5 HPD officers charged in bribery racket Allegedly got protection money from bars By RACHEL GRAVES Houston Chronicle July 12, 2003, 12:00AM
Five Houston police officers were arrested and jailed Friday, accused of shaking down cantina owners for protection money and giving warnings of upcoming raids for prostitution and other illegal activities.
The incident is the latest controversy for a police department rocked by shoddy DNA testing in its crime lab, which has called into question hundreds of convictions; the indictment and acquittal of the police chief on a perjury charge; and the mass arrests of 278 people on trespassing charges that were later dismissed.
Sgt. Freddie T. Gonzales, 41, and officers Rolando Cruz, 35; Salve R. Ramirez, 45; David A. Gamboa, 44; and Javier Gomez, 40, were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony with a penalty as high as life in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Gomez also was charged with taking an undercover police officer's gun, a third-degree felony with a penalty of two to 10 years in prison and a fine as high as $10,000.
Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford would not explain how the gun was taken, but he did say an undercover officer posed as a cantina employee as part of a sting operation to catch the officers. One of the arrested officers told the undercover officer, thinking he was a bar employee, that a raid was coming, Bradford said.
The five took in several hundred dollars a weekend at some two dozen east and northeast Houston bars, the chief said.
"I'm extremely disappointed," he said.
All five are veteran police officers who have between 10 and 19 years of service with HPD. They are relieved of duty with pay.
Bradford said their length of service indicated that "someone clearly knew what was expected of them, and they made a conscious decision" to do wrong.
Bradford and Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal stressed that the alleged problem does not appear to extend beyond the five arrested officers.
"There is no reason to believe that this is epidemic throughout the Houston Police Department," Rosenthal said. "We have a good Police Department."
The arrested officers were allowing illegal activity such as drugs, prostitution and underage drinking at the cantinas, Bradford said.
Prostitution and violence at cantinas are major issues for neighborhoods in the East End and near the Port of Houston, said City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, whose district includes those areas.
"There are some in my district that have been a real problem, and I've always been puzzled that we couldn't shut them down," she said.
Alvarado said there are often indications of prostitution, including young girls in provocative clothing carrying a lot of cash. But police could never catch anyone in the act.
"Whenever we'd arrive, the illegal activity was over," she said.
Bradford would not give the names of the cantinas that were involved and said police are investigating to see if there are more than the two dozen they know about.
Lucimar Nogueras, who lives across the street from El Mexico, on Canal Street near Lockwood, was horrified to hear that police may have been helping to keep the bar open.
"We have drunk guys all over the place when there are little kids playing outside," she said. "Every night there's like shootings and stuff."
Bradford said the bribery was going on for at least several months.
The officers had each had minor disciplinary issues in the past, including short-term suspensions and written reprimands for things such as failure to appear in court and multiple car accidents.
"There's nothing there in the file that puts them in what I would call a red-flag situation," Bradford said.
Houston Police Officers' Union President Hans Marticiuc said he will assume the officers are innocent unless a jury finds them guilty.
"It doesn't sound very pretty," he said, but added, "We want to see these people afforded their due-process rights just like any other citizen."
Chronicle reporters Roma Khanna, Dale Lezon and Danny Perez contributed to this story.