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Cases against defendants dismissed
Published April 5, 2009
Since a grand jury indicted a former West Columbia police detective on nine charges, including stealing and using drugs from the department evidence locker, prosecutors have dismissed felony charges against 10 people and more dismissals could follow.
Former detective Joseph McElroy, 32, used confidential informants and helped initiate drug raids that led to those defendants’ arrests.
But since his indictment, many of the cases have been dismissed because prosecutors feared McElroy’s hand in those investigations would hurt their chances with juries. Some of those defendants also have pleaded to lesser charges, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said.
“Guilty people walked,” Yenne said. “People were not held accountable who should have been.”
Yenne said she is confident the majority of the cases McElroy might have affected are processed, though some could crop up eventually.
“It is important for prosecutors and law enforcement to do things the right way,” Yenne said. “This did affect the criminal justice system significantly.”
McELROY'S CHARGES
While prosecutors continue to make sure cases McElroy investigated are disposed of, McElroy himself has his own charges to worry about.
McElroy resigned May 20 when West Columbia Police Chief Michael Palmer asked him to turn over a “small amount” of cocaine listed in the department’s possession. Palmer said he asked McElroy for the cocaine during a routine check for evidence listed in the detective’s possession.
Brazoria County online court records indicate there will be a plea hearing in the case May 5.
Yenne declined to comment because the case still is pending. McElroy’s attorney Robert Rice, also declined to comment about the case.
Yenne has said police discovered McElroy stole a .22-caliber Ruger pistol and a ring from the evidence locker and pawned them for a combined $200.
McElroy’s indictment includes one count of theft of a firearm by a public servant, four counts of tampering with physical evidence, two counts of forgery and another two counts of tampering with a governmental record. All are felonies.
He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
'AN IMPACT THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM'
Several Brazoria County lawyers representing defendants who had charges dismissed said prosecutors would have had a hard time proceeding in light of McElroy’s indictment.
Attorney Buddy Stevens represents Michael Woodson, 32, of West Columbia, who was arrested on March 15, 2008, after McElroy pulled him over, court documents state. McElroy found crack cocaine and prescription drugs inside Woodson’s car after he was arrested on a suspended license charge, a probable cause affidavit states.
Woodson was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, that was eventually dismissed. He did plead guilty to another second-degree possession charge that McElroy didn’t investigate and Woodson received deferred adjudication, Stevens said.
Had the case gone to trial, it would have been hard for a jury to convict Woodson with the investigator charged with theft, Stevens said.
“You would have had to bring it up and impeach him,” Stevens said of McElroy. “One thing about juries is they don’t tolerate someone coming into court and obviously stating a falsehood for either side. It has an impact throughout the system.”
Attorney Jeff Gilbert’s client, Christina DeWitt, 33, of West Columbia was arrested for marijuana possession in February 2008 on a search warrant McElroy drafted.
The charges against DeWitt were dismissed in July after she presented receipts showing she was out of town at the time the search warrant was executed, Gilbert said.
“I think they would have had a hard time presenting it to a jury,” he said.
Ray Anthony Daniels, 25, of West Columbia also was arrested after the same search warrant was executed. Several charges of possession of a controlled substance against Daniels were dismissed.
“It calls into question his integrity,” said Calvin Parks, Daniels’ attorney. “Which would undermine what any jury would believe. Their word is pretty important.”
While some of the cases were dismissed outright, some defendants still pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.
McElroy helped investigate the case against Chaz Jamal Donley, 23, who was accused of shooting and killing Timothy Grovey, 29, in the chest at a home in the 400 block of Long Street about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2007. Though McElroy worked on the case, Donley pleaded guilty in October to manslaughter and now is serving a 20-year sentence.
“We were determined to make Chaz Donley’s case without a present officer” from the scene, Yenne said.
None of the defendants contacted returned phone calls seeking comment. Other defendants and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.
CONFIDENTIAL CHANGE
According to court documents, many of the dismissed charges were based on information gathered by confidential informants.
The West Columbia Police Department has not used confidential informants to bust drug operations since McElroy left the department, Palmer said.
“I’ve put a hold on use of CIs because we didn’t have an accurate list of all of McElroy’s CIs he used and I don’t want to take a risk of using any of the CIs he used,” Palmer said.
Informant names are supposed to be kept written down and updated constantly, but Palmer said the department has found several informants who weren’t on McElroy’s list.
The informants either were recruited by McElroy or approached the department about becoming one — usually to find a way out of a legal situation they were in, Palmer said.
“There are lots of different ways to use a CI,” Palmer said. “The investigators can watch them, they can use cameras, they can use body mics — there’s lots of different ways to do it.”
According to the reports, McElroy did it visually.
“He would go out and watch the buys himself, he would make copies of the buy money and he’d give the buy money to the CI’s and they would go out and get the drugs,” Palmer said.
McElroy then told superiors he would meet the informant after the buy and search them and their vehicle for the drugs purchased, Palmer said.
“There were times he would take a patrol officer with him to observe,” Palmer said. “But most of the time Joe was by himself because he did it at odd hours of the night. Sometimes he did it during the day while he was on duty, but most of the time he worked his CIs at night.”
Though many of the drug arrests during the time McElroy was with the department were made using informants, the majority came from officers patrolling the city, police Lt. Darryl Tiner said.
“You get more stuff off of patrol than anywhere,” Tiner said.
Palmer said McElroy was never tasked with doing undercover work himself.
