IAPE Evidence Blog

www.ksat.com
BYLINE: Brian Mylar, KSAT 12 News Reporter
Link to Article

Bexar County, TX

FBI, Bexar County Sheriff’s Depart­ment Inves­ti­gat­ing Alleged Wrong­do­ing By Nar­cotics Officers

SAN ANTONIO — Sev­eral Bexar County sheriff’s deputies Mon­day were under inves­ti­ga­tion for pos­si­ble wrong­do­ing involv­ing nar­cotics cases.

Bexar County Sher­iff Amadeo Ortiz said thou­sands of dol­lars worth of drugs — and thou­sands more in cash — were con­fis­cated reg­u­larly by Bexar County sheriff’s nar­cotics investigators.

Ortiz said some of those same inves­ti­ga­tors are under the micro­scope for pos­si­ble wrong­do­ing involv­ing drugs and money.

“Once in a while, some­body will be tempted and they’ll take a bite out of the apple,” said Ortiz.

He said the FBI brought the pos­si­ble prob­lem to their atten­tion, but added that noth­ing ille­gal has been found so far.

“We’ve moved some of the peo­ple that are under inves­ti­ga­tion so that they won’t be on the street any­more, but other than that, we’re still look­ing at it,” said Ortiz.

Oritz said pro­ce­dures are in place to make sure deputies are mon­i­tored in the locked prop­erty room, but said there are “always cracks in the armor.”

The prop­erty room is behind sev­eral locked doors and is under con­stant video surveillance.

“The nar­cotics are dropped into the nar­cotics safe,” said Deputy Leonard Craw­ford, a prop­erty room officer.

He said it would be hard for money or drugs to dis­ap­pear here because there would be both phys­i­cal and elec­tronic evi­dence, includ­ing both paper and com­puter trails.

Ortiz said morale is low because of the inves­ti­ga­tion, but that the vast major­ity of employ­ees are “good.”

For those inclined to steal from the depart­ment, “by all means, we’ll bring ‘em to jus­tice,” said Ortiz.

The Deputy Sheriff’s Asso­ci­a­tion of Bexar County said it does not con­done ille­gal activ­i­ties among its mem­bers and is look­ing for­ward to the out­come of the investigation.

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org