A grand jury from Texas indicted a Houston police officer on Monday on a murder charge and indicted eight other current and former police officers in what the authorities described as a long-term scheme to steal extra money that was discovered after an investigation of a deadly 2019 operation.
Officer Felipe Gallegos was charged with murder on January 28, 2019, murder of Dennis Tuttle, 59, after members of a Houston Police Department drug squad conducted an anti-drug operation at his home, the Harris County prosecutor said. , Kim Ogg told reporters.
Tuttle’s wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and her dog were also killed in a shootout with authorities.
The other police officers indicted on Monday face first and second degree charges of involvement in organized criminal activities, theft by a public official and tampering with government records. They are Oscar Pardo, Cedell Lovings, Nadeem Ashraf, Clemente Reyna, Thomas Wood, Frank Medina, Griff Maxwell and Hodgie Armstrong, said Ogg.
Several of the policemen were previously charged in the failed operation. Another police officer, Gerald Goines, was charged last year with two counts of murder in the case. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $ 150,000 bail. Goines’ partner was also arrested at the time.
Three of the officers indicted on Monday are retired, Ogg’s office said. One policeman’s status is unclear and the rest are still employees of the police department, 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 the corruption are that two innocent people and their dog were shot dead in their home by the police,” said Ogg, adding that four policemen were shot and one was paralyzed.
The operation came after Goines was accused of lying to a judge to obtain a “no-beat” warrant to search Tuttle and Nichols’ home, Ogg said. An investigation triggered by the shooting revealed that police were involved in the scheme to steal funds from overtime, she said.
Ogg did not provide further details about the scheme, saying more information would be released in court proceedings. All but one of the current and former officers were part of Narcotics Squad 15, she said.
Gallegos’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, declined to comment. A lawyer for Reyna, Lisa Andrews, called the charge of involvement in the crime organization “ridiculous perversion of the law” and accused Ogg of trying to score political points by indicting police officers.
“Sergeant Reyna, after dedicating 30 years of immaculate service to the Houston Police Department, awaits his day in court, where Ogg’s corrupt political charge will be exposed,” she said.
Wood’s lawyer, Edward McClees, called the charges “totally baseless” and said a jury would acquit him. An attorney for Armstrong did not immediately respond to requests for comment and efforts to contact the other officers were unsuccessful.