Feds allege he was paid $1,000 by a drug dealer

By CINDY GEORGE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Oct. 26, 2010, 10:49PM

Harris County

George Wesley Wellington, 38, is accused of taking money from a drug dealer. He most recently worked in east Harris County.

A Harris County sheriff’s deputy twice accepted $500 from an alleged drug dealer in exchange for his protection and access to confidential law enforcement computer records, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

George Wesley Ellington, 38, is accused of accepting money to access information from secure databases and for providing security in his official capacity to a person he believed was possessing and transporting the drug known as ecstasy. Authorities say the bribes were paid in February and April.

Handcuffed and shackled, Ellington made an initial appearance Tuesday before Houston federal magistrate Judge Stephen W. Smith. Several of the deputy’s relatives and supporters attended.

Joint investigation

The charges are the result of a months-long probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, who arrested the patrol officer on Monday. Details about the investigation, including what led officials to focus on Ellington, were not released.

“The weight of the evidence is extremely powerful in this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel C. Rodriguez told the judge.

Ellington has told authorities he could be in danger if he’s sent to prison.

“He also expressed an extreme concern for his safety should he be incarcerated … because of his law enforcement background,” Rodriguez said.

The deputy was informally represented by defense attorney Todd Overstreet and Carson Joachim, a lawyer with the Harris County Deputies Organization — Ellington’s attorney in the administrative aspects of the case.

Ellington, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, has been indefinitely suspended, an agency spokeswoman said. He was most recently assigned to the patrol division on the county’s east side.

Up to 40 years in prison

Sheriff Adrian Garcia credited the charges to the work of the agency’s Office of Inspector General, which ensures “that HCSO employees, regardless of position or rank, exemplify ethical conduct at all times.”

His statement also said: “I will not allow for any employee(s) who allegedly engages in criminal activity to tarnish the professionalism and dedication of the many great public servants who unselfishly serve the residents of Harris County with integrity and professionalism.”

Each charge against Ellington carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

“We are stunned by the accusation,” said Robert “Bob” Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization. “He would be one of the last people I would think would be accused of such a thing.”

Defendant in 2008 suit

Ellington was among eight deputies listed as a defendants in a 2008 civil rights lawsuit filed in the alleged Taser and beating death of a 31-year-old mentally ill man in October 2006. Harris County, the sheriff’s office, then-Sheriff Tommy Thomas and Taser International are also named in the lawsuit.

A medical examiner’s report designated the manner of death as “homicide” for Herman Carroll, who also was known as Herman Barnes, according to the complaint filed by the man’s relatives.

The suit alleges excessive force, namely that officers “beat and tasered Barnes repeatedly,” including one officer who zapped Barnes seven times, another twice and Ellington, a reported 23 times.

The case accuses the officers of violating Barnes’ civil rights to fair treatment, “deliberate indifference” to his “obvious and serious medical needs” and “subjecting Barnes to cruel and unusual punishment.”

“What the government is accusing this guy of doing is actually engaging in running protection for a drug dealer, which essentially says the guy is a thug,” said Anthony Griffin, a Galveston attorney representing the Barnes family. “He thought he was above the law. That’s what those charges reveal and that’s what happened to Mr. Barnes.”

Ellington, who remained in federal custody overnight, is due back in court today for a bail hearing and to enter a formal plea in the criminal case.

cindy.george@chron.com

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?93081-Waiting-on-the-call-from-HPD&p=1281101&viewfull=1#post1281101

I’m a sergeant w/ HPD and I’d like to give you all some advice.

Go somewhere else. Go to Austin, Ft Worth, San Antonio, Pasadena. Just don’t come to work at HPD.

Why?

PENSION- New hires get 55% after 25 years with no DROP and they can’t retire until age 55 . Us old guys get 55% after 20 with a DROP plan that will allow me to walk away w/ a LOT of money after a few years over my 20. We can also retire at 20 years regardless of age (Hire on at 21, retire at 41). Your pension sucks. Austin PD’S pension is 23 years 73.6 % of your pay. 25 years 80 % of your pay along with DROP.

TRAINING- They will tell you that HPD’s training is the best in the country. They are lying. Our training sucks. We recently put on our first Tac Pistol course in about ten years. It is one of the few tactical courses offered by the department. Compare that to Pasadena PD’S training schedule.

http://199.236.77.139/police/support…gjan-jun08.pdf

MANPOWER- The mayor says we have about 5000 officers. He’s lying. We don’t have near that and even if we did, we should have about 6600 officers based on national standards. The department is falling apart. Don’t jump on a shinking ship.

