Cease and desist letter: Schertz PD
consultant destroyed or removed decade
worth of evidence from property room
SCHERTZ, Texas – Over a decade worth of evidence was destroyed or removed from the Schertz Police Department’s property room without prosecutorial review, according to a cease and desist letter obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders. The blunder could impact hundreds of cases or more in the three counties Schertz sits in: Guadalupe, Comal and Bexar.
“We want to make sure that every single case that is impacted is clearly known and that’s also required by law for disclosure. We need to let them know,” new Schertz Police Department Chief Jim Lowery told the KSAT 12 Defenders late last month, moments before being formally sworn in.
Lowery, a longtime Arlington police officer, inherits an internal investigation that appeared to develop earlier this year after Guadalupe County Attorney David Willborn sent the agency a cease-and-desist letter.
“SPD has identified that this error impacted 1,376 cases from 2007 – 2018 in the counties of Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe. At this time, SPD has not identified any cases related to open and/or pending criminal cases. However, this review is also being vetted by the respective County Attorneys for validation and accuracy. It has also been confirmed that approximately 40% of the purged evidence had already met the statute of limitations,” said Linda Klepper, director of public affairs for Schertz PD, in a press release sent a day after this story was published.
The Feb. 15 letter accused Schertz PD of asking judges to sign destruction orders for drug evidence and weapons without them being reviewed by prosecuting agencies. “I have information that over a decade’s worth of evidence has been removed and/or destroyed without prosecutorial review. This practice is dangerous, potentially illegal, and has never been agreed to or authorized by any prosecuting agency within Guadalupe County,” wrote Willborn, who threatened to issue subpoenas to the department if he did not receive a list of evidence that had been removed or destroyed without a proper review.
Willborn also requested a copy of the contract between Schertz PD and an outside consultant that handled the project. Schertz city officials agreed to make Lowery available for an interview about the issue but have so far attempted to block the release of all requested records related to the hiring of the consulting firm and complaints filed against then-interim Chief Marc Bane.
