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A judge penalized the city of Albuquerque this week for not releasing records to a former records custodian as part of the lawsuit he has filed against the city and its police department.

Second Judicial District Court Judge Alan Malott said in the order that the city’s refusal to release the records “demonstrates a lack of good faith warranting sanctions.” He said the city has to produce copies of the records to Reynaldo Chavez and Tom Grover, his attorney, by Aug. 19 and pay $2,500 for Grover’s fees.

Chavez had requested access to his old computer, an external hard drive and CDs he used when he was the police department’s records custodian.

Grover said that Chavez is claiming he saved communications between himself and city and police officials in which Chavez was instructed not to comply with the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.

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City Attorney Jessica Hernandez said the city waited for a court order to copy and produce the records because other plaintiffs suing the city had made the same request.

“While the city respectfully disagrees with the court’s conclusions regarding the city’s efforts, it will continue taking steps as it has from the beginning to properly preserve this evidence and will provide copies to requesting parties in a way that maintains the integrity of that evidence,” Hernandez said.

Chavez was fired from the department in 2015 after he was put on leave for what police would only say was “misconduct.”

But Chavez claimed in his lawsuit that he was fired after raising concerns that the city was frequently violating IPRA by withholding documents from the public.

His lawsuit alleged that the city is still in possession of unreleased records from several high-profile cases, such as the shooting of James Boyd, the death of civil rights attorney Mary Han, the department’s relationship with Taser International and the death of 21-year-old Ashley Browder, who died after the vehicle she was a passenger in was struck by an off-duty police officer who ran a red light.

The lawsuit also accuses the city of destroying surveillance records made of a protest against the police department

It said former Deputy City Attorney Kathryn Levy “frequently stated simply ‘there are items we just will not release and we will just pay the fines or lawsuits.’ ” And that Chavez was instructed to come up ways to “baffle” people who were requesting records from the department.

Chavez is seeking unspecified damages, attorney’s fees and other relief to be determined by the court.