on April 24 2023 Rico trayshawn Dukes 26
of Albuquerque was arrested by
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office
detectives for impersonating a
Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy while
arrested he was carrying a loaded
firearm and loaded magazines according
to detectives Dukes had posted several
pictures on his Tinder dating profile
posing as a Bernalillo County Sheriff's
deputy including one picture where he
was wearing a duty belt with a loaded
firearm he even posted a random photo of
a fully marked Patrol unit falsely
claiming it was his own
Dukes met his Tinder match for a jail
cell when he was arrested by Bernalillo
County Sheriff's Detectives
okay we'll be hands over here
yeah we're working on this side
keep your hands up follow my command
step out slowly
keeping your hand up close your door and
walk towards me
if you reach for that gun you will be
shot
Keep Your Hands Up
keep them up higher man stop stop right
there
do not reach for that firearm
anybody else in the car
this way walk backwards
shift to your left man
I'll explain everything in a minute
you got the weapons on you man
all right
equipment wanting custody vehicle is
clear
information
let me take a seat okay
is your ID in here yeah may I grab it
yeah
let's dress down keeping your camera on
you like on your boat or something and
then we'll perform the 27 here but not
all everything up with this we just came
out of sight pretty quick
yeah okay
just hang out right here by my back door
pretty soon
foreign
yeah I'm right here
come on
good to take him out for you wanna am I
gonna leave my car for a minute
um I'll take them I'll take them back
recording oh yeah you have to okay I
just wanted to see you make sure you
understand them your rights are super
important okay
do you have the right to remain silence
anything you say can review against you
in part of the law you have the right to
talk to an attorney for advice or we ask
you any questions and have an attorney
with you jury questioning
if you've not afford an attorney one
will be appointed to you by the state of
New Mexico we have charged before any
questioning if you wish if you decide to
answer questions now without literary
presence
you will still have the right to stop
answering at any time you also have the
right to stop answering it anytime you
understand all those rights are you
willing to talk with me
um and what's your name Rico
what's your last name
what's your date of birth
do you know your social
and where do you live where you go
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foreign
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and what do you do for work
Jack in the Box
how long have you worked there
um
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thank you
and so can you tell me a little bit
about what's going on today
I don't know you don't know okay
um
can you tell me why you're in a
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department
uniform
you bought it from Kaufman's
tell me about that
when did you buy it
how long some months ago do you know
like what month it was I don't know
why did you get the uniform that's right
emotional stuff yeah
so
okay
so to promote bcso
and do you work for the Sheriff's
Department
and how do you promote bcso like videos
and stuff videos and stuff
what kind of videos do you take
it's like a deal
is here so I get like pictures with them
and stuff okay
have you taken a lot of videos and stuff
I'm just starting so no I'm just
starting have you taken any yet
and then
um
so you haven't taken any of these videos
yet what what made you want to start
doing these videos
um I love at least my family
yeah
twins back home in South Carolina
both shares
so it's always been an interest in
Michigan okay and
what are your cousins names
my dad's side
so I already know okay do you know what
department they work for Richland County
do you have any other family in law
enforcement
though
um
and do you live with anybody
do you live alone at Airport Road
and with the wearing of the uniform
um
how did you get the idea to start doing
these promotional videos
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um
and when you went into Kaufman's did you
have to show any identification that
I was just getting some stuff for
promotional videos for bcso
okay and they were okay just selling it
to you without any identification
um
so
do you know it's a crime to impersonate
a law enforcement
all right
and
so wearing the uniform
how tell me about your mindset with that
I think too much about that
okay okay
um and what about the the done on your
hip and stuff and that's that's my
personal that's your personal gun okay
um
where did you buy that
I bought that from
I want to say ABQ guns
of course do you know anybody
I say
any more
beginning of March this year yeah
yeah
and is that the only firearm you own
foreign
I know you
there's a lot of stuff I know
um and I I want to ask you about and
depending on how honest you are with me
I know I can gauge your truthfulness
so I I know about your tutor profile
um tell me about posting all those
pictures
are they all of you yes so all of you in
your uniform
um and that's this uniform here do you
have any other uniforms at the house
just this one
and so
I just want to go through is this your
profile yeah
and you go by
trishan on here tell me about that name
that's your middle name
thank you
and so this is you right
this picture here
whose unit is this
randomly saw one you just randomly saw
yeah
it was gonna be
okay
um
where were you at when you saw this unit
I want to go yeah where was it at
the neighborhood
thank you
and then this one is this you yeah okay
um
and this is the same shirt okay and is
this the same gun that you were wearing
today
foreign
and so why did you post these pictures
of you in uniform on Twitter
and just for uh
I'm just gonna happen just to use them
yes he is
um
and were you were you saying that you
were with bcso because yeah it told a
few people you told a few people okay
um
and then how many people have you met up
with
with this uniform
yeah
