Alleged profiling threatens cases in Fort Bend
Citing a Hearst Newspapers investigation that suggested a drug task force stopped motorists based on race, a man arrested by the unit on charges of moneylaundering is arguing that the evidence should be thrown out because officers engaged in racial profiling.
The outcome could influence dozens of other pending cases brought by the Fort Bend County Narcotics Task Force.
Hearst Newspapers reported last year that the task force detained and searched Hispanic drivers at a rate that defied statistical probability. Ninety percent of one officer’s stops involved Hispanic motorists; another pulled over Hispanics three of every four times. Many were stopped for driving only a few miles per hour over the posted speed limit.
The most noteworthy numbers belonged to task force member Aaron Gillory, then a Rosenberg police officer. An analysis of his stops over a two-year period showed that nearly 98 percent of the drivers he pulled over were Hispanic. All but two of 187 vehicles he searched were driven by Hispanics.
Fort Bend sheriff ’s officials said the task force’s traffic stops were based on signs of potential wrongdoing, not race. Yet 94 percent of the time, Gillory’s searches came to nothing.
One search that did turn up alleged contraband was of a Ford pick-up being driven on U.S. 59 by Juan Altamirano in the spring of 2018. After stopping Altamirano for going 60 in a 55 mph zone, Gillory had him sit in his police vehicle while he peppered him with questions — the unit’s standard procedure. Altamirano eventually agreed to a search, and Gillory discovered nearly $200,000 in cash, most of it stuffed inside cereal boxes in the back seat.
Police seized the money as
drug proceeds. The forfeiture case was settled this spring, with $75,000 returned to Altamirano and $109,000 kept by Fort Bend County. But the criminal money laundering case against Altamirano went forward.
In the meantime, authorities began examining Gillory’s stop-and-search record. After the Hearst Newspapers investigation was published, Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton said he turned over Gillory’s records to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Results of the federal review are still awaited.
The Rosenberg Police Department also asked a racial profiling expert to review Gillory’s cases. Alex del Carmen, a professor of criminal justice at Tarleton State University, submitted his findings this summer, confirming the Hearst Newspapers analysis.
Rosenberg refused to make the findings public. Middleton said he learned of del Carmen’s analysis only after being contacted by Hearst Newspapers.
“To me, they’re highly suggestive of ” racial profiling, Middleton said in an interview. “On the surface, it is disturbing information that necessitates looking closer at it.”
Middleton said that after seeing the report. he halted prosecution of nine cases involving Gillory, saying he wanted to wait for the results of another analysis of Gillory’s record, to be performed by the Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office. “I wanted something more definitive,” he said.
Sheriff Eric Fagan, who hired Gillory earlier this year, said in September that he would hire an outside expert to perform an analysis focused on the task force.
This week, Fagan defended the team’s work, saying officers acted on tips or intelligence gleaned from license plate readers and other sources. “They didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
But he acknowledged that he had yet to hire an outside expert to analyze the unit’s stops for signs of possible racial bias.
In response, Middleton said he was done waiting for the sheriff and would let a judge decide whether Gillory’s behavior was racially motivated.
To Altamirano’s attorney, Jeff Strange, the question already has been answered.
“Juan Altamirano was stopped, detained and arrested … pursuant to an ongoing scheme of racial profiling and selective law enforcement,” he wrote last month in a court filing. “The arresting officer, Gillory, in the calendar years 2018 and 2019 stopped 819 vehicles, 798 (97.4 percent) of which were driven by drivers with Hispanic surnames.”
Strange argued that since Gillory found the money in Altamirano’s truck while acting illegally, the money laundering case should be tossed. In a separate filing, Strange said the district attorney had agreed to do just that in a September 2020 meeting, but later disavowed the agreement.
“The elected DA is the person who is supposed to make these calls,” he said.
Middleton said Strange misunderstood their conversation. “I know I wouldn’t have said that, knowing there were ramifications,” the district attorney said.
Among the ramifications: If Altamirano’s case was dismissed because of racial profiling, Gillory’s other pending cases might have to be dismissed as well. Settled cases could also be reopened.
State District Judge Frank Fraley has scheduled a hearing in early February on Altamirano’s request for a dismissal of his case.