Houston Police Department’s new deputy chief is being investigated for missing city property valued at $25,000, doctors say

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

Adrian Rodriguez was promoted in April following demotions resulting from HPD’s suspended case scandal. He was last assigned as commander of the Kingwood substation on Rustic Woods Drive.

Last November, the security barriers in the rear parking lot were removed and replaced with new, sleek ones. The old gates were left in a grassy area for months. Then, over the weekend of March 23, sources told ABC13 they went missing.

ABC13 obtained part of the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report which states Rodriguez asked a Houston Department of General Services liaison if he could take the property because he “wanted to put them in his ditch at his house.”

ABC13 requested surveillance video from HPD from the weekend the doors were taken. The request was denied and referred to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for decision.

In the referral letter, the department confirmed “an open investigation by HPD’s Internal Affairs Division into alleged improper police procedure by an officer.”

The City of Houston has a 7-page Asset Disposition Procedure for the disposal of “surplus, obsolete, worn or discarded” property.

Unless approved, it’s all supposed to end up in a city warehouse on Broad Street in southeast Houston.

There, much of this property becomes available for taxpayers to purchase at auction. Impounded vehicles, waste paper bins and old uniform tops are among what is currently available.

It was only after ABC13 requested information about the whereabouts of the abandoned doors that a police report was filed.

The report is dated June 20, three months after the barriers were removed. The City of Houston is the complainant. This is a theft and the barriers are estimated to be worth $25,000.

Chief Rodriguez is not authorized to speak about ongoing IAD investigations, per policy. The HPOU has characterized the investigation as minor.

However, the portion of the IAD report provided by ABC13 provides more context. The liaison said he gave Rodriguez permission. “I thought I was allowing Chief Rodriguez to take away smaller pieces of broken door materials that should have already been disposed of by the contractor,” he wrote. “I didn’t know they were whole door panels.”

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

For more on this story, follow Jessica Willey on Facebook, X and Instagram.