any of them this is going to be the
first time yeah okay
um
and so you don't have any family or
anybody
um that you know that works for the
Sheriff's Department
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okay
um
because there's some information that we
have that you know somebody on the
department
from here
you don't have any family any friends
that work on the department
no
okay
um
and so you don't know who owns
that Tahoe that you took a picture of
and you don't remember what address it
was at no it was just going to be from
promotional videos okay and where are
you going to post these promotional
videos
okay do you have a YouTube channel I
have a channel
okay what kind of videos do you post
Ed yet okay yeah it's just I just all
just been created so okay and what's
your
YouTube is it um
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four six three eight yeah
and I forgot to ask what's a good phone
number
five four five two zero seven zero
and as far as going to the Monroe's
today
can you tell me about going there in
unifying I'm supposed to be meeting a
friend
there okay
um and why did you go with uniform well
I got it this morning for uh to do
videos so I was already in it
okay
um
and this friend does she
think it's a she right yeah does she
think that you work for the Sheriff's
Department
can you assume yeah why would you assume
that
those are the pictures the pictures is
there any other reason
no
um
did you tell her that you worked for the
sheriff's department absolutely yeah you
did okay and what do you think
you didn't specify what do you mean
emotional videos and stuff okay I did
like stuff like that okay what did you
tell her you did
yeah
okay did you tell her any details about
what you do what should you work
anything like that
what else
okay
um
do you remember telling kind of that you
used to work for APD
yeah
okay
um
and that you were there for a year did
you work for AP no
um and then you said you've been with
bcso for about four years
okay
um
are your hands bothering you just never
adjusted oh okay
um
so
you did say you were for bcso after
working for APD for a year and then
are they too tight let me check them
real quick go ahead and get up turn
around face away for me go ahead bend
over to waste
okay well they're good you just gotta
relax you moving around like that it's
gonna cause that irritation
for the last four years and that you
normally work a night shift did you say
that you were currently on day shift
looking for operations
you remember saying that
yeah yeah
um and so
with uh
this Tinder profile does anybody else
have access to your Tinder profile no
okay
um does anybody else have access to your
phone
no does your phone have a passcode
what is your passcode
um and so nobody else has access to it
does anybody else know the password to
your phone
um and then
you guys were talking on Tinder did you
go and start chatting somewhere else
then
you move to text message okay
um
and then you would you guys agreed to
meet up at Monroe's okay and that's why
you were there today in uniform
and you identified yourself as a officer
Dukes correct
I just want to make sure
I think I said uh I remember when the
detective Regina writes because they're
still in play when I talk to you so
anytime you don't want to talk you can
stop like I said my name's Jesse and do
you go by Rico or all right
um my job's a little different I'm all
about making sure people are safe and
making sure people aren't doing things
to endanger themselves and I've got a
concern with that yeah you know what do
you think some of my concerns would be
uh
personating
well besides that now I don't care about
that stuff I care about your safety why
do you think I'm concerned with that
what's that I'm not sure well some of
the things is you know people aren't
always so friendly towards officers
and they have you know we've had recent
events where they've shot at people in
uniform on or off duty and I'd hate for
you not being an officer to put yourself
in that situation
all right and we've had some people not
sending you this type of person but
we've also had some people pretending to
be cops doing something down getting
themselves in trouble right so if this
is just something that you're doing
because you think you're trying to do
something good or
for whatever reason right just now it's
lack of better terms it's not a safe
thing to be doing
the other things I I got to make sure
that the other day you're going to be
safe
does that make sense to you yes so some
of the questions I might ask can be a
little weird if you're all right with
that
um and they're not necessarily going to
be pertaining to this but just me
building up a
a picture of you all right
um You said you worked at Jack In The
Box
what did you do before Jack in the Box
for a New Mexico protective course okay
what do they do security security
um what were some of your assignments
there I'll just Patrol like uh el
mesquite markets rolling stem drill
building that was called New Mexico what
New Mexico protective yeah
oh how long do you work there
two years
why'd you leave a better job
they didn't take it no they actually
ended up cutting an arcade oh why
they actually have new people
so
um when you were in that position where
you're armed yeah which you carry uh I
think it was either xd-40
for the xt40 okay were you wearing
ballistic protection like a safety one
by another board over there no do you
own any of that no no
okay so the only firearm is what you
told the detected about
or what you do before that
it's all security or for desert wolf
oh is that look uh I saw the little wolf
thing on you yeah yeah miserable
security uh Mesa Mesa detection you seem
like you like that because when I'm
scared I asked you you're smiling you're
pretty proud of it yeah what happened
with that oh I just got tired of it to
be honest really yeah
um have you ever applied to be a law
enforcement officer I think I took the
test for epd last year sometime ended up
not passing the test so what part did
you not pass
so it has the first part which was
probably take like the uh like a 600
