PALM VALLEY P.D. CHIEF FINALLY FACING 3 FELONY CHARGES

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

On November 28, 2018, a grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging that Alvaro Garcia, the police chief of Palm Valley had committed three felony offenses of tampering with government records from April 23 through 25, 2018.

After numerous continuances and delays, changes of judges from Arturo Nelson Cisneros, then Janet Leal, and now Gaby Garcia, there just may be a trial with announcements due in the latter's court on October 12 with the trial scheduled – unless Garcia grants defense attorney John Blaylock yet another continuance – for October 24.

That, in effect, has allowed a defendant charged with three felonies to continue as the chief law enforcement officer in Palm Valley for almost four years.

The information provided the grand jury upon which they based their indictment, charges that Garcia had used a record, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) report on of a training course...with knowledge of its falsity and with the intent to defraud the Texas Municipal Association."

According to the TCOLE website, that course (#3264) with 24 credit hours, is training designed to satisfy the requirements of Special Investigative Topics (TCOLE #3232) and successful students are eligible for a TCOLE Sexual Assault/Family Violence Investigator Certificate.

Garcia was arrested following an multi-agency investigation.

He was arrested at the Palm Valley police dept. headquarters by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, alongside Texas Rangers and the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office.

At that time, CBS 4 spoke with the Palm Valley Mayor George Rivera, who declined to speak on camera, but said briefly over the phone, “It was unfortunate that our police chief was arrested.”

According to booking records, Garcia’s bond was set at $12,000 total.

Garcia states in his department's website that "I report to the Mayor and City Council and my responsibilities include patrol work, investigations, scheduling, discipline, budget, equipment, citizen communication, training, grants, racial profiling, and submitting statistics for the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), among other duties...In terms of training, since October 2009, each officer on average has received over 100 hours of TCLEOSE training per year."

It has been said elsewhere that justice delayed is justice denied. Let's see how much longer the courts will continue to deny justice in this case.