Police officers getting caught violating the law for whatever reason is always alarming, but it’s especially disconcerting when there’s a group of cops involved and they’ve been on the force long enough to really, really know better.

Fort Worth Cops Fired for Faking Traffic Tickets to Boost Their Pay

Yesterday, six (6) Fort Worth police officers were fired outright because an investigation revealed they were messing with traffic tickets in order to get fake overtime pay available under via a federal grant where federal money is available to pay for police officer overtime (the “Selective Traffic Enforcement Program”).  

Right now, they’ve lost their jobs and their personal reputations but no one has been arrested. Yet. Expect felony charges soon, folks: the U.S. Attorney’s Office is getting its ducks in a row, using the investigation results to build their case. 

And they’ll be going after these six police officers as well as three other experienced cops (one with 25 years on the force) who quit rather than get booted.  

The Nine Cops Who Allegedly Got Caught With Their Hands in the Federal Overtime Cookie Jar

Rookies, you might think, would be tempted to fudge overtime hours – they’re new, they’re gullible.  They’d be the ones culled out of the organization over time, right?  Well, that’s not the scenario here. 

Consider the length of service on the Fort Worth Police Force for the following nine former police officers who allegedly worked the system to get paid for hours they did not work:

• Robert Peoples — 22 yrs (fired);
• Patrick Aguilar – 18 yrs (fired);
• James Dunn – 11 yrs (fired);
• Maurice Middleton — 11 yrs (fired);
• Marcus Mosqueda — 7 yrs (fired);
• Ronald Wigginton — 5 yrs (fired);
• Herman Young – 25 yrs (resigned);
• Jonathan Johnson — 8 yrs (resigned);
• James McDade — 5 yrs (resigned).

Last week, in the Southern District Court of Judge Melinda Harmon, another bank robbery case wound up, with the jury coming back with a guilty verdict.  The guy robbed the First Bank of Conroe of $28,000 and now, he faces a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in a federal prison. 

Stupid risk analysis, right?  While $28,000 isn’t chump change, is it really worth the risk of 20 years behind bars and a $250K fine?  Really??? And, that’s even before we add in the Big Twist to the story:  the robber here was a TWENTY-TWO year veteran of the Conroe Police Department.

That’s right.  A cop who’d been on the job since 1988 was the robber who was busted, charged, tried, convicted.  That’s a long time to be a police officer.  Twenty-two years ago a postage stamp cost 24 cents, a gallon of gas was 91 cents, Ronald Reagan was President and Michael Jackson had a big hit with “Dirty Diana.” 

So a cop who should have known better instead got into some money trouble, and having some knowledge of the First Bank of Conroe since he’d worked there part-time as a security guard for NINETEEN years, put on a White Motorcycle Helmet, rented a car, and walked into the bank demanding money.

The bank clerk recognized his voice.  Others at the bank recognized him by the way he walked, as well as his clothing.  They found the helmet at his home. 

Try this. Put a helmet on your head, or a bag, or a pillowcase, and walk into any place where you’ve hung out for a 19 years, say something like “This is a HoldUp” and see if they are shocked, shocked, shocked and don’t have any idea who you are. 

Please.  With this prime example of the Conroe Police, you gotta wonder if some professional thieves aren’t reading this story and thinking about Conroe as something akin to Nirvana.

It all started when a pawn shop over in Humble, Texas, was subjected to a search by the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.  ATF had a warrant, and they took possession of 112 guns that — come to find out — were last seen in the evidence locker of a Texas police department.

How’d they get into a pawn shop from a police evidence room? No one knew, and an investigation began.

Now, it seems that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Texas Rangers are working together to solve this mystery.  Their latest tally?  Over 500 guns are missing from the Cleveland Police Department. 

While the FBI and the Texas Rangers both keep their ongoing investigations pretty darn quiet until they’re good and ready to reveal things, they do have to file a document in court now and then in order to do their job. And, the media has been monitoring court documents with both the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle keeping tabs on this Missing Gun Mystery.

Piecemealing so far, we know that a Liberty County Sheriff’s Department Captain, name of Harold Kelley, together with some others whose names we don’t know (yet) were allegedly in a gun-trafficking scheme.  Seems Captain Kelley was the Custodian of the Evidence Room, and had one of only two keys for the place.  Who had the other key?  Man name of Henry Patterson …  Henry was serving as the assistant police chief at the time. 

And, here’s the smoking gun — Kelley’s signature was on the official evidence files for 98 of those guns found in the Humble pawn shop.  He’d signed to confirm that the guns had been destroyed.

What about the rest of the 500?  The Texas Rangers and the FBI are out there, looking for them.  Betcha they find them, too ….