question test oh yeah so you're there
for a few hours
okay what's your highest level of
Education
um
12th grade so you graduated in college
but I see you now oh College yeah
I was taking automotive technology
engineering oh what made you stop
lazy yeah
um
have you ever been arrested before I've
been detained
and um picked up by the U.S Marshals a
few years ago I think because I missed
the I had a summons to appear
for another assault against a security
guard that got dismissed okay what
happened there
they came in to my mom's house we lived
up there near Francesco Heritage and
they came and picked me up and then went
downtown
and then they took me to Santa Fe I was
there Monday and Thursday
and then I came back to Albuquerque have
you ever ever had other law enforcement
contact
being pulled over
no
okay have you ever had to go to court
for anything
or first being ticket court for that
that's all charge they're gonna drop and
like over the phone court for um
to establish child support okay yeah so
you have children yeah
what's her name
you still see him a lot or I haven't
seen him since October oh wow sorry it's
been a minute yeah missile oh yeah for
sure
yeah what do you like to do with them
take them to the park let's wrestle
wrestle yeah
um
um
and you said videos what kind of videos
are you making
it's like promotional you said
promotional but
I'm not into this technology stuff so I
don't know what a promotional means go
apply and stuff like that just videos
just to get them out there have you
contacted our public affairs officer or
anything public information yeah
um
yeah
so promotional videos that kind of stuff
yeah
have you ever remember I said I'm going
to ask some weird questions they might
be a little uncomfortable
all right
um have you ever uh
done anything that resulted in you going
to the hospital for some sort of mental
evaluation
I think a couple years ago I had a
um
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while we're talking to you I know
they're not very comfortable
all right hand on the top of your head
this one too there you go ahead
so you said you went a couple years ago
you went to the hospital yeah
four
trying to cut myself
and stuff like cut yourself as soon
take on that wrist and stuff
so you're trying to kill yourself not
killed just make a point tiger
uh what kind of Point were you trying to
make
because she did hurt me okay what
happened at the hospital
so they took me to Russ when we were
into them
and I didn't want to be there at first
but I ended up staying and then the um
you know sending me to
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I'm not sure what it's called but it's
right next to a casement uh the psych
please okay so I was there for a week
and then I said you know okay you still
seeing a therapist or anything oh no
that was I said that was just another
point to her so
okay any other threats of suicide how
about threats to harm anybody
never
um
so
uh
you ever served in the military or
anything like that no we replied for the
military
have you ever applied to buy a firearm
or anything I've been denied
I've never been denied always or once or
twice they just had to wait
like the next day okay it's got a weight
on it
you're not taking any kind of medication
or anything I'm a diabetic so I take
insulin when's the last time you ate
your insulin last night last night
early this morning maybe like two or
three o'clock do you have anything to
eat today
I'm like
oh why is it possible that's it okay
um
so that have you ever used any illegal
drugs and like I said you're not in
trouble for that stuff oh no no
all right
do you have any friends in law
enforcement I know you asked about
family and all that
no
it's just you said you applied for APD
once what made you want to be a cop
I'll just go to my cousins yeah
um and you said you don't have custody
of your child or is it shared no that's
that's my plan to eventually get shared
but yeah
all right so do you live by yourself
yeah
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um
like I said my you know some of the
concerns I have you know I'll just be
honest with you
people dress up and do stuff like that
they put themselves at risk and
sometimes you know if you could even
have the best intentions to come in and
try to help us and if we don't know you
we don't know you and our Department's
small enough we know everybody
so that that can do it and or let's say
you try to do something to help somebody
and you have the best intent
backfires but you don't do something
right
all right all that kind of stuff
so that there are big concerns and the
other concern is you know usually for
like places like coffin and all that you
have to show you have to show
identification right so it's hard to
believe they actually let you walk out
like throw me off to why would you try
knowing that
what do you mean like what made you
decide just to go I'm gonna go in and
buy it for and they they let me buy it
okay do you remember who sold it to you
the short white lady it was like the
real room but it was shorter white lady
what name did you use
yours
you were used
[Music]
and they'll be able to confirm that you
should but yeah
you said it was in the last couple
months
okay
once you pay with the credit card or
cash or was Cash Cash yeah
who's trying more
carrying more
riding more
you've used his pictures in the past
or
chatting with people
Brian Moore he's a deputy on our
department I use this picture yeah
you don't know who Ryan Moore is
um have you ever used
pictures of you in uniform on any other
dating app other than Tinder
I'm dating a
I want to say I used to use a app called
be okay I don't think I've ever posted
anything on it let's be okay
like dating site oh that's one of the
ones that pop up on Facebook
okay
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um
and you used the pictures there too
where else
that's it have you ever used them on
Facebook or any other
uh the same ones on Facebook
same ones are on Facebook
and what's your Facebook uh name Rico
Dukes you don't go buy anything else
um and what email is associated with
that