New Mexico Firefighter Claims Mistaken Identity Led To His Termination
A New Mexico firefighter who was fired earlier this year, has filed suit claiming he was mistakenly identified as a wanted criminal. Daniel Rubio filed suit in Second Judicial District Court claiming that Bernalillo County wrongfully terminated his employment.
Rubio was hired by Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue, and began the fire academy in August, 2023. At that time, a background check alerted the county to his own criminal history, along with a connection to a wanted fugitive criminal, Eric Ferrer. Ferrer allegedly killed two people in 2016, and was known to use the name Daniel Rubio as an alias. Neither his criminal history nor the Ferrer-alias connection posed a problem to Rubio’s original hiring.
Following Rubio’s EMS training, a background check by the New Mexico Department of Health again flagged him as having a criminal record. He was able to adequately explain and clear his record, and was officially sworn in to the department in February, 2024.
In April, 2024, Rubio was dismissed from Bernalillo County Fire & Rescue without explanation. The suit alleges that the county wrongfully terminated him due to confusing his identity with that of Ferrer, or in the alternative, for his own criminal past. In either case, Rubio claims he did not deserve to be dismissed. The suit seeks reinstatement and damages. A copy of the complaint is not available via Lexis or the Second Judicial District Court’s web site.
