New Mexico warden cleared in rape investigation
Posted at: 06/28/2012 10:59 AM
| Updated at: 06/28/2012 5:58 PM
By: Chris Ramirez, 4 On Your Side
 Gregg Marcantel |
The New Mexico Corrections Secretary has cleared a high-level administrator of wrongdoing after an investigation into alleged prison rape by one of his former employees.
Our 4 On Your Side's Chris Ramirez has been investigating this case and has the latest.
Secretary Gregg Marcantel announced Thursday that former Los Lunas State Prison warden Anthony Romero did not thwart an FBI investigation into alleged rape by his former employee, a prison captain.
Marcantel said Romero will return to his present job as deputy director of adult prisons on Monday.
That job is a promotion from his previous job as prison warden.
While Romero was under investigation, he was reassigned to do special projects for the department.
The investigation began after a lawsuit filed by a former prisoner claimed Romero impeded an FBI investigation into allegations of prison rape that allegedly occurred at the prison while Romero was in charge.
According to the lawsuit we first told you about a month ago, then-prison captain Kenneth Carrejo allegedly handcuffed an inmate to office furniture and raped him several times.
But Marcantel told reporters Thursday that the department internally investigated those claims against Romero and found he had done nothing wrong.
The FBI continues to investigate the prison rape allegations and other claims in the lawsuit.
While Marcantel's announcement means Romero is clear to return to his normal work duties, but complete exoneration can only come from the FBI or the Attorney General's office.
Stay with KOB for more on this story.
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