By Andrew Oxford
A former Taos Police Department
officer who left the agency after one year on the job amid numerous allegations
of misconduct was arrested Thursday on charges of raping a 19-year-old woman
detained at a police station in Jemez Springs.
A spokesperson for the New
Mexico State Police confirmed Shane Harger, 40, who most recently served as
police chief in Jemez Springs, was taken into custody at his Edgewood home. A
warrant for his arrest was filed with the 13th Judicial District Court on
Thursday after he was indicted by a Sandoval County grand jury on charges of
criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact, kidnapping and extortion.
Harger left the Taos Police
Department in 2005 while at the center of several lawsuits alleging he
assaulted, battered or falsely imprisoned suspects during his one year on the
job.
Federal court records indicate
he was named as a defendant in two lawsuits during 2005. During 2004, he was
named as a defendant in two lawsuits filed with state courts.
One federal lawsuit, which was
settled by the town of Taos, alleged Harger pepper-sprayed a restrained suspect
and later arrested the man’s mother, purportedly as an act of revenge.
The lawsuit, which also named
former chief Neil Curran as a defendant, raised concerns about Harger’s record
as a law enforcement officer.
Harger’s behavior at the Taos
Police Department prompted a series of complaints and tort claims, the lawsuit
said, and purportedly spurred one captain to resign.
Harger’s subsequent departure
from the Taos Police Department was “not retirement,” according to municipal
officials.
The officer later worked at the
Milan Police Department before serving as chief of police in Jemez Springs.
Harger surrendered his
commission in Jemez Springs earlier this year when it emerged he carried an
identification card under another name, Braxton Haze.