PAY- I’ll give you one guess at my opinion of our pay. You guessed it- It SUCKS. HPD isn’t even close to the above mentioned departments.

MORALE- It sucks, because HPD sucks. They have recently had to DRAFT people for previously prestigious assignments like Homicide.

THE HOUSTON AREA- It sucks. Its hot, its humid, its flat and its ugly. The only thing it has going for it is the housing market. Drive through the Hill Country or west of Ft Worth and then compare it to Houston.

In conclusion, HPD sucks. Run far, run fast away from HPD.

“I know I’m going to get fired if y’all run this,” said 51-year-old METRO Motorist Assistance Program (MAP) worker David Richard, as he faced a TV camera while leaving his second X-rated video store of the day while on duty.He was among several MAP workers found relaxing and avoiding the stranded drivers they were assigned to help over a two-month period.Richard, a 31-year METRO employee, was recorded for hours at a time during numerous work-days, leaning back in his seat while parked under shade-trees. He sometimes exited his vehicle only to buy snacks, while repeatedly ignoring stranded motorists a short distance from his truck.When asked for an explanation, he said, “It won’t do any good, will it?”On several days, his daily work reports reflected that he claimed to be helping broken down motorists across town, when he was really being recorded inside X-rated video stores for hours or killing time in his truck.”I wasn’t trying to trick anybody. I wasn’t trying to trick anybody,” said Richard.A reporter then asked what work he was actually accomplishing for the taxpayers he served. He answered, “I understand your point, sir. I understand. I just wish y’all wouldn’t run this.”On the day that cameras confronted him outside his second porn-shopping excursion, on Sept. 14, 2010, Local 2 Investigates had started following him at 3:56 p.m. and concluded talking with him on the northwest side of Houston at 6 p.m.The manager of the X-rated video store, who asked that his name and his business name be withheld, said METRO MAP vehicles had been stopping there on numerous occasions in the past. He said, “I wouldn’t call them regular customers, but they’re here.”On that date, cameras were rolling as Richard visited a different X-rated video store for 20 minutes along the Hempstead Highway in northwest Houston. He then left to stop in a second video store off Pinemont near Hollister for nearly an hour, while his official daily work record reflected four separate entries where he claimed to be helping motorists on the opposite side of town in far southeast Houston.

• At 4:10 p.m., his handwritten report showed he claimed to be helping a broken down motorist in the 1000 block of the Gulf Freeway at “Main.”
• He then listed that he helped a driver at 12800 Gulf Freeway at Fuqua.
• His next listing showed he helped another motorist at 5:30 p.m. at Airport.
• The report then shows a final stranded motorist being helped at Gulf Freeway near Broadway at 6:20 p.m.

In each case, METRO Police Department leaders say he filled in license numbers of the vehicles he supposedly helped. Those license numbers were redacted in the records provided to Local 2 Investigates, but police say they are now trying to contact the people whose cars bear those license plate numbers as part of a felony criminal investigation.”We have already been in consultation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. We have initiated a criminal investigation into that,” said Tom Lambert, METRO’s vice president over the police department.He said it was unclear whether Richard simply wrote down license plates he spotted in a parking lot or simply made up the license plate numbers in his official daily work report.In all, Local 2 Investigates found 11 motorists listed as being helped when cameras were rolling on Richard killing time somewhere else.Felony charges of falsifying a government document could be lodged because of those entries, according to Lambert.”We’re embarrassed by it. It’s not something that we expect should be happening. It’s not something we condone to happen and so we’re disappointed that it happened,” said Lambert, who thanked Local 2 Investigates for bringing it to his attention.Among the false work report entries in the records provided to Local 2 Investigates:

• On Aug. 6, 2010, he was recorded leaning back inside his truck in a business parking lot away from the Gulf Freeway near Park Place from 4:01 p.m. until 6:26 p.m. His record shows he helped one motorist during that time.
• On Aug. 18, 2010, he was recorded from 4:15 p.m. until 7 p.m. without helping a single motorist. He spent an hour inside a restaurant in the city of South Houston and then drove past two stranded trucks on the side of the road before parking his truck a-half block away from an X-rated video store on the Gulf Freeway near Howard. He emerged two hours later with a white bag in hand. In his report, he listed that he was helping three separate motorists during that time.
• On Aug. 19, 2010, he was recorded from 4:15 p.m. until 4:45 p.m. parked behind a Whataburger restaurant while listing that he was helping one disabled motorist.
• On Aug. 30, 2010, hidden cameras spotted him between 4:43 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., parked for most of that time outside a Chinese restaurant where people were having car trouble in the same parking lot. He provided no help to them, but his report shows he assisted two separate motorists during that time.

