Grant County, New Mexico – Former Western New Mexico University President, Dr. Joseph Shepard, today announced that he has filed a lawsuit in Grant County, New Mexico, seeking vindication and justice for himself and accountability for all New Mexicans. The lawsuit brought against Western New Mexico University under the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act for its retaliation against him for blowing the whistle on the fraudulent appropriation of $1,000,000 and against the several prominent Democrats that engaged in a vendetta to use their political power to falsely destroy his reputation as part of their effort to conceal the malfeasance.
“While there are many wonderful attributes about our great State of New Mexico, we consistently rank at the bottom of what matters. This is directly linked to the corruption within our State leadership,” said Shepard. “This lawsuit not only highlights that corruption but also demonstrates what happens in New Mexico when you speak truth to power. No one should be able to take the vast resources of the State and turn them against someone else for the purpose of vengeance and destroying that person simply because he spoke the truth.”
“Few things do more damage to shake the public’s confidence in government, than the misappropriation of taxpayer money and the use of government power to attack a person who stands up to that corruption,” said A. Blair Dunn, Esq, attorney for Dr. Shepard. “If New Mexico is ever going get off the bottom of the lists, we have to start making changes in the leadership of this state to instill some accountability and honesty, lawsuits like these are critical to that effort and we are committed to Dr. Shepard’s crusade for that justice here.”
The lawsuit alleges that WNMU has retaliated to fire Dr. Shepard from his teaching position at the University and that Sen. George Munoz, Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, and Sen. Mimi Stewart, fraudulently appropriated money then conspired with State Auditor Joseph Maestas, and WNMU Board of Regents Vice Chair John Werthheim in violation of the Governmental Conduct Act to use their political offices to engage in a cover up that falsely attacked Dr. Shepard resulting in significant damages to him.
Shepard told the Beat that his main goal is to make sure that nothing like this ever happens to anyone else ever again, with the government, doing it to cover their malfeasance. "WNMU is a great university, and those who did this had no concern for the students or the faculty. They did this to destroy my career."
