KIM OGG GETS GRAND JURY TO INDICT SIX MORE COPS INVOLVED IN HARDY STREET RAID

Six Houston police officers indicted in Harding Street investigation

 

By St. John Barned-Smith

 

Houston Chronicle

January 25, 2021

 

A Harris County grand jury has indicted a Houston narcotics officer on a murder charge and five other current and former Houston police officers with crimes stemming from a yearslong probe into the 2019 Harding Street raid, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Monday.

Felipe Gallegos, a current narcotics officer, is accused of shooting homeowner Dennis Tuttle. The indictment says that on Jan. 28, 2019, Gallegos “did then and there unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly cause the death of Dennis Tuttle, hereinafter called the Complainant, by shooting him with a deadly weapon, namely, a firearm.”

The indictments — which also include eight allegations of engaging in organized crime to commit overtime theft and records tampering — are the latest development following the January 2019 raid of 7815 Harding St., which ended in the deaths of homeowners Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58.

“The consequences of corruption are that two innocent ordinary people were killed in their homes, four police officers were shot, one of them paralyzed,” Ogg said.

With Monday’s indictments, 12 current and former officers have now been charged for their role in the raid or other misconduct discovered in a subsequent investigation into the affair.

“And now, all of them will face Harris County jurors who will decide their fate,” Ogg said.

Three current and former officers, Nadeem Ashraf, Oscar Pardo, and Cedell Lovings, were charged with aggregate theft of between $30,000 and $150,000, and with tampering with government records. The charges are first-degree felonies and carry a maximum of life in prison. The officers conspired to falsify overtime and other records, according to the district attorney, which is why they face organized crime charges.

“The organized crime that they were indicted for is aggregate overtime theft. Making false entries into the offense reports and other records are the basis of the tampering of governmental documents,” Ogg said. “It’s doing it as a group that allows us to charge and the grand jury to listen to organized crime charges.”

In the days after the operation, police announced that Gerald Goines, a veteran narcotics officer and the leader of the raid, was under investigation for lying about buying drugs from the Harding Street home. The scandal prompted several other investigations, including a federal civil rights probe, and a massive review by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office of cases that Goines and his colleagues had handled.

Goines was later charged with murder, tampering with government records and violating Nicholas’ and Tuttle’s civil rights. His partner, Steven Bryant, was charged with tampering with government records. Both men retired from the department.

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Harris County District Attorney: list of current and former Houston Police Department officers indicted

Felipe Gallegos - (HPD) was indicted for murder in the death of Dennis Tuttle. The charge is a first-degree felony and carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

Other officers indicted on first-degree felonies Monday who face a maximum of life in prison if convicted are:

Oscar Pardo - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree)

Cedell Lovings - (Status Unclear) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree)

Nadeem Ashraf - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree)

Two officers who were already facing charges were also indicted on first-degree felonies:

Clemente Reyna - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree)

Thomas Wood - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree)

The following officers are charged with second-degree felonies. If convicted, they face 2 to 20 years in prison:

Frank Medina - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree)

Griff Maxwell - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree)

One officer who was charged last year was also indicted Monday on a second-degree felony:

Hodgie Armstrong - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree)

Goines - (No longer with HPD, retired) was previously indicted for two counts of felony murder.

Bryant - (No longer with HPD, retired) previously charged with tampering.

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In a written statement posted on Twitter, Chief Art Acevedo reiterated past comments that his department’s investigation led to charges against Goines and Bryant and said he believed Gallegos “responded appropriately to the deadly threat” while trying to execute the warrant on Tuttle’s home.

“I am disheartened this process has taken two years and that the officer who was willing to testify was not afforded the opportunity to do so by the grand jury,” said Acevedo, noting that the officers indicted Monday who remained active HPD officers have been relieved of duty.

Neither Acevedo nor Ogg has ever released the ballistics report showing which officers shot Tuttle or Nicholas.

Lovings was one of the officers shot in the raid and is paralyzed from the neck down. Two former narcotics supervisors, Clemente Reyna and Thomas Wood — who were previously charged with overtime theft and records tampering — were also indicted Monday on engaging in organized criminal activity.

Three current and former officers, Frank Medina, Griff Maxwell and Hodgie Armstrong, were indicted on second-degree charges of engaging in organized criminal activity by stealing between $2,500 and $30,000 and records tampering; those charges carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison.

Armstrong retired from the department shortly after the fatal raid; Maxwell retired in January 2020.

Even as Ogg praised the two-year probe — which she described as a “game changer” into how the prosecutors handle narcotics cases — union officials and attorneys for the accused officers lambasted the latest indictments.

Reyna’s attorney accused Ogg of filing “unfounded charges for political gain” and said Ogg was “repackaging” indictments from July to deflect from recent negative publicity.

“She is continuing to try to criminalize administrative errors,” Andrews said.

Wood’s attorney, Ed McClees, compared the indictments to “political pandering” based on administrative errors and said he looked forward to fighting them in court.

Rusty Hardin, who is representing Gallegos, said he would be releasing a statement Tuesday. Houston Police Officers’ Union President Douglas Griffith said union officials would be responding to the latest indictments on Tuesday at a news conference at 3 p.m.

A lawyer for Nicholas’ relatives said the latest indictments left several key questions unanswered.

“How high does the corruption of HPD Narcotics Squad 15 go and why has the City and HPD fought so hard, still, to conceal the basic facts about what happened before, during and after the murderous raid?” attorney Mike Doyle said. “The Nicholas family is grateful for news of the district attorney’s continuing work on the case and urges the mayor and police chief to finally end the coverup of the full facts they have been sitting on for so long.”

So far, prosecutors have identified more than 150 convictions on cases in which Goines was involved that they believe may need to be overturned. Three defendants have had convictions overturned. Lawyers for relatives of the slain couple have also signaled their intent to sue the officers and the city.

As the scandal widened, Ogg announced in July that a grand jury had indicted Goines, Bryant, Wood, Reyna and Armstrong on charges of overtime theft and records tampering. Former Narcotics Lt. Robert Gonzales was also charged with one count of misappropriation of fiduciary responsibility.

At the time, Ogg described the officers’ behavior as “straight-up graft,” which she said “can literally rot an institution from the inside out.”

Court documents filed in those cases show investigators used cellphone records to try to show that officers and their supervisors were lying when they said they were together for operations such as confidential informant payments — but weren’t actually present.

And defense attorneys for the accused men have lambasted Ogg’s prosecutors for refusing to turn over critical evidence in the case, including an initial offense report prepared by DA investigators and cellphone mapping.

Twice, judges have ordered prosecutors to turn over the information, but Ogg’s subordinates have appealed both orders.

On Monday, Ogg rebuffed criticism that her prosecutors have refused to turn over evidence to defense attorneys.

“We have a disagreement about work product,” she said. “And because of that disagreement, we’re seeking legal relief from a ruling that a visiting judge made instead of Judge (Frank) Aguilar, and so we’re not hiding anything.”