DEPARTMENT PROCEDURES
The hold on using confidential informants was just one of the changes the department made after McElroy left, West Columbia Mayor Laurie Kincannon said.
“Everybody has continued on with drug arrests, and the police department is a lot more vigilant about procedures, and the chief put some procedures in place to prevent that from ever happening again,” Kincannon said.
One of those changes includes keeping a closer eye on evidence, West Columbia Detective Curtis Wulf said.
“We have random inventory of the evidence room performed by Lt. Tiner or Chief Palmer and we have a bar code on each evidence item,” Wulf said.
McElroy investigated all felony cases while at West Columbia, and he also followed up on some misdemeanor cases, Palmer said.
“Any evidence that was submitted to the department was his responsibility,” Palmer said.
An upgraded video system and a new Computer Automated Dispatch system also have made reports and evidence chain of custody easier to monitor, Palmer said.
“We put in an $8,000 video system that records 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it records audio and video,” Palmer said. “There’s a video camera in the evidence room now and there wasn’t before. It also records in infrared, so it records in the dark, too.”
The department had a video system before, but the cameras only recorded when someone pushed a button, Palmer said.
“The system is just better controlled,” Palmer said. “There’s better custody of everything, and it’s also something that can’t be deleted by anybody. It’s just a way to better track the evidence so it can’t disappear. We didn’t have that option when McElroy was here.”
FAMILIAR ALLEGATIONS
While McElroy faces charges for taking evidence from a locker, it is not the first time he was suspected of doing so.
Clute police discovered in April 2006 that McElroy signed a logbook indicating he removed cocaine and prescription narcotics from an evidence locker and the drugs never showed back up.
McElroy worked for the Clute Police Department for five years before he resigned in late 2005. No charges were ever filed against McElroy on the suspicions, Clute Police Chief Mark Wicker said.
Palmer has said he was not aware of the allegations the Clute Police Department had against McElroy before he hired him.
“I don’t remember who I spoke with because it was so long ago and I don’t have McElroy’s files here anymore, but I didn’t speak with Chief Wicker,” Palmer said. “I didn’t suspect anything, so I didn’t ask that question.”
West Columbia City Manager Debbie Sutherland said the department did everything it could to check McElroy’s background, but suspicions about missing evidence from the Clute Police Department were not disclosed when Palmer called to get a reference.
“As an employer, it’s very difficult because we have that fear of lawsuits and it’s very difficult to get information that may not be black and white in their personnel files,” Sutherland said.
COMMUNITY REACTION
A more thorough interview process and strict evidence policies will keep West Columbia from facing similar issues, West Columbia Councilman Charley Tindol said.
“I think Chief Palmer did a great job with the situation that he was in, and we have to go for the future,” Tindol said.
Though the community might have lost some faith in the police department, Sutherland said the department stepped up and did all it could to handle the situation correctly.
“You want to have faith in your personnel,” Sutherland said. “When you place responsibility with an individual, you don’t look for that person to fail right off the bat,” Sutherland said. “It was unfortunate.”
Most police officers work hard and are honest, but public perception shifts against them when an officer is facing charges like those against McElroy, Stevens said.
“That’s the tragedy of it,” he said.
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McELROY CASES DISMISSED
Cases dismissed, according to court documents:
• Marcus Kimble-Hebert, 23, two counts of felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance in March 2008.
• Ruby Ann Ortiz, 23, one count of felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance in March 2008.
Charges against Hebert and Ortiz dismissed in May 2008.
Informant tipped McElroy the two were selling cocaine. Search warrant netted 6.5 grams of powdered cocaine.
A 3-month old boy at the home during the time of the search warrant was taken by another family member. Child Protective Services officials said they have no record of the case.
• Leroy Porter Farris, 28, two counts of felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance in February 2008.
• Alyssa Lisette Guajardo, 21, one count of felony possession of a controlled substance.
Charges against Farris dismissed in August 2008. Charges against Guajardo dismissed in May. Guajardo did plea guilty to unrelated charges for deferred adjudication.
McElroy was investigator in the case and delivered evidence to crime lab. McElroy said he witnessed informant purchase drugs from both, several times.
• Ray Anthony Daniels, 25, three counts of felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, one count felony possession of marijuana in January 2008.
• Christina DeWitt, 33, one count of felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance in January 2008.
Daniels’ charges dismissed in June 2008. DeWitt’s charges dismissed in July 2008.
McElroy logged in several bags of cocaine into evidence. McElroy drafted search warrant and helped serve it.
• Julie Renee Dorsett, 46, charged with felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance in January 2008.
Charge dismissed in January 2009.
McElroy assisted in search of her car. He said he found drugs in her purse after she was taken into custody.
• James Scott Long, 27, charged with felony manufacture or delivery of controlled substance in March 2008.
Charge dismissed in May 2008.
McElroy investigated the case after police said they found methamphetamine in Long’s car.
• Michael Woodson, 32, charged with two counts felony manufacture or delivery of controlled substance in March 2008.
Charge dismissed in May 2008.
Police said they pulled Woodson over after learning his license was suspended. In a search of the car, McElroy said he found crack cocaine and prescription drugs.
• Bernard Weldon White, 78, charged with assault on a public servant and trying to take a peace officer’s weapon in May 2008.
Charges dismissed in December 2008.
McElroy investigated the case. Dashboard video of the incident was misplaced.
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