Bernalillo County deputy convicted of tipping off DEA targets
A Bernalillo County sheriff’s detective was convicted of tipping off DEA targets, a breach that prosecutors said endangered undercover work in Albuquerque.
A federal jury in Albuquerque convicted Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office detective Paul Jessen Jr. of tipping off DEA drug targets, a case that put the region’s undercover enforcement tactics under a hard spotlight. Prosecutors said the conduct obstructed Drug Enforcement Administration investigations and included false statements to the FBI.
Jurors reached the verdict on July 10, 2026, after a four-day trial and less than four hours of deliberation. Jessen was found guilty on four of five felony charges, marking a sharp rebuke of a deputy accused of leaking information to people under investigation for drug trafficking.
The evidence centered on allegations that Jessen warned targets about planned DEA action and active investigations in Albuquerque and the North Valley. Testimony from trial included an Albuquerque police detective who said he feared for his life after a North Valley drug dealer was allegedly tipped off. That detail underscored the risk when a law enforcement insider gives advance notice to a suspect who may still be armed, armed with information, or able to disappear before agents move in.
The case is part of a broader federal corruption inquiry into law enforcement leaks tied to drug enforcement in Bernalillo County, New Mexico’s most populous county. Federal prosecutors had already pursued a related case involving former Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy Kyle Linker. Linker pleaded guilty on Sept. 24, 2024, to obstruction of justice after admitting he tipped off a confidential informant about an impending DEA raid. He was later sentenced to eight months, with 30 days in federal prison and the rest on house arrest.
The prosecutions were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, which handled the federal public-corruption cases. That unusual arrangement put the spotlight on the seriousness of the allegations and the concern that leaks from within a local sheriff’s office can unravel larger narcotics cases before agents make contact.
For Sandoval County readers, the verdict lands close to home because the Albuquerque metro’s drug cases, task-force work and jail pipelines often spill across county lines. A breach inside the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office can affect investigations that reach well beyond the county seat and into the broader metro area that shares courts, investigators and public safety consequences.
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