IAPE Evidence Blog

The Hous­ton Chron­i­cle, chron.com
BYLINE: CINDY HORSWELL, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, cindy.horswell@chron.com
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Lib­erty County, TX

Judge gives him 1-year term on fed­eral charge

A vet­eran peace offi­cer from Lib­erty County has been ordered to report to prison on Aug. 1 to begin a one-year sen­tence imposed on Thurs­day for felony firearm and mail fraud violations.

Harry Kel­ley, a for­mer cap­tain with the Lib­erty County Sheriff’s Office, had asked the fed­eral court in Beau­mont for pro­ba­tion, while pros­e­cu­tors rec­om­mended the 55-year-old spend at least three years behind bars.

“We expected a greater sen­tence in light of the fact that Kel­ley had abused his posi­tion,” Robert Hobbs, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Thurs­day after­noon. “But the felony con­vic­tions mean Kel­ley will never work as a peace offi­cer again.”

Kel­ley received less than the min­i­mum fed­eral guide­lines for punishment.

Defense attor­ney Jack Zim­mer­mann said the case would be appealed.

“Any time a client of ours goes to prison, it’s not a vic­tory for us,” Zim­mer­mann said.

U.S. Dis­trict Judge Thad Heart­field denied Kelley’s request to be released on bond while his case was being appealed and ordered him to report to prison on Aug. 1.

Guns-for-bullets scheme

Kel­ley, a 25-year vet­eran, was ter­mi­nated from his job at the sheriff’s depart­ment after his con­vic­tion in Feb­ru­ary. He has been work­ing as a sales­man while await­ing sen­tenc­ing since then, his attor­ney said.

Jurors con­victed Kel­ley of con­spir­ing to improp­erly acquire at least 100,000 rounds of .40-caliber, hollow-point semi­au­to­matic ammu­ni­tion that by law can only be used by law enforce­ment. Doc­u­ments showed Kel­ley exchanged the pow­er­ful ammu­ni­tion for 86 new weapons that he sold through a busi­ness he ran called “K Ventures.”

Jurors also con­victed Kel­ley of schem­ing to acquire six Glock pis­tols that shoot non-lethal pro­jec­tiles for train­ing that can be pur­chased only by law enforce­ment agen­cies. The jury found he did not have the author­ity to make the pur­chase for the Cleve­land Police Depart­ment and intended to turn over these weapons for non-law enforce­ment use.

Prop­erty room inquiry

The jury also found he con­spired to buy laser sights that are restricted to gov­ern­ment, mil­i­tary and law enforce­ment agen­cies. He pre­tended the sights were for the sheriff’s depart­ment but actu­ally turned them over to a gun store owner in Hum­ble, jurors decided.

At the same time, the jury found there was insuf­fi­cient evi­dence to con­vict Kel­ley of the most seri­ous offenses they were con­sid­er­ing — ille­gally sell­ing more than a hun­dred weapons taken from the Cleve­land police and sheriff’s prop­erty rooms.

Kel­ley had been a detec­tive and cus­to­dian of the evi­dence room for Cleve­land police until his super­vi­sor there, Henry Pat­ter­son, was elected sher­iff in 2009. Pat­ter­son hired Kel­ley and made him a cap­tain and allowed him access to the prop­erty room there.

Kel­ley declined any com­ment Thurs­day. The sheriff’s depart­ment also declined com­ment, said spokesman Rex Evans.

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