RAYMONDVILLE — A judge has reset the case of a former Willacy County sheriff’s deputy charged with falsifying a government record.
Earlier this week, visiting Judge Lionel Alejandro reset the arraignment hearing for former Sgt. Guillermo Salinas, District Clerk Isabel Adame said yesterday.
Adame said the arraignment has been reset for June 7 in 197th District Court.
Salinas and former sheriff’s department investigator John Reyes were originally set to be arraigned this past Tuesday.
On Feb. 27, a Willacy County grand jury indicted Salinas and Reyes on a charge of tampering with a government record, a second-degree felony.
Reyes’ case has been reset for June, Sheriff Larry Spence has said.
The veteran lawmen each posted $15,000 bond after they turned themselves in to the sheriff’s department last Friday.
The Willacy County grand jury indictments came following a year-long Texas Rangers investigation into the possible theft of overtime paid through the Operation Stone Garden and Border Star grants, which pay officers overtime to work high-crime areas.
According to the indictments, Salinas and Reyes made a false entry into Operation Stone Garden grant’s daily activity report.
The indictments accuse each former deputy of “entering false information onto the government report requesting reimbursement for overtime that he did not work.”
The case marks the first time the department has had any problems with the grants, Spence has said.
The grants have helped fund officers’ pay amid county budget cuts stemming from the closure of the Willacy County Correctional Center in February 2015.
Spence has described the veteran lawmen as “good officers.”
Salinas, who had worked with the sheriff’s department for about 20 years, managed the two grants while serving as a sergeant, supervisor and investigator.
In March 2017, Salinas resigned to move to Colorado, where his wife was working.
Reyes, who had worked for the department for about 15 years, was a patrolman assigned to work as an investigator.
More than two weeks ago, Reyes resigned following knee surgery stemming from an injury last November.
