I'm investigative
reporter, Jeremy Rogowski. This investigation started with
a tip from A KG 11 viewer
just like you. The tipster said, hey, you have to check out this
small town called Coffee
City Texas. It's hiring a ton of cops
and, and word
has it. A lot of them have troubled past. So we pulled on that thread
requested a lot of records
and dug in deep that took a while and that
journalistic
journey led us to discover even more
problems at this department. And in the end, our investigation got results. Just two weeks after our
first story aired, the city council took swift
and serious action. It fired the police chief and
shut down the entire
police force new tonight. A tiny Texas town of about 250
people has 50 sworn police
officers on
the floor. We're talking about Coffee
City that's
up in Henderson County some three
hours north of Houston. They have one cop for every
five residents. And
what's more Jeremy Rogowski discovered many
of those officers have a history of problems
wearing the badge on the banks of Lake Palestine
some three hours north
of Houston. This dot on the map has
quite a reputation among those who drive through everywhere, literally everywhere. They run back and forth, back and forth. A lot of
officers policing a very
small number
of people, only 249 people says the
sign on the edge
of town and when you add up all the
full time cops and reserves,
50 officers. Good lord. That's crazy. It's such a small
town. Why do we
need so many? It makes no sense. Why do you need that
many officers? Coffee City hauled in a million
dollars in court fines last year for more
than 5000 violations. Officers wrote the most in the
state for a town
its size. But this isn't a story about a
small town writing a bunch
of tickets.
You see, Coffee City is a magnet for
troubled cops. How
do we know K 11 investigates, obtained
personnel records from
other police agent and found more than half of
Coffee City officers had been
suspended, demoted, terminated or dishonorably
discharged from their
previous jobs. A dozen were even criminally
charged. I was astounded to think that
they've been hired by
another agency. Greg Freeman is a Sam Houston
state criminal justice professor and retired
Houston police captain. I've never seen anything like
that in my professional career
and I've seen
a lot. Their prior discipline ranges
from excessive force to
public drunkenness, untruthfulness, and association
with known criminals. Criminal charges include DW I theft, aggravated assault, family violence and endangering
a child if you knowingly are hiring
an officer
that has a very troubled past and
history and has no business
to be wearing
a uniform. And it's a very, very
precarious slope that that city is engaging
in by hiring. This is the man who hired them. Chief John J. Portillo quadrupled the
department's size since he took
the job two
years ago. He says to provide 24 7
coverage for
the town. Why would you hire so many
people with all these
red flags? There's more to just
what's on paper and that's where I rely
on my captain
and my background investigators to
go in and dig
and say, hey, what's the truth behind the chief says criminal charges
were often dismissed,
dishonorable discharges, overturned. He claims most applicants hired
got on the wrong side
of agency politics. If you go back to the totality
of a lot of these
officers stuff, I would say 75% or if not more
they're being retaliated against
from their agency retaliate. Why would you
take a chance chief? They tried to look at
the good in everybody and I believe everybody there
is an opportunity. You give a lot of opportunities. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. The opportunity to wear a badge
allows his officers to
work extra jobs, which can mean real money,
$50 an hour
or more. I mean, let's not hide
it from anybody. They're making probably about
80 to 100,000
a year doing that. And I asked Portillo directly,
does he get a cut of his
officers extra
job wages? Twice during our interview,
the chief said, no, the only money he makes from
extra jobs is from the ones
he works himself. And that takes us from Coffee
City to Houston. And what's coming up
tomorrow night
at 10 Garcia right now? Is he or his training command? That's Chief Portillo caught on
camera cussing out an elected
Harris County constable Portillo was
working security for a Southeast Houston
apartment complex. Nearly 200 miles away from
Coffee City. More
on that video. And what else we learned about
Chief Portillo's past as our investigation continues
tomorrow at
10. Let Jeremy Roski fascinating report there.
We'll see you tomorrow
for more. Thank you City Texas, a small town
of about 250 people and 50 police officers
on the force. Our investigative team dug
through records
and found half of those officers
had been suspended, demoted or fired from
previous jobs. Some even criminally
charged Jeremy Rogowski discovered the
man who hired them can have a short fuse when
dealing with others who
wear the badge. Here in Harris County city's police chief routinely
works an extra job 200 miles away at this Houston
apartment complex and on this day, watch how
John J Portillo behaves. It's an expletive filled
rant launched at the elected constable of
Harris County precinct. Two Jerry Garcia Portillo wanted precinct two
to file charges
on a man. He says assaulted him
at the complex. It was just one of
many requests. The constable says kept coming
in from off duty coffee city
cops, which at
first was, you know, no big deal. We help anybody and everybody. But then we noticed that it was
becoming a pattern,
that pattern, the constable says was
draining resources. So Garcia reached out to the
Harris County District Attorney's office and we were
advised to tell
Chief Portillo that he had to file the charges. But when deputies did just that
Portillo left a nasty
voice mail and those are that you have
working for you. Uh you know, to your guys, not us, it saddened me. It upset me to
hear that this isn't
something small. This is, I mean, this is pretty upsetting what
upset the constable
even more the response his agency got back
after alerting Coffee
City's mayor. I don't see very much there
that warrants any disciplinary
action from
the city. The mayor wrote the officers are contracted by
the property for off duty
police protection. You may want to reach out to
them with any complaints. Didn't think that it merited
any disciplinary action
against them. It's crazy. Greg Freeman is a Sam Houston
State criminal justice professor and retired
Houston police captain. Basically that's you're
enabling bad behavior
now and that's exactly what
the mayor has done. So, what does Chief Portillo
have to say?