On another day, Sept. 2, 2010, he was recorded helping no motorists while parked outside a McDonalds restaurant near Interstate 45 and Fuqua from 4:24 p.m. until 6:26 p.m. He was recorded leaving his truck only once to buy snacks at a nearby convenience store before heading downtown to end his shift. His official report correctly reflects he helped no motorists.On this day, a driver broke down on the Gulf Freeway just 60 yards away from where Richard was leaning back in his truck for hours. Richard was recorded stepping out of his truck and staring at the driver, but offering no assistance. The driver was seen placing a cellular phone call and a wrecker then arrived to help him on the freeway shoulder.When a reporter asked Richard what he wanted to say to the stranded motorists he was supposed to be helping, Richard answered, “I been doing that, sir.”"Well, I’m fired, sir,” said Richard.When the reporter asked again about leaving so many stranded motorists without help while hidden cameras found him dodging his duty over a two-month period, Richard answered, “I understand your point, sir. I know you’re right. I don’t have any argument.”Richard was confronted by METRO Police leaders in response to the request for his work records filed by Local 2 Investigates, and he resigned his position.Lambert said, “We’re disappointed, we’re embarrassed that it happened. It’s not acceptable, and we’ll continue to build upon to make sure that we don’t have it happen in the future.”The unfortunate reality is you have demonstrated through your observations and through your stories that we were not totally on mark with providing that service,” he said.Lambert said all 13 remaining MAP vehicle workers were called in to discuss what Local 2 Investigates found.”We talked about their integrity in doing their job. We talked about their reports and when they document the log, that they’re expected to report actual findings. We talked about establishing a system where we are going to be periodically monitoring their GPS system,” he said.Each MAP truck is outfitted with a Global Positioning System, but Lambert admitted that supervisors were not paying attention to where their MAP workers were spending time each day.”I’m not going to excuse — You hit on target. There is no excuse. There is no reason to say that’s appropriate. It is not appropriate and we will not shy away from that,” said Lambert.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090416_mp_myspace-racism.e0f170c8.html

HOUSTON (KTRK) — They were billed as a SWAT team to fight traffic tie-ups, but after our hidden cameras got through, one top city official is calling the mayor’s mobility response team a disaster.

Houston has a traffic mess and we’re spending millions to make it better, but 13 Undercover is back with the pictures that are triggering a police internal affairs investigation.

The mayor promised a war room atmosphere to ease our traffic headaches and the Mobility Response Team are the foot soldiers; civilian troops to free cops to fight crime. But are Houston taxpayers being taken for a ride?

Twas just weeks before Christmas and all through the town, it was snowing, starting to come down

The roads were slick, traffic getting thick, But Houston has just the trick — Mayor Bill White’s prized mobility response team; the street soldiers in Houston’s multi-million dollar congestion-fighting SWAT team.

“We do need people out there directing traffic and we need more of them,” said Mayor White.

So this should be a really good day for 13 Undercover to watch them in action.

“How you react when you think no one is looking defines your character and defines your work ethic,” said Assistant Chief Vicki King with the Houston Police Department.

Of course, you can’t fix things when five of you are eating wings. You can see when they got to Wings-N-Wings — a little before 3:08pm on December 10. You can see what time they left — 5:18pm on the nose.

More than two hours?

“Half the squad off the streets eating wings,” we pointed out.

“Unacceptable,” answered King. “Unacceptable.”

Rush hour is an odd time for a wing fest, especially on a rare snow day. Because here were 59 traffic accidents during the wingding, 133 accidents between 3pm and 9 pm. You know how many accidents the 11 mobility officers went to that evening? According to their own work records, none.

“They should be going to accidents,” said King. “They shouldn’t have to wait to be told or dispatched. That is their job function.”

We all know there’s lots of traffic, but on many days our hidden cameras watched, the MRTs seemed to have very little to do.

One work card shows three MRTs stopped while driving at a road hazard on Kirby for two whole minutes. They weren’t dispatched anywhere in eight hours.

“I imagine you’ve had a chat with the supervisors,” we said.

“Absolutely,” she answered.

“I imagine it wasn’t pretty,” we said.

