TX parole officers allegedly taxed parolee drug dealers, Evins JCOs arrested for official oppression

Depressing story of corruption out of the Houston parole office from the Austin Statesman's Mike Ward, whose story ("Parole officers, youth prison workers busted in separate crackdowns," July 1) opened:

Four Texas parole officers were jailed in Houston on Monday as authorities began the first arrests in a continuing, year-long federal and state investigation into allegations that the officers took payoffs to ignore drug-trafficking and other illegal activity by recently freed convicts. ...

In Houston, U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson said the indictments allege that the four arrested parole officers took took bribes averaging $1,000 to allow them to continue dealing drugs. On one occasion, the payoff was $3,000.

The arrested officers — identified as April L. Carson, 35, of Missouri City, and Crystal M. Washington, 52; Darlene J. Muhammad, 42, and Ernie Rogers, 56, all of Houston — were to be arraigned on federal charges, according to authorities. They said bond was not immediately set.

Officials said the investigation is continuing, hinting that other arrests are likely.

Federal authorities said the four officers worked at two Houston parole offices, where allegations of bribery and exchange of sexual favors had been under investigation for some time.

Though the timeline and precise chain of events underlying this episode remain unclear, Ward wrote that the investigation was initiated after state Sen. John Whitmire's office "was tipped by an inmate who said he was being shaken down for money and sex "

Separately, reported Ward, juvenile correctional officers from the Evins unit in South Texas face allegations of excessive force, official oppression and covering up misconduct:

In a separate case, juvenile-justice system director Mike Griffiths [Monday] announced the arrests of three employees at the Evins lockup, including security director Pete Martinez. The other two employees were identified as Juan Tamez and Julian Fuentes, both correctional officers.

The Evins lockup has been plagued by gang violence and assaults by youths on staff and other youths for nearly two years.

Griffiths said Tamez and Fuentes, both alleged to have used excessive force on teen-aged lawbreakers incarcerated at the lockup, face official oppression charges, and Martinez is accused of falsifying records concerning the abuse.

He said that three youths who were identified as victims did not sustain serious injuries.

In addition to the three employees who face criminal charges, seven other Evins staff members have been suspended for having knowledge of the alleged abuse but failing to report it, according to Griffiths.

 Ugly, disturbing allegations.

MORE: See more detail on the situation at TJJD's Evins unit from the McAllen Monitor, July 2:

Three employees at an Hidalgo County juvenile detention facility were arrested last week for allegedly using excessive force against inmates.

Officers from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General arrested Evins Regional Juvenile Center correctional officers Juan Tamez and Julian Fuentes, along with Evins Director of Security Pete Martinez between June 21 and 27.

Tamez and Fuentes were charged with official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor, and Martinez was charged with tampering or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony. ...

A probable cause affidavit against Martinez charges him with deleting a video that showed Fuentes mistreating an inmate.

On April 8, an inmate who had been in Evins for almost two years was ordered to a special detention area for being disruptive, the affidavit said. Fuentes escorted the handcuffed inmate, and while doing so twisted the inmate’s arm, slammed him against a concrete cell wall and his bunk. Then, after the teenager told Fuentes to stop, the jailer slammed the youth hard against the cell floor and fell on top of him.

The youth was being cooperative at the time of his mistreatment, the affidavit said. Fuentes admitted to investigators that he intentionally physically mistreated the youth.

After the incident, Fuentes’ direct supervisor told him that the violence had been recorded on camera, but that Martinez had deleted the video.

Details of Tamez’s arrest were not available at press time Tuesday. His charges are identical to Fuentes’. The probable cause against Martinez does not mention any incident involving Tamez.

Dutton files drug-reform bills, fix to law enforcement exception in Public Information Act

State Rep. Harold Dutton yesterday filed a series of bills I support, including one which must warm the cockles of Vikrant Reddy's heart at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, acting as it does on one of his suggestions at Tuesday's legislative briefing on indigent defense. Dutton 's HB 184 would reduce the penalty for possession of less than two ounces of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, which is a ticket-only offense. That would mean, among other things, that counties wouldn't have to hire those folks a lawyer. Another bill, HB 182, would lower the penalty class for possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance from a state jail felony to a Class A misdemeanor. Combined, these two bills would save counties large sums in indigent defense costs and reduce pressure on TDCJ from warehousing low-level drug offenders.

Both Texas' experience with juvenile offenders and California's experience shifting low-level adult offenders to counties have demonstrated that less serious offenders can be adequately supervised at the local level and it's cheaper and more effective to do that whenever possible.

Dutton has another good bill, HB 183, which amends the official oppression statute to make it official oppression if a public servant acting under the color of their office or employment "intentionally subjects another to excessive physical force." This would be a third degree felony if the actor is a police officer; just a Class A if your city council member or other non-badged public servant decides to use excessive physical force.

Dutton's HB 188 would expand affirmative "Romeo and Juliet" defense to statutory rape clause to include youth up to five years apart only if they were in high-school together at the time the act occurred. A reasonable caveat.

Finally, perhaps most near and dear to my own heart, Rep. Dutton has filed legislation (HB 193) to re-establish the old rule regarding law enforcement records under the Public Information Act, making information about criminal investigations public once the investigation is complete (unless the material falls under another of a long list of possible exceptions, which is often the case). See this Grits' discussion of the topic from a prior session.