Houston Police Department’s new deputy chief is under investigation for the disappearance of $25,000 worth of city property, doctors say

KINGWOOD, Texas (KTRK) – One of Houston’s newly promoted deputy police chiefs is under investigation after $25,000 worth of property went missing from a police substation.

Adrian Rodriguez was promoted in April following demotions at HPD due to the abandoned cases scandal and was most recently assigned as commander of the Kingwood substation on Rustic Woods Drive.

Last November, the security gates in the rear parking lot were removed and replaced with snazzy new ones. The old gates remained in place on a grassy area for months. Sources told ABC13 that they disappeared over the weekend of March 23.

ABC13 obtained a portion of the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report, which states that Rodriguez asked a liaison with the City of Houston’s General Services Department if he could take over the property because he “wanted to dispose of it in his ditch at home.”

ABC13 requested surveillance video from HPD from the weekend the gates were manned. The request was denied and sent to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for a decision.

In the referral letter, the agency confirmed “an open investigation by the HPD Internal Affairs Division into alleged improper conduct by a police officer.”

The City of Houston has a seven-page asset disposal process for disposing of property that is “surplus, obsolete, worn out, or junk.”

Unless approval is granted, the entire amount will be deposited in a city warehouse on Broad Street in southeast Houston.

There, much of it is offered for sale at auctions for taxpayers. Impounded vehicles, wastepaper baskets and old uniform tops are just some of the things currently for sale.

Only after ABC13 requested documents on the whereabouts of the discarded gates was a report filed with the police.

The report is dated June 20, three months after the gates were removed. The City of Houston is the plaintiff. The incident is classified as theft and the estimated value of the gates is $25,000.

By policy, Chief Rodriguez is not permitted to discuss ongoing IAD investigations. HPOU described the investigation as minor.

However, the portion of the IAD report obtained by ABC13 provides more context. The liaison said he gave Rodriguez permission. “I thought I had authorized Chief Rodriguez to take smaller broken pieces of gate material that should have already been disposed of by the contractor,” he wrote. “I did not realize they were entire gate panels.”

HPD does not comment on IAD investigations and said Friday that Asst. Chief Rodriguez’s status is “active.”

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