MISSOURI CITY, Texas (KTRK) — After months of requests to the Missouri City Police Department, 13 Investigates learned the department disciplined three employees over a water leak in its evidence room last year.
On Oct. 30, 2024, a newly installed dehumidifier leaked in the Missouri City PD’s property room.
Records obtained by 13 Investigates through open records requests to the department describe puddles of water and some of the evidence being “soaked,” including DNA evidence and weapons.
13 Investigates has been asking Missouri City PD questions about the leak ever since we found out in February that some evidence was thrown away.
The police department did not respond to our questions for months after we first asked about it, so we kept requesting documents from them.
Our investigation found a civilian employee working in the department’s evidence room testified during an appeal of a colleague who was initially indefinitely suspended after the leak.
That employee testified that she always handled disruptions, including rats chewing up evidence and a freezer breaking and rotting items, the same way, which was by letting her supervisor know and then getting rid of the destroyed evidence.
The employee testified she did the same thing when a humidifier leaked and flooded the evidence room last year, but this time, records show she was terminated for it.
In a statement to 13 Investigates, a Missouri City spokesperson said the department was not “fully aware” of the civilian employee’s “handling of prior evidence-related matters in a similar manner.”
The city said, “As a result, no disciplinary action was taken before this incident. Once the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office notified the department of concerns related to the water leak, an internal investigation was immediately initiated, and appropriate disciplinary action was taken based on the findings.”
We asked former head of the Texas Rangers Tony Leal on a scale of 1 to 10, how serious an incident like this is in an evidence room.
“If it’s handled properly and if all the proper notifications are made and the detectives know about it and the DA’s office knows about it and the court knows about it, it’s a three because it’s a natural disaster. It wasn’t intended by anyone. If it’s not handled correctly, you make it or 6 or 7,” Leal said.
Based on his review of documents in the case, Leal concluded this was not handled correctly.
“I’m so surprised that nobody said we’re going to have to do an investigation on this, not unlike the investigation that was done months later,” Leal said.
Letters given to the civilian employee who was terminated, an officer who was initially indefinitely suspended, which is the equivalent of being terminated, and a sergeant who was temporarily suspended, provide a narrative of what happened next.
The letters say evidence was thrown away and proper protocols, which includes notifying the DA’s offices, were not followed after the leak.
The terminated employee assigned to the evidence room said supervisors were notified at the time of the leak, according to the decision in the appeal by the indefinitely suspended officer.
The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office found out about the leak months later, in mid-January, when they reached out to Missouri City PD asking about evidence, the DA’s office confirms.
In a statement, a Missouri City spokesperson said, “It is the responsibility of the police department employee handling a specific item of evidence to notify the District Attorney’s Office and determine the most appropriate course of action.”
After the DA’s office found out about the link, the chief of police and other top-ranking officials actually visited the property, according to the decision in the officer’s appeal.
According to documents we obtained, the chief and assistant chief said they only learned then that evidence had been destroyed and that up until that point, they were only aware that there had been a leak.
Still, the decision found that “no one in supervision responded to the alarm bell.”
The employees were ultimately disciplined, and an audit was done of the property room.
“You come to the point where, does the DA’s office trust us anymore? Does the public trust us anymore?” Leal said.
It’s now noted in documentation that Missouri City PD believes the way evidence room employees handled what happened shone a bad light on them.
A termination letter for a civilian employee working in the department’s evidence room said her actions “damaged the reputation of the department and its employees.”
The officer testified in his appeal he had asked for additional property and evidence room training and was denied. His last training was in 2021, according to documents obtained by 13 Investigates.
The officer ultimately won that appeal and was instead suspended for eight days.
13 Investigates has been sending open records requests to Missouri City PD since February, when we found out about the leak.
The city sent most of our requests to the Attorney General’s Office to determine if the information had to be released, and, largely, the AG’s office has sided with us.
“If you find something months after it happened that you should have known about, then you ask yourself and the public asks itself, what else don’t we know about?” Leal said.
SEE ALSO: 13 Investigates: Missouri City PD tossed evidence, then fought to hide details
13 Investigates wanted to know what Missouri City police have done differently since the leak to ensure that if something like it happens again, it’s being handled according to state law and department policy.
In a statement, a Missouri City spokesperson said, “The department has implemented several corrective and preventive measures. The crime scene unit, which oversees the property room, is now under new supervision to ensure strict adherence to policy. Two of the three assigned employees are newly appointed, and the entire unit is undergoing additional specialized training through the Texas Association of Property and Evidence Inventory Technicians. In addition, the department has retained an independent vendor to conduct annual property room inventories. Together, these steps reinforce accountability and strengthen evidence-handling procedures.”
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