A northern New Mexico sheriff recently sentenced to 10 years in federal prison remains under investigation in another case.
A new public affidavit says an FBI agent concluded that "probably cause" exist that former Rio Arriba County Sheriff Thomas Rodella participated in extortion related to a traffic dismissal program.
Under the program, investigators say Rodella offered dismissal of traffic citations in exchange for donations to a scholarship find.
Rodella was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison and fined $200,000 for abusing a driver in an off-duty traffic stop.
The FBI in 2013 searched the sheriff's office to investigate the scholarship fund but never filed charges in that case.
Rodella said then that the program helped students, and he denied any wrongdoing.
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