Alamo PD case dates back five years
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
The federal jury selection in the Rodney Guerra case is set for May 7, 2024, according to the court docket (Federal Judge Randy Crane), but what a long, strange trip this has been, to steal from an old Grateful Dead song.
This story about the Alamo PD, newly resurrected, dates all the way back to February 2018 when the city hired former La Villa Police Chief Baudelio Castillo by a vote of 3-2, giving him the nod over an Alamo police investigator who had been with the department for approximately 27 years.
At the time, then-Mayor Diana Martinez and Commissioner Maria Del Pilar Garza opposed the hire. Mayor Pro Tem Pete Morales, Trino Medina, and Robert De La Garza voted in favor.
After that, it was all downhill for almost everyone concerned, except for the local news media always on the lookout for a juicy story.
By the end of that year, 2018, then-Mayor Martinez placed an item on the city agenda — “Consideration and action regarding the designating, appointment and/or removal of the chief of police” — but the police chief got a Temporary Restraining Order, signed by state District Judge Keno Vasquez, preventing the city commission from discussing the chief’s job. A month later, another state district judge granted Castillo a temporary injunction, which prevented the city from taking any further action against him until his case went to trial.
In July 2019, The Advance carried this headline — “Fired Alamo Police Chief Files Suit against the City…Seeks between $100k and $200k” More than four years later, the story resurfaced when one of the Alamo cops caught up in the fray, Sergeant Rodney Guerra, won an appeal in the (federal) Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, kicking the case back to the federal court of Randy Crane, who had dismissed the case in March 2022. Guerra had sued Castillo, the city, and several officers he claimed were in cahoots with the chief, based on claims of false arrest.
In March of 2022, Judge Crane signed a 25-page order basically dismissing Guerra’s lawsuit against the defendants (the chief, the city, and certain city officials), agreeing, in essence, that they were immune from liability (false-arrest claims made by Guerra).
Last September, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the dismissal of former Alamo Police Chief Baudelio Castillo from the suit, affirmed the dismissal of the city, and remanded the case back to Judge Crane’s court, as spelled out in a 19-page court order.
In the Beginning
According to Rodney Guerra’s claims, as laid out in the following (unedited) petition to the appellate court, here is how the story allegedly unfolded:
“Rodney Guerra was promoted to sergeant in the patrol department of the City’s police department in the first half of 2018. In July of 2018, a subordinate patrol officer arrested a suspect for driving while intoxicated and the suspect spat on the officer’s face. But the suspect was a strong political supporter of the City’s mayor who called then-police chief Baudelio Castillo, Guerra’s direct superior, and urged that the charges be dropped. Castillo proceeded to call Guerra, and urged Guerra to tell the officer to drop the charges. But Guerra, in support of his officer, refused and, in Guerra’s words, unwittingly stoked the maliciousness, vengefulness, and ire of Defendant Castillo who was furious at Guerra for making him appear worthless in the eyes of the Mayor (Diana Martinez, at the time).”
There are more allegations, according to Guerra’s motion filed with the federal appellate court last year:
“During the same period, a probationary patrol officer was released for failure to meet her probationary goals and accidentally forgot a pair of prescription (reading glasses) in her patrol unit. The glasses were found by an officer who turned them over to (a patrol sergeant). (He) did not place the glasses in the lost and found or the evidence room, but rather on his own desk, in the same area where Guerra’s desk was located.”
The story allegedly picks up steam from there:
“After (the officer) placed the reading eyeglasses on his own desk, Guerra saw (them), tried them on, and placed them on his own desk. For about the next month, with the knowledge of the other supervisory officer and (the sergeant in question), (Rodney). Guerra played ‘tug of war’ with the reading eyeglasses, as each would playfully take the reading eyeglasses from the other’s desk and place them on his own desk for use.”
The glasses would take a front seat in this case, believe it or not. Again, according to the motion filed with the federal appellate court:
“Soon after, Castillo enlisted an investigator and directed him to find a way to get rid of Guerra. The investigator homed in on the glasses, but at least one officer told the investigator, ‘We really don’t have anything on Guerra for merely using the glasses.’ The investigator informed Castillo that the investigation conclusively established that no crime had been committed by Guerra, but Castillo (allegedly) responded, ‘I don’t care. He can beat the charge, but he can’t beat the ride. Get me enough to file a warrant!’”
