Fired MPs denounce “cover-ups”. Tarrant Sheriff’s Office calls complaints ‘political’

Former Tarrant County sheriff’s deputies denounced patterns of behavior and a culture of failing to respond to such complaints in the office during a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Brandon Walker, Phillip Hill and Nyla Coleman said they were fired from the sheriff’s office for filing complaints against colleagues for behavior such as drug use, misuse of official resources, racial discrimination and more.

All three have filed lawsuits in federal and state courts in response to the retaliation they said they experienced.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it would be “inappropriate to speak about these cases until they are resolved in court” and accused press conference organizers of pursuing a political agenda.

While assigned to a drug squad from 2015 to 2017, Walker said he saw his partner, Jay Rotter, using drugs while on duty. Rotter was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend in Denton in August 2020.

“I believe that if the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office had taken my concerns seriously, Leslie Hartman might still be alive today,” Walker told a group of reporters and county residents outside the federal courthouse on 10th Street in Fort Worth. He became visibly emotional as he discussed Hartman’s murder.

After filing his complaint, Walker said he was subjected to retaliation, including being accused of racial slurs, being transferred and not being allowed to work overtime.

“The constant cover-ups and retaliation against those who have the integrity to stand up for what is right is unacceptable,” he said.

Former sheriff’s deputy Phillip Hill also described retaliation against him for reporting “a pattern of unlawful misuse of law enforcement resources.”

While assigned to the fugitive warrant division, Hill said he witnessed a supervisor favoring bond forfeiture warrants, “which is a little questionable because that’s the only type of warrant we’ve issued that’s with had to do with a money issue.” Someone will be paid if these warrants are served.”

The supervisor “developed a personal relationship” and provided his personal phone number to bail bondsmen who benefit from the execution of a garnishment order. The bail officers would contact the supervisor via that phone and sheriff’s deputies would be dispatched to execute the warrant.

“In this way, county resources in the form of personnel and equipment were diverted for personal use and for a for-profit business,” Hill said.

While there is nothing illegal about executing a warrant to forfeit a bond, Hill said he questions the frequency with which these types of warrants have been chosen, as well as the locations of those involved.

“I have never seen this practice in towns like Southlake, Colleyville or Keller,” he said. “Every time I watched this exercise being conducted, it was at Stop Six. It was south of Fort Worth. I think what I’m trying to do here is pretty obvious to everyone.”

The practice has a disproportionate impact on minorities, he said.

Bail officers were at times allowed into other people’s homes, which he said violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches. It also violated a law in the Texas penal code that prohibits officials from abusing the power of their office.

Former sheriff’s deputy Nyla Coleman said she also experienced retaliation from her supervisors after she filed a complaint, but could not provide details because of the ongoing litigation.

Dallas-based attorney Daryl Washington, who represents the families of people who died in the Tarrant County Jail – but not any of the former deputies – linked the cases to a culture of negligence and misconduct that ultimately led to death led by Anthony Johnson Jr., Chastity Bonner and others.

“There was a major cover-up in Tarrant County,” he said. “It’s all connected and the common denominator in all the complaints is sheriff [Bill] Waybourn…and I think that’s why Anthony isn’t here anymore.”

Washington pointed to an internal Sheriff’s Office report detailing an investigation into several jail guards for allegedly smuggling drugs into the county jail.

“What did Sheriff Waybourn do after receiving information that prison guards were bringing contraband into his facility? He closed the investigation,” Washington said. “He ended it because he didn’t want something like that to get into the community.”

The Star-Telegram spoke with the case’s lead investigator, former Lt. Robert Kelley, who was a supervisor in the criminal investigation department at the time of the investigation. That department is not adequately staffed, equipped or authorized to conduct a prison smuggling operation, he said.

While that investigation led to the firing of a prison guard who allowed inmates to make unauthorized use of a lawyer’s visiting booth, investigators found no conclusive evidence that prison guards were smuggling drugs into the prison, he said.

Kelley and the other investigators recommended that the sheriff’s office drug unit take over the case, but such an investigation did not materialize.

The sheriff’s office’s statement said the news conference was “nothing more than a political showdown by those with a bone to pick,” and noted that Waybourn’s opponent, Democrat Patrick Moses, was present at the news conference .

“It’s not about politics. It’s about leadership,” Moses said. “Leaders ensure that employees’ concerns are heard, and leaders ensure that those who are committed to the organization have the training and development necessary to enable these people to do their jobs.”

Asked whether the timing of the news conference was intended to “influence voters’ opinion of the sheriff before the election,” Hill said he was waiting for the appeal of his termination to be heard by the Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission be processed. That happened last week, he said.

Washington said he doesn’t think “influence” is the right word.

“I think ‘educate’ is a better word,” he said. “We need educated voters, and I think what these gentlemen are doing right now with this press conference is educating voters about what has been happening in Tarrant County for years, and I think that’s important.”

Carol Raburn of Arlington thanked the former sheriff’s deputies for “stepping up and doing the right thing.”

Her husband was a police officer for 38 years in Denton, Trophy Club and other law enforcement agencies in North Texas.

“I have learned to give thanks because what matters is doing the right thing,” she said. “It’s when you get out and have the courage to put things right that matters.”