DA D'Antonio sued by ex-office manager over whistleblower corruption claims
LAS CRUCES - A whistleblower lawsuit claims Doña Ana County's top prosecutor was investigated for public corruption by the FBI in 2015, alleging he offered to dismiss criminal charges against a defendant in exchange for money.
The lawsuit against District Attorney Mark D'Antonio also alleges that he retained "incompetent employees" as "political favors," improperly used funds and discriminated against women in his office, among other claims.
The allegations were outlined in a complaint filed Monday in 3rd Judicial Court by D'Antonio's former office manager, Marylou Bonacci, who worked at the District Attorney's Office from January 2013 to September 2015.
A spokesman for the office denied the allegations in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are aware of the existence of a lawsuit that was filed Monday, but have not yet received personal service of any documents and cannot respond to any of the specific allegations in this pending matter," spokesman Damien Willis said in the statement.
"However," the statement continued, "we deny in the strongest possible terms the allegations set forth in the filing, and believe them to be spurious, outlandish and patently false."
Bonacci's attorneys, Daniela Labinoti and Brett Duke of El Paso, declined to comment when reached on Tuesday.
In the 10-page filing, D'Antonio, the District Attorney's Office and the state of New Mexico are accused of retaliating against Bonacci, in violation of the state's Whistleblower Protection Act, after she claimed to have raised concerns about alleged "unlawful" and "improper" acts within the office.
The allegations date back to D'Antonio's first year in office, 2013. D'Antonio was re-elected to a second four-year term in November after beating Republican challenger Brad Cates by a wide margin.
Bonacci claims D'Antonio would meet with criminal defendants in his office without attorneys present. She also alleges that in one case, D'Antonio asked her to "secure a loan" from a defendant's family, indicating that "in exchange for the loan, he would dismiss the criminal charges against the defendant family member," according to the complaint.
Bonacci further claims that after she told a third party about D'Antonio's request, the FBI began to investigate the district attorney on corruption allegations.
FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said the agency has a policy "to neither confirm nor deny a report of an investigation."
The complaint alleges that D'Antonio learned about the alleged FBI investigation in August 2015, about a month before Bonacci was fired for being late to work by about nine minutes.
Bonacci also alleges she and other women working in the office were subjected to gender-based discrimination by a chief deputy who was "not a licensed New Mexico attorney and not in good standing with another bar" and who had caused "a great deal of staff discord," according to the complaint.
The complaint does not name this chief deputy but says he was hired in February 2015. That month, D'Antonio announced that he had appointed Mick I.R. Gutierrez as his chief deputy. Gutierrez is no longer employed at the DA's office.
The following month, an assistant district attorney allegedly appeared in court intoxicated but was not disciplined by D'Antonio or the other defendants in Bonacci's lawsuit, according to her complaint. It allegedly was the prosecutor's second time being intoxicated while on the job.
By April 2015, Bonacci had been demoted from office manager on pretext that her job performance was "not satisfactory." She claims she was not given further explanation.
She alleges she was subjected to a hostile work environment following her demotion.
About a month before her termination, Bonacci accused the defendants in her lawsuit of mishandling a child sex case, including "refusal to produce evidence material to the defendant," according to the complaint.
Bonacci and her attorneys have demanded a trial with a six-member jury. She is seeking compensation for damages that include lost wages and emotional pain and suffering.
No trial date has been scheduled. The case has been tentatively assigned to Judge Manuel Arrieta, court records show.
Carlos Andres López can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.
Read the lawsuit below:
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