“No, sir.”

Two other MRTs on scooters spent part of their morning rush hour at Whataburger. A fire truck blocks a street leading to Shepherd. And they could see the emergency lights if they looked up. But it’s hard to look and twirl a cup at the same time.

It’s just after 5am another morning, the first stop was not a traffic call. We’re at Denny’s. Because you can’t fight congestion on an empty stomach.

An hour later, they will be dispatched to the other side of town to help with a traffic tie-up after an eighteen-wheeler accident on the Eastex.

The traffic is backed up, all right. The MRTs get out, take a look and then walk back to their van and drive off.

It’s time for another break.

There is a horrible three-car wreck on 20th street right between Heights and Yale in front of Hamilton Middle School. Two elderly folks are dead. And we watched the driver of the third car being pulled out. Emergency vehicles already block 20th and civilians are directing traffic on Heights before the professional traffic control arrives.

We’re watching the MRTs in one van. One just stays in the van. A second MRT puts out cones. But he’ll just stand there, even though traffic on Yale is backing up. Maybe he’s guarding the cones.

“Unacceptable. It is unacceptable,” said King. “They are there to assist, not just the motoring public, but our pedestrians.”

So let’s watch. An elderly woman walking with a cane is going to try to navigate through the cars. You can tell she’s unsure. The MRT is staring right at her.

“Your MRT is staring right at her and doesn’t help,” we point out.

“It’s unacceptable,” said King. “I can’t overemphasize how terrible that looks and we plan to get to the bottom of it.”

MRTs stand with their hands in their pockets as school kids try to navigate the heavy traffic on Yale. An HISD police officer walks out in the street and starts directing traffic. The MRT decides she should do it, too. It looks like she’s getting a lesson in traffic hand gestures.

“I’m very, very disappointed because they know better,” said King.

There are seven MRTs on an accident scene, but even our helicopter can tell a lot of them aren’t doing a thing about traffic congestion. We see three of them even walk away to get dinner. Another walks off to a drug store, then comes back and gets in the van.

Monday night, why fight rush hour traffic, when you can eat barbecue instead? The hidden cameras roll again on Eyewitness News at 10pm.

HOUSTON (KTRK) — The mayor’s prized civilian response team is supposed to provide traffic patrol at wrecks and emergency scenes so cops are freed to fight crime. But are taxpayers being taken for a ride?

It’s rush hour downtown at the intersection of Congress and Main. We see a mobility response van surrounded by traffic cones. It must be a traffic emergency. So we asked what they were working on.

“This is our post we were assigned to,” the officer said. “I don’t know (what for). You’ll have to ask the sergeant.”

We didn’t strike up a conversation right away. For a while we had watched with hidden cameras as two Mobile Response Team (MRT) officers stood on a street corner sidewalk. Time was just ticking away.

We asked, “Do you know what you’re doing here?”

“I know what I’m doing here,” the officer answered.

We pressed, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m not answering any questions,” he said.

The lights were working. The train was doing its thing. The officers weren’t directing traffic. They didn’t even walk in the street. They were just hanging out on the sidewalk.

In fact, the only thing blocking traffic on Congress was the city mobility van, parked in a moving lane of traffic, surrounded by those emergency traffic cones.

“I can’t imagine what the guy was thinking,” said Asst. Chief Vicki King of the Houston Police Department.

We pointed out, “You’re blocking a moving lane of traffic.”

The officer responded, “Well, that’s where we have to park.”

We asked, “What’s wrong with, like, a parking space?”

“There wasn’t any when we got here,” the officer explained.

But we had watched them from three different parking spaces.

Asst. Chief King explained, “Our job, their job is to keep the traffic going.”

How about this for an afternoon’s work? First stop — Starbucks. The MRTs trade trips for coffee. Then it’s off to Bank of America, and then the cell phone store. They will direct traffic for less than half an hour at Lee High School.

Time for the afternoon rush hour, but for some MRTs it’s time for barbeque.

“They shouldn’t be out of service during rush hour,” said Asst. Chief King.

Well, they were. Even HPD knew last year the MRTs’ work cards showed “a lot of uncommitted time.” You might call that nothing to do.

“As our manpower grows,” one email read, “it’s vital that we keep these guys busy.”

You think?

We followed two mobility cops on scooters who’ve left a fire scene. They’re stopped at the traffic light at Shepherd and Alabama. It’s a busy intersection, and the traffic light is clearly broken and flashing red. But the officers don’t even stop to direct traffic until the light is fixed. They’re on a mission to Luby’s.

