Waco narcs seized 2 kilos of coke at 3120 S. IH-35 on Feb 28, 2015; a year later, the cases against two men were dropped ‘in the interest of justice,” according to the DA’s office. They did seize a 2003 Mitsubishi.
Waco – Officer Adam Beseda got out of his patrol car and ran down the taller of a Mutt and Jeff team of two Hispanic males after they knocked at, then quickly backed away from the door of room 110 at the Motel 6, 3120 S. I-35.
His report states that Homero Gonzalez-Jaimes “became very nervous” when he asked why he and his running buddy were at the motel. In fact, Gonzalez was so nervous he couldn’t tell him why they had circled the parking lot once, then homed in on the room where a black man surprised him by answering the door.
It looked as if he wasn’t who the two men from Austin were looking for. “I asked if they were visiting friends and he said he didn’t know,” Beseda wrote.
When he began to pat him down for weapons, he noticed Gonzales would not raise his left hand above his head. He kept his arm clamped to his side tightly. Beseda found a solid oblong object under his shirt, near his waist band.
That was a heat-shrink wrapped package of what turned out to be a kilo of cocaine packaged in black plastic electrical tape.
Gonzalez’ companion, Victor Flores, who made the trip from Austin with Gonzales in his grey 2003 Mitsubishi had dodged between two vehicles parked nearby. He ducked down and stood back up quickly. Officers found a similar sized object with the same shape – resembling a videotape cassette – a nearly identical package of one kilo of cocaine hidden under the wheel of a Cadillac. Though it was raining at that hour, about 7:45 pm on February 28, 2015, the top of the black package was dry. It hadn’t been there long.
Beseda put Flores through similar questions.
“I talked with Flores and asked if he was there to see a prostitute or if he was there to engage in prostitution…” As they spoke, according to Beseda, Flores began to relent. “He then told me ‘it is what it is’ and ‘if you say I put it there, then I put it there.’”
In his experience as a Waco narc, Beseda noted in his report, “individuals who have been confronted with the fact of the possession of any amount of narcotics not belonging to them was met with the utmost voice of denial.”
Contrary to all his previous experience, Flores’ tone was very subdued and understanding, Beseda wrote, adding that Flores acknowledged “that what I located was narcotics and he was in close proximity of where those narcotics were located.”
A drug dog alerted on residual odors in the console where the cocaine made its trip from Austin. A field test indicated it was cocaine. The cops, who were working with a full crew of the Drug Enforcement Unit, busted the pair, charged them with the first degree felony of possession of more than 400 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver.
They seized the car and started the paperwork for a forfeiture of the vehicle in District Court.
In a “Prosecution Disposition Report” filed in 54th Criminal District Court before Judge Matt Johnson, a finding of dismissal of the charges against both defendants is noted. The Court ordered both to pay a laboratory fee of $180 to have the Department of Public Safety laboratory analyze the controlled substance as cocaine, a schedule 1 narcotic.
The reason – “Sentence: Interest of Justice”
What happened?
He refuses to prosecute cases involving a confidential informant unless that informant’s name is divulged to the prosecution, a fact that is to be made available under the Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence Number 508 upon discovery to defense counsel for the accused.
The circumstances of these cases are revealed in a belated report by veteran narcotics officer David Starr filed on February 9, 2016.
That prompted a Texas Rangers investigation and led to the suspension with pay of both Starr and Drug Enforcement Unit Commander Clare Crook for many months pending the investigation ordered by Reyna.
His narrative:
“On 2/28/15 I received information from an individual whom I know their information to be relable, credible and trustworthy because the individual “herinafter referred to as informant) has provided information to myself and to other officers of the Waco Police Department in the past and on each and every occasion the informant’s information has proven to be true and correct. Informant’s information was corroborated through interviews with other officers and independent investigation. I wish not to reveal the name of the informant for my fears for the informant’s personal safety and well-being. The informant in the past has led to the siezure of controlled substances and arrests and convictions in state and federal courts.
“The information received was that there was an individual coming to Waco from the Austin area that would be in possession of cocaine. The informant was in conact with the suspect as he progressed to Waco. During this contact the informant learned that the suspect was in a small gray colored car but did not learn much more. The initial meeting spot was going to be the Motel 6 at 3120 S I-35. This location is known for high drug activity and is easily accessible from the interstate. We also had investigators watching I-35 in an attempt to locate the possible suspect vehicle…”
When Gonzales did not show up at a forfeiture hearing, the judge awarded his 2003 Mitsubishi to the State of Texas, a vehicle he told the narcs he’d paid $1,000 to purchase when they questioned him prior to his arrest on February 28, 2015
According to court papers filed by the DA’s office on Jauary 8, 2016, “Since a default judgment was entered in this case, the proceeds from the auction will be a 70/30 split.”