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An 11-year veteran of the McAllen police force has been arrested by his colleagues on allegations that he intended to distribute methamphetamines.
Juan Garza Jr., 33, was arrested in the early morning hours Friday, along with two other people, after police responded to a call for service from a woman claiming suspicious people were outside her home.
Garza was charged with a litany of crimes, including two counts of manufacture or delivery of a Penalty Group 1 drug between 4 and 200 grams, a first degree felony punishable by up to life in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Reached for comment Monday afternoon, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez confirmed that the two felony charges were related to the distribution of methamphetamines.
Garza was further charged with one count each of possession of drugs in penalty group 2, and penalty group 3 or 4.
According to state law, those classifications can include cannabis products, prescription opiates or barbiturates, and other illicit substances, though it remains unclear precisely which drugs aside from marijuana that officers may have recovered from the scene.
McAllen police also charged Garza with possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, possession or use of a volatile chemical — both Class B misdemeanors — and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
According to Rodriguez, Garza was staying at the residence where he and the two others were arrested.
Garza has since resigned his commission as an officer, officials said.
Police stumbled onto the drugs while responding to a call from a resident about suspicious persons outside her home on the 3400 block of North McColl Road just after 4:30 a.m. Friday.
“The Reporting Person (RP) reported receiving ‘messages from strangers’ and ‘sees the silhouette of two people’ outside the RP’s residence,” a news release from McAllen police said Monday afternoon.
Lopez
When they arrived, officers spoke with the resident, 26-year-old Perla Lopez, whom they later determined had an outstanding arrest warrant on drug charges out of Kendall County in the Hill Country.
According to public records, Kendall County sheriff’s deputies arrested Lopez on a charge of possession of a controlled substance last June.
She later allegedly skipped out on her bond, which prompted the arrest warrant McAllen officers discovered Friday.
When the officers told Lopez they would be taking her into custody on the warrant, she asked if she could “gather clothes from her residence.”
Johnson
The police officers accompanied Lopez inside the home, where they discovered their colleague, Garza, as well as a second man, 35-year-old Randy Johnson Jr.
“Responding Officers found two male suspects and unlawful drugs in plain view,” the news release said.
Like Garza, both Johnson and Lopez were charged with two counts of possession of between 4 and 200 grams of methamphetamines — first degree felonies — possession of between 4 and 400 grams of a Penalty Group 2 drug, possession of a controlled substance, possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and possessing or using a volatile chemical.
Lopez remains jailed on a total of $88,000 in bonds related to Friday’s arrest as well as the existing warrant.
Furthermore, Johnson was also wanted on an outstanding warrant at the time of the arrest.
In October 2020, Johnson was convicted of domestic violence against a woman who had been his partner in 2019. Johnson was sentenced to seven years of probation in lieu of jail time, but failed to report to his probation officer, according to Hidalgo County court records.
As a result, on May 3 — just a few weeks before his arrest with former officer Garza and Lopez — a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
Both Johnson and Garza also remain jailed at the Hidalgo County jail — Johnson on $68,000 in total bonds and Garza on $71,000 in total bonds.
