A city official's DWI arrest lead to a criminal background check, uncovering a variety of offenses and changing Farmington's, New Mexico, policies on standard hiring procedures.

49-year-old Christos Derizotis was a court services coordinator with the municipal court system.  His job had him performing duties much like a probation officer. He was arrested for DWI on February 21, and city officials learned it was his seventh such charge. He was fired from the position due to a conflict of interest immediately following the discovery of this information.

In addition to the six other DWI charges, officials learned Derizotis had been convicted of battery, false imprisonment, criminal damage and impersonating a police officer in the past. Previously, the city only ran criminal background checks on individuals who had access to finances or computer systems within the organization. The city says it will now change that policy to include probation officers.

Many are wondering why the policy was not standard for probation officers in the past. Derizotis had been sentenced to six years in a federal prison for bank larceny, but no one at the city knew of this issue. Some question whether the background check was omitted or overlooked because the man's father was a former state representative and judge. 

The city denies any misconduct and confirms a standard driver's license record was run on Derizotis, which came up empty, and no background check was required. The pending felony DWI charge justified an immediate firing because that is the policy of the municipal court system, regardless of the other issues with Derizotis's background.