“That is their responsibility, is to respond to mobility related issues,” said Asst. Chief King.

A utility truck is fixing a traffic light on Crawford. Utility workers put up a makeshift stop sign. So what exactly are the three MRTs going to do?

Do you call this traffic control? One MRT helps some cars, but a second guy is working on the art of directing traffic while leaning against the van. And the third guy — he’s just standing around. A family with a baby in a stroller crosses the street, but the MRT doesn’t help. It looks like he’s cleaning his shoe.

At Dallas and Bagby the trio makes another utility stop. One guy is directing traffic with a whistle. The other two are just sitting in the van waiting. When they drove off, they forgot their traffic cones.

HOUSTON (KTRK) — There’s evidence that Houston’s City Hall grossly exaggerated the work of the mayor’s prized traffic-fighting SWAT team. We’re back and so are our hidden cameras.

Check out the busted fire hydrant on MacGregor. It’s not exactly a flood. Cars can pass just fine. But someone thinks that nearly half the city’s mobility force is needed here to direct traffic until the water is shut off.

Wanna watch five traffic pros in action? They set up their traffic cones, but where you put them is kind of important.

“They should pull back to nearest intersection to keep people from traveling down that street, so that they don’t exacerbate the problem,” said Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Vicki King.

Makes sense. Detour folks at the intersection.

But these trained mobility experts have instead blocked the street, so cars are forced to make U-turns on MacGregor. That could cause an accident.

“That’s traffic 101,” said King.

Thought so.

Three MRTs just stand there and watch the water gushing. They talk on the phone and help hold up a tree. But no one is helping direct the cars that suddenly come up on the MacGregor blockade.

“They should know better,” said King. “There’s no question.”

Our undercover van will show you the cones seem to be doing all the work. So what traffic school did this bunch go to?

We could make a U-turn, but what’s a METRO bus going to do. Remember, there are five MRT’s on the scene. But the bus driver has to stop his bus and get out and walk over to one of them to ask for help.

“It’s unacceptable,” said King.

But aren’t these members of the mayor’s mobility swat team, the ones doing such a good job last year that the mayor hired twelve more of them?

City Hall claimed the MRTs handled 20,000 mobility incidents in their first 10 months. Wow. That’s 2,000 a month. Sounds like City Hall math.

We saw an MRT team work card. They gave someone directions to the Galleria and three of them counted that as a traffic incident. Turns out 6,100 traffic incidents in a year really were just someone giving directions.

“We don’t dispatch these guys to give directions,” said Houston City Controller Annise Parker.

How about this for city hall math? A trio of MRTs posted at four different locations at the very same fire. That would sound like one incident, right? Not for the MRTs. They count that as four incidents.

They go to get the uniform shop. They count that as another incident.

“Unfortunately, if some people want to try to inflate those numbers, it’s difficult for us unless you catch them in the act,” said King.

There’s an afternoon accident on the Loop. Traffic seems just fine down on the feeder road. But there’s an MRT controlling the light, anyway and another one at the corner.

“I’m giving him signals because he can’t see from right here. The traffic flowing on the feeder road,” said one MRT with whom we spoke.

That makes sense, but why are we paying two mobility officers to just sit in a van parked down the street?

Want to see a one sided conversation?

“I know what they are doing,” we said to the people in the MRT’s van. “But what are you two guys doing?”

King agreed. “That’s not acceptable to your viewers, it’s not acceptable to the police department and it’s darn sure not going to be acceptable to the taxpayers,” she said.

It turns out the city hired more MRTs months before they actually had bought the vehicles for them to use. How about that for planning?

“This is a failure of training. It’s a failure of leadership. It’s a failure of supervision,” said Parker. “And it ends up as a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

But it can get real hot just sitting there with so much to do. In July, HPD made an emergency purchase of tinted windows so the MRTs could have a place to “cool down.”

We showed you an MRT not lifting a finger to help an elderly woman try to cross a busy street next to an emergency scene.

“That’s basic human courtesy. That person obviously doesn’t know their job, shouldn’t be a city employee,” said Parker.

“You’re doing a good thing here,” said King. “We’ve taken our lumps and let me tell you. We have learned from this and these guys are on notice that the city expects better.”

Parker added, “It’s a great idea in theory and it probably could be a very good idea in practice, but it’s a disaster.”

One supervisor has been reassigned and the whole MRT unit faces an internal affairs investigation because of the video we’ve been showing you.