For himself and I apologize to my city
council at city council. Did you apologize to constable
Garcia? No, I haven't
had a chance. I haven't talked to him. The
cussing incident happened
six months ago. Is that the real John Jay
Portillo that people are
seeing in this video? No, I don't, I don't just
go off the handle what you did here. Yeah,
because I, I got sucked in the
face. I was mad.
I was red and I was upset because I, they wouldn't help me file the. It's not the only
example we found that calls into question
Portillo's character
and integrity in his application to become
Coffee City's Chief. He never listed this ad w I charge out of Florida in
which he failed to
appear in court. Why wouldn't you disclose
that chief didn't disclose it was over
10 years ago. You had an active warrant, huh? That was disposed of. No, it wasn't court records
show the day after
our interview, Portillo hired a Florida
defense attorney who filed a not
guilty plea in
the case. From the looks of it. You weren't being truthful on
the application to which you
hold the job
this day chief. Yeah, I understand. I
mean, but that's
not what
it is. I'm not, not being truthful. You forgot. I just, I put down everything that
was in my mind
when I filled out my application to
the best of my knowledge. Well, that same job application
States there are criminal consequences for lying on
a government document, Lennon. Ok. So there's more to this
investigation tomorrow night. Yeah, tomorrow we reveal how
some Coffee City officers were working full
time right
here in Harris County and how
the chief suspended that division after we started
asking questions. We'll see that tomorrow night.
Thank you, Jeremy A 2011 investigation leads to
changes at a Texas Police
department. This week, we've showed you how the town
of Coffee City
three hours north of Houston is a magnet
for cops with troubling
backgrounds. Now, the chief is temporarily
shutting down
a division that works here in Harris
County after Jeremy Rogowski questioned
whether it's legal. Coffee City, Texas A dot On the map with barely
250 residents has a police force of 50
officers five
times the number of cops than any other
Texas town
its size. And that's not the only
thing unusual
or odd. Turns out there are a half
dozen full time Coffee City police officers who don't
even work in Coffee City, Texas. Instead they work from
home more than three hours and nearly 200 miles
away in Houston. It's hard to believe that
that is happening. Greg Freeman is a Sam Houston
State criminal justice
professor. I've never seen anything
like that.
There are 100 questions that come to my
mind, who are these officers? This internal email shows
they're part of a warrant
division. It reads there is no need
to go to Coffee City because you will be spending
95% of your time
on the phone calling people who have
outstanding warrants and collecting failure
to appear fines and because it's a full
time position, there's an added perk. It
gives them the
ability to work job. Coffee City Chief John Jay
Portillo concedes they are
on the books as
full time because state law only allows
full time cops to work
extra security jobs at this Houston apartment
complex. Some Coffee City
warrant officers
do just that and make more than $50
an hour. They work 23 days a week, four
days a week. But is it all above board? The warrant division is a
performance based division
and officers pay is based on the failure
to appear they collect. They're basically bounty
hunters that way. Freeman says that amounts to a
commission for collecting fines. It doesn't make any sense from
an ethical perspective. It just screams questions about the legitimacy of what
they're doing. That's because state law
requires full time
peace officers to get paid at least at the
federal minimum wage. But again, at the Coffee City
Warrant division, the court
gives them
$150 for each warrant that they clear.
So they don't earn a salary
apart from that
$150. No, sir. No, sir. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Ok.
Is that legal? Um, I believe so. Two days after our interview
Coffee City PD changed course, sending out this email
to warrant detectives that said due to unforeseen
difficulties, the program has been suspended
until such time
as I can make sure that we are in
compliance with
labor laws. So whose job is it to
police? The police? The Department of Public Safety
enforces any extra
job violations. The Texas Commission on law
enforcement or
T call has the power to suspend or revoke
a police officer's license. That agency confirms to
us it does
have an open investigation into the
Coffee City Police Department. Got you raising a lot of eyebrows.
Jeremy, thank you new developments
tonight in
the K 2 11 investigation of the
Coffee City Police Department. Last week, we uncovered
the town of 250 people, has 50 officers on the force
and more than half of those
officers have
tainted past now, Jeremy Rogowski reports.