If you’re still reading, there’s more to come:
“(Baudelio) Castillo then enlisted an ‘Internal Affairs Officer’ to conduct ‘an administrative investigation’ regarding the glasses, and the Internal Affairs Officer attempted to enlist the assistance of the Probationary Officer, the former owner of the glasses, in filing criminal charges. The Probationary Officer initially expressed no interest, saying, ‘Throw the glasses away.’ However, after a significant amount of cajoling and pressuring, the Officer agreed to provide a statement that she had not authorized anyone to use her glasses.”
As if the Alamo PD had nothing more important to do at the time, the Guerra case remained front and center, according to the lawsuit filed by Rodney Guerra, now looking for back pay and some degree of recompense:
“Subsequently, on Oct. 19, 2018, the Internal Affairs Officer notified Guerra that he was being investigated for property that was checked out from the evidence room and allegedly appropriated by Guerra without cause or justification, months earlier. Castillo immediately placed Guerra on administrative leave and informed him he was required to appear for an interview with the Internal Affairs Officer several days later. Guerra claims he voluntarily appeared, denied the charges, and explained the situation, but his explanation was falling on deaf ears, so he requested a full and open evidentiary hearing to get to the truth of the allegations. That hearing would never be provided.”
Keep in mind, both former Alamo Chief Baudelio Castillo and city officials named in the suit have denied any and all allegations.
The Jail Cell
More from the Fifth Circuit motion filed by Rodney Guerra and his attorney:
“Soon after, on Oct. 24, Castillo resorted to blackmail against Guerra by expressly informing him that if he did not resign by (5 p.m.) on that day, he was going to terminate him and file a criminal prosecution. This was despite the fact Castillo actually knew that no probable cause existed. Guerra refused to resign. On Oct. 25, Castillo officially suspended Guerra, recommended his termination, and ordered him to surrender his weapon and badge, and an arrest warrant was issued against Guerra for Class B misdemeanor theft.”
Then came the (alleged) “perp walk:”
“Guerra’s counsel arranged to voluntarily present Guerra for arraignment at an agreed time and hour on Oct. 26, but when Castillo learned of the timing, he contacted all of the local television and print media to be present at the arraignment, parading Guerra before the local media and effectively destroying (his) future credibility and career as a law enforcement officer. Guerra immediately posted his bond.”
On Nov. 2, 2018, Rodney Guerra was officially terminated by the city.
False Arrest
At the crux of Rodney Guerra’s lawsuit against the former police chief, Baudelio Castillo, is the claim of false arrest as spelled out in the lawsuit filed by Guerra’s attorney:
“A few months after his November 2018 termination, Castillo was (allegedly) completely incensed and enraged when he learned the (former) district attorney (Ricardo Rodriguez) was about to dismiss the theft charge against Guerra because the district attorney had found no evidence of a theft having been committed. Castillo, therefore, instructed his investigator to change and draw up some new statements and affidavits to obtain a new arrest warrant, this time pushing a tampering with evidence charge. Guerra alleges that Castillo intentionally instructed and directed his subordinates to file perjured Probable Cause Affidavits with the Alamo Municipal Court for presentment to the district attorney’s office despite his actual knowledge that critical sworn facts were false and would lead to Plaintiff’s wrongful arrest.”
Deeper into the weeds the story proceeds:
“Guerra’s counsel again arranged for (him) to appear at a specific time when a judge was ready and able to set his bond. Guerra appeared on Jan. 8, 2019. The media was again present because Castillo had advised them that he would be having a press conference. Castillo then stopped his staff from taking Guerra to the courthouse because (he) decided he was going to make Guerra sit in a jail cell overnight. The complaint alleges Guerra’s cell was cold, he was denied a blanket, and Guerra’s counsel was not allowed to see him. All charges against Guerra were dismissed on May 2, 2019, based on insufficient evidence.”
Hence the current lawsuit claims for false arrest.
Whether this case makes it to trial or is decided in a mediation setting, the following claim made by Rodney Guerra, currently still unemployed, trying to make ends meet, will no doubt include the following allegation:
“Guerra’s complaint presents (Baudelio) Castillo as the sole moving force behind a deliberate, long-term conspiracy to create and file affidavits (he) knew to be false, with the purpose of exploiting the criminal justice system to arrest, detain, and torment Guerra for crimes Castillo knew he did not commit. Castillo, moreover, ordered the sham investigations that served as the basis for the false affidavits and pushed the investigations forward despite knowing Guerra was innocent.”
A long police story to be sure, but one that is expected to be decided by at least the first six months of this year.