by Bob Walsh
Regular
readers will remember that I have written two of three times about this
over a period of months. It seems that the semi-final shoe has
dropped, with a total of two officers being recommended for termination
and ten others facing lesser discipline.
Officer
Valentino Rodriguez, had worked at the California State Prison,
Sacramento County (New Folsom Prison) until his death due to fentanyl
exposure at his home in West Sacramento in October of 2020 at the age of
30. He had been an officer in the Investigative Services Unit at the
prison. This is an elite posting generally speaking and the unit does
criminal investigations at the prison and also functions as the internal
affairs investigators. Sgt. Kevin Steele, 56, died at his family home
in Missouri this last August. His cause of death is listed as suicide.
Rodriguez left a record of hazing, harassment and threats by prison
staff.
After Rodriguez's
death Steele filed a wistleblower complaint accusing uppper staff at the
prison of ignoring Rodriguez's complaints. He also accused staff of
tampering evidence. He also passed on information wherein Rodriguez
alleged staff members planted evidence on prisoners. The F.B.I. had
been investigating some of these claims, including the claim that staff
helped inmates set up a stabbing attack on a prisoner. The state has
been investigating these complaints as well via the internal affairs
department.
The
Department has confirmed that two officers have been sacked and ten
others disciplined. Some of those have included 10% loss of pay for one
year. These discipline actions are all under appeal to the State
Personnel Board, which could reduce or even overrule the penalties.
One
of those fired was Officer Daniel Garland, who got into an argument via
text message (not very smart) with Officer Rodriguez two years ago.
The other fired was officer Marcus Jordan, who is alleged to have been
repeatedly disrespectful to Black inmates and also accused Rodriguez's
wife of cheating on him. Neither officer has made a comment to the
media.
Some of those
officers who are now catching disciplinary action have been promoted in
the meantime. Those included Jordan, who made Sergeant at Vacaville
before he was sacked.
1 comment:
Several years ago, TDCJ opened the Internal Affairs Unit. They are classified as state peace officers. Most of the people working the unit were/are brought in from other state police agencies. It is a Hush-Hush, Secret Squirrel position. I am told they have carte blanche. Officers are paid TDCJ Lt. and above salaries. A friend of mine took one of the internal affairs jobs and transferred from TABC to TDCJ. He stayed a year then retired from the state. IMHO, corruption must be terrible for Texas to staff and maintain such a unit.
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