Accused officer attempted suicide
A former Houston police officer accused of trying to hire an assassin to kidnap and sexually assault his wife and another woman was hospitalized last month after attempting suicide, his lawyer said Friday in court.
Clarence McNatt, 63, wanted someone to murder one or possibly both victims, police said after he was arrested. Court documents identify the targets as Mary McNatt, his estranged wife, and Marivic Milton.
In court Friday, a judge set bail for McNatt at $250,000 and ordered that he have no contact with the intended victims.
After the brief hearing, defense attorney Tommy LaFon declined to expand on McNatt’s mental condition saying he is still investigating the situation and the allegations. A neighbor who said she has been friends with McNatt since 1978 confirmed that he had been despondent after a series of marital problems.
Prosecutor Anna Emmons said an emergency protection order was put in place to keep McNatt from contacting the victims. He would be required to wear a GPS monitor and have a curfew, she said.
McNatt joined the Houston police force in July 1982 and trained at the Houston police academy, according to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
He was suspended indefinitely in October 1986 for violating rules that govern outside employment, HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. The Houston Chronicle has requested his personnel records.
Within months of leaving HPD, McNatt joined the police force of Ames, a small town in Liberty County where records show he spent just 16 months. A few years later he worked 30 months for the department in the Galveston County town of Clear Lake Shores, where he obtained an Advanced Peace Officer certification before he left police work in 1995.
McNatt’s daughter by a previous wife said she attended the court hearing Friday.
“We are all doing the best we can and hoping for the best at this point,” the daughter, 21-year-old Margarita “Maggie” McNatt, wrote in a message on Facebook.
Pasadena police arrested McNatt earlier this week after two undercover detectives posed as hitmen. The police had received information that he was looking to hire someone to kidnap and sexually assault two women.
McNatt offered to pay detectives $500 for the acts but eventually paid the officers $100 cash and three gold rings containing various stones.
When he was arrested, police said, they found items in his car that could have been used to bind and torture victims. Because of those items, he is charged with solicitation to commit capital murder and two counts of solicitation to commit aggravated kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault.
McNatt was convicted in 1996 of the manufacture, sale or distribution of a decoding device. His punishment included a fine and a year of probation with the condition that he not consume alcohol and submit to monthly urine tests.
He remained in the Harris County Jail as of Friday afternoon.