) would have to relinquish their work over to the DEA,鈥� Carreon said.
Defense attorney Erlinda O. Johnson pointed out in cross-examination of White on Wednesday that Linker, not Jessen, had been the link to White in the months preceding the drug dealer鈥檚 arrest.
That changed after Linker was put on administrative leave in December 2021, and told White to deal with Jessen.
White, who is awaiting sentencing on drug charges, testified that he knew Jessen as P.J. And, at the instruction of the DEA, he set up a meeting with Jessen on Jan. 6, 2022.
Before he got into the detective鈥檚 truck, Jessen patted him down, and White answered 鈥渘o鈥� when Jessen asked if he was wearing a wire. He recorded the conversation with a key fob device supplied by the DEA.
The BCSO detective didn鈥檛 seem to know about the specific tip-offs of confidential information that had occurred in the months prior, White testified.
But when White gave him those details, Jessen didn鈥檛 鈥渘ecessarily鈥� appear surprised, White said. He didn鈥檛 ask for more information, or suggest White report the tipoffs to investigators.
Martinez testified that he was also the agent who made a 鈥渞use鈥� phone call to Linker in December 2021 to test the possibility he was leaking confidential information to White.
The 31-year APD narcotics detective told Linker he was investigating a case in which some of the supply was coming from White and that the DEA was planning to set White up for a drug buy with the potential of arresting him.
Linker, according to phone call logs, tried to put Martinez off and admitted White was his confidential informant. Then he texted White to tell him he was a target and instructed he 鈥渟hut everything down鈥� in advance of the DEA undercover drug buy.
To learn Linker had leaked that information, even though the call was a ruse, was 鈥渧ery concerning,鈥� Martinez testified.
鈥淚 went through a mix of emotions,鈥� he told the jury. 鈥淚 was extremely angry 鈥� that call (to White) could have jeopardized my safety.鈥�
