Because of the report, one officer was demoted and the Texas Rangers and
a special prosecutor have been called in to investigate.
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A March 23 audit of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office’s property room uncovered several discrepancies and failures to follow procedure.
Because of the report, one officer was demoted and the Texas Rangers and a special prosecutor have been called in to investigate.
“There’s more to it than what [Facebook page Johnson County is Corrupt] has to say and when all is said and done I’ll be more than happy to talk about it,” Sheriff Bob Alford said. “There’s always more to the story than what’s said but, as long as there’s an investigation ongoing, I can’t comment on the situation now.”
Alford confirmed that JCSO Lt. Mike Gaudet has been demoted to the rank of detective but declined to comment further.
Johnson County Auditor Kirk Kirkpatrick ordered the audit in March.
“The scope of this audit included an examination of internal controls, physical inventory of randomly selected property items, and a focus on seized property of one particular search warrant,” according to the audit report generated after the fact.
The warrant in question was executed in 2013.
Several doors leading to the property room or property room office are secured by only a single lockable door handle, according to the report. Kirkpatrick recommended adding dead bolt locks to each door.
“This is important due to the nature of the property held,” according to the report. “This property includes, among other things, firearms, drugs and currency that are seized during the course of the sheriff’s office’s normal activities.”
The report also found that the sign in and sign out sheet procedures to access the property room were not always followed.
“We observed some personnel were allowed into the property room without signing this sheet,” the report reads. “These same personnel were also allowed to enter this area unescorted.”
It was also discovered that an officer, the report does not name the officer, failed to transfer seized property to the property room clerk.
“In that case, the search warrant return identified 22 items (firearms and/or ammunition) that were ordered to be secured in the property room,” according to the report. “The property room record showed only 11 of the 22 items were in the property room, including two items stored in the same case and listed in a single property record.”
A gun seized under the same search warrant in question was listed as forfeited to JCSO. However, the gun was not listed in the return on the search warrant.
When officers receive a search warrant from a judge they must also file a return warrant, which lists the items they seized. The person from whom the items were seized should also receive a receipt of the items the officers seized from them.
“All property seized under a warrant must be reported back to the magistrate who issued the warrant,” according to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. “This should be reviewed by two or more officers for accuracy.”
The property room clerk did not report that fact that only 11 items were submitted although the search warrant return indicated there were 22 items seized, according to the report.
Many items in the property room could not be or were not located where the inventory logs indicated that they should have been stored, according to the audit report.
During the March 23 audit, only one of the firearms connected to the warrant in question was listed in it’s proper place in the property room, according to the report.
“One additional firearm was stored in the property room but not listed in Quetel,” according to the report.
Quetel is the software program JCSO uses to list and inventory property.
“We continue our search with Lt. Tim Jones and Lt. Gaudet and located five more firearms in the gun cage, 4 firearms in the closet safe in the front office area and one firearm in Lt. Gaudet’s office,” according to the report.
The gun in Gaudet’s office was the one not included on the search warrant return, according to the report.
Auditors returned on March 29 and found 10 weapons and one lot of ammunition that they were unable to locate on March 23, according to the report.
“The weapons were all found to be in the property room, and the ammunition was found in the gun cage located within property room #2,” according to the report. “At this time, it is unclear why these weapons were not located and shown to auditors on March 23, during our initial visit. The sheriff’s office related to the auditors that the 10 weapons had been in the property room since the seizure on June 2013.”
Of the 22 items listed on the warrant, one item is ammunition, consisting of 10,000 to 20,000 rounds.
“Lt. Gaudet informed us that some of the ammunition had been dispensed to deputies for training purposes,” according to the report.
Johnson County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Jeff Monk on July 9, 2013, ordered the weapons in question be used or destroyed by JCSO.
“It appears the sheriff’s office has acted pursuant to this order, although its validity has been drawn into question.”
Given that the original warrant was issued by the 413th District Court in 2013 any orders as to the dispensation of any property seized under that warrant should have come from the 413th, according to the report.
The ongoing investigation hinges on part on whether JCSO officials believed they were operating correctly under the order from Monk even though such orders legally could only have come from the 413th.
The 2013 warrant stemmed from a case involving Joshua resident Ricky Don McCommas.
Officers shot and killed McCommas in June 2013 in downtown Granbury after he opened fire on Hood County officials. Law enforcement officers subsequently executed a warrant on his Joshua home at which time the guns and ammunition now in question were seized.
Kirkpatrick said he has also ordered a forensic auditor to conduct a full audit of JCSO’s property room.
That audit is unrelated to the investigation ongoing and was ordered because of the change over is sheriffs upcoming.
Alford last year decided not to seek re-election after 20 years in office.
Johnson County Stop the Offender Special Crimes Unit Commander Adam King won the Republican nomination for the office and faces no opponent in November’s general election.
“I’ve heard they’re doing the audit and investigation but don’t know anything else about the situation,” King said. “Of course, when I go in office on Jan. 1 I will conduct my own inventory to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be.”
