ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

She was charged with child abuse without causing great bodily harm, and bribery and intimidation of a witness.

She allegedly warned the girl not to say anything when she dropped her off at school on Wednesday morning, the day after the incident, according to the complaint.

Lopez, 40, was released from jail after a woman named Rebecca Lopez posted $5,000 cash bail on Stephanie Lopez’s behalf. Lopez is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges at 10 a.m. today in Metropolitan Court, according to court records.

Lopez could not be reached for comment Friday.

Willoughby said in a prepared statement: “Allegations of child abuse are obviously a very serious matter, and of course we understand the importance of thoroughly investigating any claims made by a child. With that being said, I have only known Stephanie Lopez to be a loving single working mom who was doing her best to raise bright, caring and well-behaved children.

“We trust in the judicial process to resolve this matter for her and her family,” he said.

Lopez’s conditions of release include not possessing firearms or having contact with the victim, according to court records.

Officer Tanner Tixier, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said that Lopez was placed on paid administrative leave on Friday. That means her badge and gun were taken away, he said.

Lopez, who has been with the department since July 2000, has been the subject of controversy before.

She received a letter of caution from the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board in July 2014 for mixing her role as a police officer with that of union president.

She responded to a domestic violence call involving a fellow officer and was accused of putting her personal feelings into a police report on the matter, according to board documents. The police gave her a suspension in that case.

Lopez also was disciplined for an April 2011 case in which a KOB-TV reporter filmed an altercation between Lopez and a person at a nightclub. Police confiscated the camera and deleted some of the footage, according to Journal archives.

Police didn’t release her entire internal affairs file on Friday, or say whether she had been given other suspensions.