A Texas grand jury has indicted a Houston police officer on Monday on a murder charge and charged eight other current and former officers in what authorities described as a long-term plan to steal overtime money discovered after an investigation after a deadly raid in 2019.
Police officer Felipe Gallegos was charged on Jan. 28, 2019, with the murder of Dennis Tuttle, 59, after members of a drug attack at Houston police conducted a drug attack at his home, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. reporters.
Tuttle’s wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and their dog were also killed in a shootout with authorities.
The other officers charged Monday face charges of first- and second-degree charges of organized crime, theft by a government official and manipulation of government records. They are Oscar Pardo, Cedell Lovings, Nadeem Ashraf, Clemente Reyna, Thomas Wood, Frank Medina, Griff Maxwell and Hodgie Armstrong, Ogg said.
Several of the officers were charged earlier in the poaching charge. Another officer, Gerald Goines, was charged with two murders in the case last year. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $ 150,000 bail. Goines’ partner was also arrested at the time.
Three of the officers charged Monday have retired, Ogg’s office said. The status of one officer is unclear and the rest are still employed by police, Ogg’s office said.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union declined to comment.
“The consequences of corruption are that two innocent people and their dog were shot dead in their home by the police,” Ogg said, adding that four officers were shot and one paralyzed.
The raid came after Goines allegedly lied to a judge to get a warrant to search the house of Tuttle and Nichols, Ogg said. An investigation touched by the fire department revealed that officers were involved in the scheme to steal overtime funds, she said.
Ogg did not provide further details about the scheme, saying more information would be released during court proceedings. All but one of the current and former officers were part of Narcotics Squad 15, she said.
An attorney for Gallegos, Rusty Hardin, declined to comment. An attorney for Reyna, Lisa Andrews, called the charge of organizing crime a “ridiculous distortion of the law” and accused Ogg of trying to score political points by prosecuting police officers.
“Sergeant Reyna, after devoting 30 years of service to the Houston Police Department, is looking forward to his day in court, where Ogg’s corrupt political prosecution will be exposed,” she said.
A Wood’s attorney, Edward McClees, called the charges “completely unfounded” and said a jury would acquit him. An Armstrong attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and attempts to reach the other officers were unsuccessful.