A municipal judge in Espanola, New Mexico is charged with dispensing his own brand of justice: pressuring four women into sex with promises of reduce fines or jail time.

Charles Maestas, a "citizen" judge who handled misdemeanor cases like parking tickets, is accused of using his authority to coerce at least four women into sexual liaisons. 

Suzetta Salazar, 33, the only victim who admits to having intercourse with Maestas, has provided prosecutors with audiotapes of a conversation in which the judge allegedly promised to reduce her citations if she would have sex with him. She also audiotaped one of their trysts.

Maestas has been indicted on 28 criminal charges, including extortion and criminal sexual penetration. He faces more than 80 years in prison if convicted.

The trial is expected to begin Friday in Santa Fe.

Maestas' lawyer, Stephen Aarons, acknowledges that his client had sex with the women but denies that the physical relationships were related to his judicial powers.

"It's not illegal to have sex," he told Court TV. "Evidence will be presented that at least three of the four women did not tell the truth in their allegations." One of the woman is an admitted drug addict.

The investigation of Maestas' case has also seen its share of scandal. The lead state investigator, Karen Yontz, was shot and killed while allegedly robbing an Albuquerque bank.

Aarons suggested that Yontz may have been a loose cannon who, for unknown reasons, engineered the case against the Maestas. "She was the central investigator and obviously she was out of control during the investigation," he said. "It's a real unknown what she did behind the scenes."

Aarons said he plans to show that the four women -- Salazar, Mary Martinez, Francesca Ortiz and Cheryl Sida -- colluded to bring charges against the judge and are hoping to cash in with a huge settlement in a separate civil lawsuit.

The four women and two other alleged victims filed suit against the city in February seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit names Maestas, the mayor, the current and former chiefs of police, two city managers, seven corrections officers and other unnamed city official

The complaint describes Maestas' court as a place where he liberally abused his judicial powers, sentencing the women to undeserved jail time and urging them to forego attorneys.

The suit alleges that in February, Maestas and three guards repeatedly raped Francesca Ortiz after the judge sentenced her to 90 days in jail for drunken driving.

It also claims that Mary Martinez agreed to perform oral sex on Maestas in exchange for his payment of an outstanding $30 fine. He did not hold up his end of the bargain, according to the complaint, and later issued a warrant for Martinez's arrest for non-payment of fines.

Cheryl Sida, who appeared before Maestas in 2001 on shoplifting charges, claims that the judge began to stalk and harass her by driving past her house.

"I see you like gardening, why don't you bend over that way again?" he allegedly told her during a harassing phone call.

Maestas was suspended on June 14, 2002  and has not received any part of his $58,656 annual salary since September. The city council appointed a 33-year-old X-ray technician with no previous legal experience (municipal judges in New Mexico aren't required to have law degrees) as an interim judge. 

Maestas' four-year elected term officially ends in 2006.