The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) arrested one of their deputies Monday following an investigation that confirmed an illegal search that he carried out of a car in 2019, officers said.
BCSO mentioned that 51-year-old Joel Chavez, a deputy employed with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office since 2016, had carried out a traffic stop in September 2019, KSAT. com reported.
According to the report that Chavez submitted, the owner of the vehicle, a 39-year-old man, had managed substance in plain view of the car’s passenger floor. The traffic cease led to the arrest of the driver of the car for 2 counts of a managed substance.
Later, the man who was arrested submitted a video from a digicam installed in his car. The video was sent to the sheriff’s office and it contradicted the claim that was earlier reported by the deputy.
The incident led to an officer investigation which was carried out by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Division and the Public Integrity Unit. The investigation that ensued proved that Chavez did lie on the report he filed in September 2019. The driver’s footage of the arrest proved that Chavez made an illegal search and lied on his official report. The driver did not have any controlled substance in the car at all.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar issued an order of dismissal for Chavez, who now faces charges for official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to Bexar County Sheriff Salazar, Chavez, as a deputy, had crossed the line when he lied on the official assertion. He claimed that the now-former deputy was proven to have committed a clear misconduct and is now being dismissed.
In a statement, Salazar said, “In making an arrest, this now former deputy’s conduct clearly crossed the line into blatant misconduct. In the interest of our integrity and maintenance of standards, he is being held accountable to the fullest extent.”