The Coffee City Council has suspended
the chief of police chief, John J. Portillo is
off the job for
30 days. The Coffee City Council
voted to suspend him pending an independent
investigation into
what we found K 11 investigates revealed
how Portillo routinely hired officers who had
been suspended, demoted, terminated or dishonorably
discharged from their previous
law enforcement jobs for a wide range of misconduct
or even criminal charges. We also reported on a profanity
filled rant. The chief launched at a Harris
County constable while he was working an extra
security job
in Houston. And we uncovered how Portillo
failed to list on his
job application this active DW case out of Florida in which he
failed to appear in court
from the looks
of it. You weren't being truthful on the application to which
you hold the job
this day. Chief. Yeah, I understand. I
mean, but that's
not what
it is. I'm not, not being truthful. You forgot. I just put down everything that was in
my mind when I
filled out my to the best of my knowledge. Our investigation also revealed
how Coffee City Warrant officers didn't even
work in Coffee City. They stayed home in Houston
spending their time on the phone calling
people with outstanding traffic warrants and collecting
failure to appear fines after we questioned Portillo
about the program. Is that legal? Um I believe so, the chief suspended the
warrant division. We got hold of Portillo
on the phone. The chief declined to comment
about the suspension and that's not the only shake
up in the Coffee
City ranks. Sergeant Cody Welch resigned
from the department. We don't know why Welch also
declined to comment. Jeremy 11 investigates, 11 investigates uncovered
questionable hiring practices
in a small town police department with
50 officers for
250 people. Last night. We told you how the
police chief was suspended
for 30 days. Tonight. There is new reaction from
the mayor of
Coffee City who is talking for the very
first time investigative
reporter Jeremy Rogowski tells us what he had
to say and the changes the mayor
says are on
the way, Mayor Jeff Blackstone declined
our repeated requests for
an on camera interview, but he did sit down with our
sister station
and Tyler, the mayor concedes he was
unaware of many of the
issues we uncovered. My first reaction was just kind
of shocked. Mayor Blackstone
says he had
no idea. More than half of the
50 officers on the Coffee City Police
Department had been suspended, demoted, terminated or dishonorably
discharged from previous
law enforcement jobs. Some even criminally charged the mayor and all the current
city council members took
office after
John J. Portillo was hired
as police chief. So the mayor says
they were unaware of what we uncovered on
Portillo's job application that he failed to
list an active DW charge out of Florida. I was not pleased whenever I
heard the allegations because
if they are true, then that's, that looks really bad. So we just have to make sure that we get to the bottom
of all of this. The mayor says while Chief
Portillo is on a 30 day
paid suspension, Coffee City will investigate
the issues internally as well as hiring an independent
investigation firm. The scope of that probe will
include the department's warrant officers who we found didn't
even work in
Coffee City but rather stayed home
in Houston
on the phone trying to collect
outstanding traffic fines. We weren't really fully
aware of how
it was operating and that was all
kind of brought
to light as well through this
story going forward, the mayor says all police
applications will
be reviewed by the entire city council
before any officer
is hired his goal, rebuild the reputation of his town's
police force and
public trust. These are allegations that we
can't just turn
a blind
eye to the mayor. Also says Coffee City is asking
the Texas Commission on
law enforcement
or Tea call for assistance
with information that agency already has an open
investigation into the
department. Jeremy Rogowski 11 investigates first tonight. Breaking
news from
the K 2 11 investigates team
just a few hours ago, the city council in
tiny Coffee City Texas voted unanimously to
fire its police chief and deactivate the entire
police department until a
new chief can
be hired. This comes after K
2 11 investigates uncovered questionable
practices in the department. In a series of reports. Jeremy Roski is in Coffee City tonight
with the exclusive
update, Jeremy, the Coffee City Council took
less than 15 minutes to
reach its decision. It means this tiny town
of 250 people
that once had 50 officers on the
force now has none. Coffee City council members
took swift and serious
action after
what K 11 investigates uncovered a police department that
routinely hired
cops with troubling work histories hired by a chief, John
Jay Portillo, who had an unresolved
criminal charge and who launched a questionable
warrant division with officers who didn't even
work in Coffee City. There was things that we
weren't aware of and that just
really opened our
eyes that, you know, there's major changes
that have got to be made
and made. Quickly. Portillo had tried to email his
resignation before
the meeting but council members refused to
accept it and instead outright
fired the chief. And in a bombshell move, it
also voted to deactivate the
department as
a whole. We just felt it was best to
basically terminate
the program. That way we're able to go out, find a new chief. Let him do all the proper
evaluations and determine
if he wants to re hire anybody or
just start from scratch. The action was welcome. News
for many residents
who say they've lived with
overaggressive policing for too
long ever since
we moved here, it was every day cop pulling in
for one reason
or another. Something needed to happen. That's for sure. The Henderson County Sheriff's
Office will respond to calls
for the time being as for the 50 full time
and reserve officers, we're told they will
not be allowed to perform police officer
activities unless
or until they're picked up by
another department. Finally, we reached out to John
Jay Portillo for comment. We have not heard back. It has been quite the
investigation and quite the
development tonight, Jeremy Rogowski in Coffee City.
Thank you, Jeremy. You can watch Jeremy's series
of stories on Coffee city
on the K 2 11
plus app. It's free to download on Apple
TV, Fire TV,
and Roku.
