Santa Fe Police Chief Eric Johnson is retiring today, but he's leaving a mystery behind — one that former City Councilor Steven Farber wants to understand.

Farber, a Santa Fe attorney, wants to know why the FBI apparently set a trap for Chief Johnson, then a sergeant, and his brother, Capt. Gary Johnson, then a lieutenant, back in January 2003.

He thinks officials from the city of Santa Fe know the answer and have held back information about what the agency was looking for after it released a video tape of the incident to them, Farber said.

The tape shows the pair entering a motel room without a warrant, finding a significant amount of cash, leaving it alone and then leaving the room.

Farber filed a lawsuit Wednesday in 1st Judicial District Court requesting that any documents connected to the incident be released, including police correspondence, notes, memorandums of conduct, recommendations and other information.

"I made a public record request last August for the documents. They told me they needed more time, and I haven't heard from them since," Farber said.

In August 2008, following requests by both Farber and The Santa Fe New Mexican, the city released the video tape, which the FBI gave to a member of the city Police Department in February 2007.

But the city didn't release most of the documents requested at that time, Farber said.

City Attorney Frank Katz said the city released everything it had from the FBI, but the only thing the city ever got from the FBI was the tape. The agency never provided any information as to why the two officers were lured to the hotel room, he said.

"We didn't turn over why the FBI was investigating anything because we're not the FBI," Katz said. "We have no idea what the FBI knows or doesn't know."

The tape shows Gary and Eric Johnson searching a room Jan. 24, 2003, at the Marriott Courtyard Motel on Cerrillos Road after they were lured by a tip from the FBI that drug dealers had abandoned cash there.

On the tape, the two went in wearing plain clothes and began looking through closets. Gary Johnson then reaches into a garbage can and says, "There's a (lot) of cash here." Gary Johnson then puts the money back and asks his brother to look under the bed.

Eric Johnson then looks under the bed and says, "Nope." The two use flashlights to look in drawers. Eric Johnson then makes a cell phone call and says, "Hey. ... No nothing at all. ... OK," and the two leave.

In August 2008, Darrin Jones, an FBI spokesman in Albuquerque, told The New Mexican that the video tape was made by FBI agents in the course of an "inquiry," but he declined to say who the target of the inquiry was.

At that time, Gary Johnson also told The New Mexican that he received a phone call from a law enforcement source in South Carolina that told him two drug dealers were in the room and had been spooked, abandoning it and leaving a large amount of cash.

Gary Johnson also told The New Mexican at that time that because the room was abandoned, no search warrant was necessary.

Calls by the paper to both Gary and Eric Johnson for comment were not returned Thursday.

Farber thinks there's more to the story than just the tape, however.

He's been told — and it's in his lawsuit — that Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, Katz, the city manager and some police officials viewed the tape in March 2007 at a private residence that might have been Coss' house.

"Shortly thereafter a major police reassignment was made by now Chief Johnson after a deputy chief from the Santa Fe Police Department expressed his concerns to the mayor and/or city manager and/or city attorney about the troubling content of the video tape," the lawsuit said.

The tape was kept private for almost a year after that event, which Farber said he also finds puzzling.

"I am led to believe that there was some action taken against Gary Johnson that was overturned by the city manager," Farber said. "But I don't know any of this for certain."

What also puzzles Farber is why the pair didn't take the money into evidence once they found it in the room.

"From a law enforcement standpoint, if they believed something illegal was going on, they should have taken that money into evidence," Farber said.

After the incident, the FBI reclaimed the money, he added.

In 2008, Gary Johnson told The New Mexican that he had left two detectives behind to monitor the room after he and his brother left.

There's no evidence of that, however, Farber said.

Katz said the city has turned over everything Farber requested in August 2008 already.

"We did not turn over the internal affairs investigation, however," Katz said.

That information is part of private personnel records that don't have to be turned over to the public. The only information of that sort that is public record includes items like hiring dates, salaries and other technical details, but not opinions in evaluations, Katz said.

But Farber said he wants that information made public anyway — even if the city has to redact any opinion-type information from the documents.

The city has 30 days to respond to the filing, which will likely be followed by a drawn-out legal process, he said.

"It's going to take a while," Farber said.

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.