Espinoza labeled “an embarrassment to his profession”

The former acting Kyle police chief who conducted his own investigation into the performance of former police sergeant Jesse Espinoza testified today he ordered Espinoza’s indefinite suspension because he viewed Espinoza as insubordinate, unethical and "an embarrassment to his profession."

That testimony came from Ellis County Sheriff Charles "Chuck" Edge during the fourth and final day before an extended recess of the civil service arbitration Espinoza sought in his attempt to be re-instated by the Kyle Police Department. The hearing is scheduled to resume "some time in October."

"Sergeant Espinoza committed acts in both an official and a private capacity which tended to bring reproach, disgrace and embarrassment to his profession and the police department," Edge testified.

Edge said he was "happily retired" when the Kyle City Council authorized his appointment as a temporary police chief to oversee an investigation of Espinoza, who was charged with wilfully disobeying orders by refusing to produce documents demanded by the city and by ignoring instructions from the city manager to report any and all contacts with an individual who had filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Police Chief Jeff Barnett. Edge appeared to be the final witness the city plans to call in the hearing. Because his testimony extended so late into the afternoon, hearing examiner Dr. Paula Ann Hughes said Espinoza’s attorneys could delay their cross examination of Edge until the next session and then recessed the hearing until "a future date." When asked a few moments later when that future date might be announced, she said, because of previous commitments made by everyone involved in the hearing that extend through September, it would most likely be "some time in October."

Edge said his investigation, which consisted of reviewing the investigation of a private investigator, as well as a series of interviews he personally conducted with Espinoza and others involved in the matter, proved to him the following:

• Espinoza never complied with an order issued by assistant city manager James Earp to turn over documents, including a check for $5,000 from someone who had filed a lawsuit against the city, money the city characterized as a "gift," but Espinoza called a "loan," and that failure to comply with this order constituted an act of insubordination.
• Whether the $5.000 was a gift or a loan was irrelevant; the acceptance of the check in whatever guise, especially from someone suing the city, constituted a violation of Kyle’s ethics code and police department policy.
• That Espinoza acted in conjunction with and at the direction of Dr. Glen Hurlston, the Louisiana anesthesiologist who filed the federal lawsuit, in a concerted effort to get Barnett dismissed from his position as Kyle police chief and that such actions by a subordinate constituted insubordination.
• That while Hurlston claimed the $5,000 was a gift to Espinoza to help defray the costs of his child’s medical expenses, receipts uncovered during the investigation revealed the money was never used to pay medical costs.
• Espinoza was insubordinate during his interviews with Edge by refusing to directly answer questions Edge claimed required simple "yes" or "no" answers and that when asked to defend his own actions would instead "go on a rant" about the bad actions of others, usually Chief Barnett. "It was never his fault, always someone else’s," Edge said of Espinoza’s answers to questions, which he described as "arrogant and disrespectful responses."
• Espinoza willfully violated standard police procedures in the manner in which he entered the home of then city council member (now mayor) Todd Webster and although that offense occurred outside the 180-day window for prosecuting civil service offenses, Espinoza lied about the incident during his interviews with Edge. Espinoza told Edge he was responding to a call for service, although Edge’s investigation could uncover no record of such a call in the police department’s records. Edge’s investigation also revealed Espinoza’s shift on that particular day had ended more than two hours before the incident took place and, thus, Espinoza was off-duty when it took place.
• That while Espinoza denied spreading any "rumors" about an alleged extra-marital affair involving Webster and former council member Samantha Bellows, he did admit he conveyed those allegations to other people without being able to produce any evidence to substantiate the allegations and that just by conveying allegations he couldn’t prove, whether or not they were called "rumors," was a dereliction of duty and displayed "a lack of good moral character."

"Sergeant Espinoza conspired with and cooperated with Glen Hurlston in an attempt to get the City of Kyle to fire Chief Barnett," Edge testified, "Those acts of misconduct are evidence that Sergeant Espinoza, while on and off duty, failed to follow the ordinary and reasonable rules of good conduct and behavior."