Ex-State Police officer guilty on drug charges
Jul. 24—A federal jury found a former New Mexico State Police officer guilty of felony charges for distributing marijuana intended for a 16-year-old girl, and a separate drugs-for-sex scheme with another female, the U.S. District Attorney's Office said Friday.
Daniel Capehart, 36, of Bloomfield was convicted Thursday of two counts of distributing marijuana and a third count of distributing methamphetamine, according to a U.S. District Court verdict.
Two of those offenses occurred within 1,000 feet of a school, it said.
Capehart faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and up to 40 years.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court of New Mexico:
The events began June 15, 2018, when Capehart pulled over the underage girl and a friend during a traffic stop in Farmington.
Capehart, then a State Police officer, asked the 16-year-old passenger to step out of the car, then asked for her phone number, date of birth, and other personal information.
About an hour later, the girl received the first of several text messages from Capehart — one saying that she was "the most beautiful woman he had ever met."
The girl and her father reported the texts to a San Juan County Sheriff's detective, who used the girl's cellphone to exchange texts with Capehart under the pretense that he was the girl.
Capehart on two occasions provided marijuana intended for the girl at drop locations, including one near Farmington High School. He also had phone conversations with an undercover officer who posed as the girl.
Also in June 2018, an FBI agent made contact with an unidentified female who said she had been exchanging text messages with Capehart for about nine months.
She allowed the agent to use her phone to exchange messages with Capehart.
On June 28, 2018, Capehart proposed a drugs-for-sex scheme in which he would arrest someone transporting methamphetamine and provide a portion of the drugs to the woman in exchange for sex.
The following day, the FBI had an undercover agent transport methamphetamine and provided the agent's whereabouts to Capehart using the woman's phone.
Capehart arrested the agent in a traffic stop and seized the methamphetamine.
He then delivered more than 5 grams of the drug intended for the female to a prearranged location near Central Primary Elementary School in Bloomfield.
Capehart was arrested later that day.
