By Steve Lynn
The Farmington Daily Times
FARMINGTON, N.M. — A Farmington Fire Department training chief will be sentenced in May after he pleaded no contest to drunken driving and resigned from the department.
Vince Moffitt, 38, will be sentenced in May for driving while intoxicated after he was arrested on that charge nearly a year ago, according to court records.
Moffitt, who is judged as being guilty though he pleaded nolo contendere, faces three to 90 days in jail on the non-aggravated DWI charge, according to Farmington Municipal Court records.
The DWI was his second.
Moffitt resigned from the fire department after the Feb. 26 plea, City Manager Rob Mayes said.
Moffitt wrote in an e-mail that he would move on and seek other work.
“I am very proud of my service to the community and the (fire department) and sorry for what has happened,” Moffitt wrote. “This experience has been a very public and ... humbling life lesson that was extremely hard on the fire department and especially on my family.”
In July, the city enacted a policy that anyone convicted of drunken driving would be fired.
“It was clear to Vince that we would have followed our policy regarding DWI conviction,” Mayes said.
On March 27, police stopped Moffitt in the Big R parking lot about 11 p.m. after a Farmington police officer saw him weaving along Main Street and nearly colliding three times with another vehicle.
Moffitt told police he drank a few beers at Outback Steakhouse earlier that night, according to court records.
On a Breathalyzer test, he registered a blood-alcohol content of .15, nearly double the .08 legal limit, according to the records.
Moffitt was carrying a handgun on his belt and he told police after he was handcuffed, according to court documents. He was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon because carrying a weapon while drunk is illegal.
The city dismissed that charge and another one alleging a traffic violation.
Special prosecutor Darrel Jiles agreed that the two charges be dropped.
“It’s fairly standard in municipal court to dismiss the accompanying charges when there’s a DWI,” Jiles said.
Moffitt voluntarily completed a 30-day alcohol treatment program after the arrest, said Jack Fortner, Moffitt’s defense attorney.
Moffitt might avoid jail.
A judge might decide whether he could receive credit for the treatment program instead of going to jail, Fortner said.
Moffitt was one of three Farmington firefighters arrested in a period of less than three months last year.
In an unrelated incident, Farmington Fire Capt. Charles Martin, 42, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving about an hour after police stopped Moffitt.
Martin’s case is scheduled for trial in June, according to court records. He still works for the fire department.
“The implementation of the policy would be pending the outcome of that trial,” Mayes said.
Martin is charged with drunken driving and a traffic violation. He is accused of swerving several times through the center of West Main Street, then driving onto a curb before swerving again through the center of the road. He registered a .11 on an alcohol test.
Less than three months later, Farmington firefighter Thomas Meuir, 29, resigned after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in June. Meuir pleaded guilty in July to a non-aggravated DWI charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Last year’s strict DWI policy enacted by the city followed what Mayes described as an “unprecedented and completely indefensible” rash of DWI arrests.
“We must communicate a clearer message so there is absolutely no room for uncertainty on the serious consequences related to DWI,” Mayes wrote to city employees in July.
At the time, Mayes was considering unpaid leave for employees accused of drunken driving pending the outcome of their cases in court.
“We are actually continuing to study that issue as to whether or not we have legal standing in order to suspend somebody without pay prior to their conviction,” Mayes said Tuesday.
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