SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office suspended a corporal after he failed to properly pat down a teenager who pulled out a gun and shot and killed himself while being booked into jail last year.
Corporal Roberto Lopez was suspended for 30 days due to rule violations, including poor job performance and detrimental conduct, county discipline records show.
While Jesus Gonzales, 19, was being booked into jail, Lopez conducted a “pat search” of the teen and then escorted him to be strip-searched, records show.
As another deputy was conducting a strip search of Gonzales, the teen pulled a gun from his right side and took his own life, according to records.
A subsequent internal affairs investigation determined Lopez failed to do a thorough pat down of Gonzales and did not use an electronic detection device to scan the inmate for weapons, records show.
Last year, the San Antonio Police Department fired one of the officers who first took Gonzales into custody on a felony warrant.
An SAPD investigation determined officer Abdiel Munoz searched Gonzales at the scene of the arrest but did not pat him down.
Lopez’s suspension was finalized last year and was among dozens of BCSO discipline records released by the agency this month, following a public information request from KSAT Investigates.
Six of those suspensions, including Lopez’s, involved firearms.
“Shotgun wound to the genital area”
BCSO Deputy Tom York was suspended for 15 days in November, months after his friend accidentally shot himself with York’s personal shotgun, discipline records show.
SAPD responded to a far West Side hospital last July to “investigate a victim who arrived with a shotgun wound to the genital area,” records show.
York later admitted that he failed to secure the loaded weapon before handing it to his friend, who then accidentally shot himself, according to records.
York was first handed a proposed 45-day suspension, which was later shortened to 15 days after he met with a BCSO deputy chief, and two rules violations were removed, records show.
Investigator suspended after family member took gun from his home
A BCSO investigator was suspended for six days in September after his county-issued firearm was found on top of a community mailbox, records show.
Inv. Michael Jarzombek initially reported in January 2024 that his Glock 43X was stolen and that his home had been burglarized, according to records.
Jarzombek was later contacted by a neighbor who told him he had found the gun on top of the neighborhood mailbox.
Jarzombek was suspended for BCSO rules violations, including conduct unbecoming an officer and security and control over firearms, records show.
He was first handed a 30-day order of suspension, which was shortened to six days after a hearing, according to BCSO records.
Contractor finds gun in jail restroom
BCSO Sergeant John Paul Garcia was suspended for three days in February, months after a contractor working at the jail found Garcia’s personal gun in a restroom.
An electrician working on the jail’s employee clinic found the Glock 22 and a holster last October, according to records.
Garcia was handed a proposed 30-day suspension in January, which was shortened to three days after a hearing the following month.
Deputy accidentally fires weapon in court Sally port
A BCSO deputy was suspended for five days in January after accidentally firing his weapon in the Sally port of the Bexar County Justice Center.
Deputy Michael Granado accidentally discharged the shot last September, while taking his county-issued weapon to get engraved, according to records.
He was initially handed a proposed 20-day suspension, which was reduced to five days after a hearing, records show.
Granado was suspended for rule violations, including performance of duties and bringing discredit to the sheriff’s office.
A second BCSO deputy was suspended after an incident the same day in the same court Sally port, records show.
Deputy Robert Rodriguez Jr., who was also at the Sally port to get his weapon engraved. Records show he was suspended four days for failing to obey an order to holster his firearm.
As a BCSO sergeant and two other deputies discussed Deputy Granado’s accidental discharge, Rodriguez removed his county-issued firearm from its holster, lifted it into the air and said it was “clear,” according to records.
Rodriguez then failed to comply with an order from the sergeant to put the gun back in its holster, records show.
Rodriguez was first handed a proposed 30-day suspension, which was shortened to four days after two violations were removed.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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