Harris sheriff keeps pace of firing misbehaving officers

Harris sheriff keeps pace of firing misbehaving officers

The Harris County Sheriff's Office continues to fire deputies and other employees for having sex with jailed inmates, using illegal drugs, employing excessive force or using their position to steal from the public, according to disciplinary actions obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
During the first three months of this year, Sheriff Adrian Garcia fired nine deputies, detention officers and clerks after they committed a number of criminal acts or violated department regulations.
Garcia also reprimanded 30 employees and suspended another 31. Their offenses included causing 34 wrecks, associating with convicted felons, sleeping on the job, leaving the doors to a jail facility open, and one case where an armed deputy got into a drunken bar fight.
Since taking office in January 2009, Garcia has increased the number of disciplinary actions compared to his predecessor. He has fired approximately 95 employees and handed down around 830 reprimands and suspensions without pay to others in the department, according to Sheriff's Office disciplinary records.
"We have up to 2,000 employees working in the jail system, and I am proud of the fact that nearly all do their jobs without complaint and without complaints against them," Garcia said in a statement. "But discipline is a job that never goes away at any large institution. The cases you have been looking at represent a very small percentage of our employees and are not a reflection of the many, many more who work hard, are professionals and are dedicated to doing a tough job in a high-pressure environment."
Longtime community activist Johnny Mata credited Garcia with beefing up his internal affairs division, which allowed the large backlog of internal investigations left by his predecessor to be reduced. However, the civil rights activist was critical of discipline he said in some cases was too lenient.
"The punishment does not fit the crime," Mata said. "In some of those serious cases, the disciplinary action needs to be harsher punishment. We need to start taking these actions very seriously. It shouldn't just be suspensions. In some cases they should be terminated."
Some of those Garcia fired or disciplined had plenty of past offenses.
'It's messed up'
Deputy Tony G. Richards, 48, who worked in the laundry unit, was fired Feb. 22 after his indictment for allegedly having sex with a jail inmate. In November, the 21-year department veteran was suspended for 10 days after supervisors photographed him sleeping in the jail laundry.
"We're still in the investigative stages and waiting for more information to be turned over,'' said Carson Joachim, general counsel for the Harris County Deputies Organization, who is defending Richards. "He's pled not guilty, and he's denying all the allegations."
Richards was one of four employees punished for having inappropriate relationships with female inmates, including unwanted physical advances.
One of the victims was inmate Sanjuana Gonzales Aguilar, 37, who was serving time for failure to pay child support.
Veteran jailer Guillermo Martinez Jr. was suspended without pay for 15 days for placing his hand on her buttocks while she was waiting in the jail on Feb. 1. Martinez was suspended without pay for three days in 2005 for inappropriate conduct with another female inmate, the suspension order noted.
The former inmate and her husband were outraged the jailer didn't lose his job. "He should be nowhere near these females, period!" said Gonzales Aguilar.
"She told me about it and I mean, I was furious," said Frank Aguilar, 40. "I could have done something about it, but I decided to go about it the legal way. It's messed up. If there are women there, they should have only women working on that floor."
Several of the jailers were sanctioned for violations that compromised safety in the county jail.
One detention officer was given three days off from work without pay for leaving the control room open and unmanned for 18 minutes on Oct. 30. The jailer left the center to hand out razors to inmates. His suspension order noted he racked up nine other violations in the previous 24 months.
After-hours troubles
A nearly identical security breach was committed Nov. 20 by another jailer who left the control room open three times. He was then seen sleeping twice on the same early morning shift. He was suspended for three days without pay.
Some of the discipline related to employees' after-hour activities.
Deputy Dustin Ballew was suspended for three days for getting drunk and fighting at the Rookies Sports Bar & Grill in Montgomery County after he, a former jailer and another man were asked to leave. As they left, Ballew got in a fight with club bouncers.
He admitted to a Montgomery County sheriff's sergeant, called to the August 2010 fracas, that he had consumed several pitchers of beer.
"I am completely drunk," said Ballew, who had a handgun in his back pocket. "I am not driving. I'm just hanging out."
Ballew was arrested at the bar and charged with making a terroristic threat, but that charge was dismissed in January.
One deputy was fired for giving cocaine to his girlfriend and later stalking her.
A records clerk was terminated after his arrest for possession of marijuana in March.
And the sheriff fired a female jailer who married a convicted felon last November but did not inform her superiors.
Facebook problems
Patrol Sgt. Gary S. Rodgers was reprimanded for creating a hostile work environment for the deputies assigned to him in northwest patrol district, using profanity in criticisms of him in person and on his Facebook page.
"Taking a break from reading these frigging offense reports. Aren't they teaching anyone how to write in school anymore?" the exasperated sergeant wrote on his Facebook page.
Detention officer Nadeem Aslam and another jailer were reprimanded for making false entries in September 2011 on the doors of segregation cells to ensure high-risk inmates were checked on every 30 minutes. Failure to check the cells has allowed inmates on suicide watch to kill themselves in the county and city jails.
'Tough and fair
Garcia outlined steps he has taken, including sexual harassment training and upgrading supervisors, that he said have restored public faith in his office.
"Inmates in the jail include murderers, rapists, robbers and world-class manipulators from the darker side of society," Garcia said. "We work hard to provide the training and supervision that our front-line employees need to minimize incidents that result in disciplinary action as our personnel react to those challenges. The fact that you have records on disciplinary cases shows my dedication to dealing with problems in a tough and fair way."