» D.C. violence rooted in Tea Party frustrations.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether a jail lieutenant broke policy or any laws by attending a pro-trump rally that escalated into an angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said 46year-old Roxanne Mathai, an eight-year veteran with the department, posted selfies and photos of the crowd in Washington, D.C., on her Facebook page, identifying herself as a Sheriff’s Office employee.
The sheriff said he was made aware of the photos Thursday morning and sent the photos to the FBI to see if Mathai participated in any illegal behavior during the incident.
The photos don’t show Mathai committing an unlawful act, but the FBI has facial recognition technology that can determine if she entered the Capitol building.
Sheriff’s Office officials also want to knowif shewas oncapitol grounds after dispersal orders were given, which would have been in violation of the law.
She wrote in a caption on one of the photos that she didn’t want to do something illegal and “catch a case.”
Salazar said some of the photos show the lieutenant in the middle of a crowd that assaulted law enforcement agents. If that’s the case, the sheriff said Mathai will be investigated on administrative charges of conduct unbecoming andwants her to “never set foot in (the Sheriff’s Office) again.”
“If she just stood by while first responders were assaulted, it would be more than just troubling, it would be downright infuriating,” Salazar said. “It makes you mad … if someone that wears a uniform just stood there, watched and took pictures.”
The sheriff, who’s a registered Democrat, said his decision is based on discipline, not on Mathai’s support of Donald Trump. If others think otherwise, Salazar said “sorry, not sorry.”
Salazar emphasized Mathai has the right to travel and attend a
Trump rally but said that once the assembly turned unlawful, she should have left.
Mathai has been on administrative leave since October after allegations of an improper relationship with an inmate surfaced, Salazar said.
The Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit is investigating the allegations.