I hope the state is going after his wife / kids / family with full gusto

at the very least all the money spent on them needs to be reimbursed to the state asap. if they had any involvement charges need to be filed.

'While Brock claimed to have spent about $96,000 worth of checks written to cash to criminal informants and undercover cops, he failed to bring any cases forward to the District Attorney's office.'

I'm guessing 96k just doesn't buy what it used to buy

'Brock spent money on the following: • His children's cell phone bills'

his kids were really deep cover informants ?

sounds legit to me !

'Gasoline on a trip to Las Vegas'

the refugio shakedown must have been slow that month so he figured he'd head up to vegas and find some victims with some real cash.

god bless forfeiture assets law !

sounds legit to me !

'Women's western wear from Cavender's Boot City'

part of undercover sting that had him dressing up as a cowgirl ?

sounds legit to me

@Will---

Doesnt mean he is guilty---just means he knew he had nothing to back up his innocence. I am not even saying he is innocent. I am simply saying...if YOU do not know what happened FIRST HAND, then you should not be making accusations.

I am not even going to touch your other ridiculous statement.

seriously, what happened to the lemur ?

HE WILL END UP COSTING THE TAXPAYORS MORE BECAUSE BEING A FORMER LAW ENFORMENT OFFICER, HE WILL GET SEPARATE CELL, COMMONS AND CAFETERIA TIME.

PROUDWIFE SAID.."IF, in fact this man is guilty, he will have to answer to the ultimate Judge one day, as we all will. It is not up to the public to judge this man, especially if we do not know what the FACTS are of this case. Even if the facts make a compelling case, you never know what the TRUE motives of "calling him out" were...or even IF he did it."

UH,... A PLEA OF GUILT PRETTY MUCH MEANS HE DID IT. GOD WAS HIS PARTNER IF HE USED THE MONEY FOR HIS PREACHING. LETS GO AHEAD AND THROW A COUPLE OF YEARS AT GOD, MAYBE A FEW MONTHS FOR GOOD BEHAIVOR FOR HAVING A LONG HAIRED SON. GEEZE, JUST BECAUSE HE TOLD TALES FROM A BOOK OF FABLES DOES NOT GIVE HIM DIETY STATUS..

Gasoline for his semiweekly trips to a Rockport church where he served as a preacher..

Sounds typical in Bible belt country...

after seeing the purchases, the man is a idiot and there is no way in hell others weren't in on this

the rest of his family will be very, very lucky if the powers to be decide to call this case 'closed'

I do not know the details of this case, so I can not comment on specifics. BUT what I can tell you is I personally knew this mans family. I knew them as honorable, caring, compassionate individuals and I would have never thought that he nor anyone in his family would do something like this. Call me niave--maybe--but what I am trying to say is if you do not know PERSONALLY--FIRST HAND what happened, please do NOT be bashing this man. Afterall, NONE of us were there to know what TRULY happened. And it does not mean that he is guilty just because he pleaded guilty---maybe he knew he didnt have a way to prove his innocence so he didnt want to drag his family nor himself through the turmoil of having a trial spread throughout the media. Please, before you decide to put your 2 cents in, keep your rude comments to yourself and pray for his man and his family. IF, in fact this man is guilty, he will have to answer to the ultimate Judge one day, as we all will. It is not up to the public to judge this man, especially if we do not know what the FACTS are of this case. Even if the facts make a compelling case, you never know what the TRUE motives of "calling him out" were...or even IF he did it. I just pray that Refugio can rebuild its police for the safety of its people. I also pray for this family as I can imagine this is not an easy thing to go through. Again, please keep your rude comments to yourself. They are not needed.

bwawhwahwahwahwahwahwahhwahwahwawahaaa

a drug lemur ???

three years wasn't enough for this criminal

Hey Ricardo: What kind of mocking bird don't fly and will it mock it's 200 songs out it's arse too?

In the article it's says when they first seized the 2 million, in 02. They applied or whatever to turn the "bulk" of money over to police. Really? What is the bulk? 1.8 mil? If so, who lined there greedy little pockets with the 200 g's? It doesn't take a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out this whole town needs to be investigated.

Where is the other 1.5 mil?

Have no earthly idea. But if ol Brock had half a brain, you could stick it in a Mockingbirds arse and it would fly backwards!

brock ran for sheriff and lost

im wondering if the sheriff has more access to funds since they make more stops on 77 ?

Let me add this to be fair. The Sheriff there, He has served that county and more. Do you remember the shoot out with 3 drug dealers on deserted Refugio county road. Look it up. Don't know him, but if you look at the video, you gotta give that man props. His name is Andy Garcia maybe? Anyway, maybe a man in his position could clean that mess up.

he hired a real attorney.

said attorney is claiming brock went wrong when he donated money to the boys and girls club. hahahahahhaahhahahaha

never mind falsify cash entries, using forfeiture funds to buy gifts for himself and relatives, paying himself out of the forfeiture funds, stealing gas and who knows what else

just a common criminal, criminal trash. hopefully they took away his law license for life

FORFEITURE CASES

As seizures of property by law enforcement agencies grew during the past decade, so did reports of abuses. Prosecutors and agencies were found to have misspent funds, profiled motorists to target their property, and used high-pressure tactics to talk innocent people into giving up rights to their property. Here are some cases from Texas.

2010

Ron Sutton, Kimble County district attorney in West Texas for 32 years, pleaded guilty to two felony charges related to misuse of forfeiture funds. Sutton took his entire office staff, the district judge and their spouses to Hawaii for a Texas Independent Bar Association conference.

Joe Frank Garza, former district attorney for the 79th Judicial District in Brooks and Jim Wells counties, pleaded guilty to a felony related to misuse of forfeiture funds. He paid himself and his secretaries more than $2 million from the funds, effectively doubling or tripling their pay. He did it without permission from county commissioners.

2008

A federal lawsuit accused the Shelby County district attorney and other local authorities of targeting minorities for traffic stops, then threatening to file money laundering or other charges unless they signed pre-notarized statements giving up claims to their valuables. Plaintiffs estimate officials seized $3 million in two years. Officials have denied any wrongdoing. The civil rights lawsuit is pending.

2005

According to a Texas legislative committee report, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office held a party at the county fair in East Texas. They had beer, liquor and a margarita machine, all paid for with asset forfeiture funds.

Javier Gonzalez borrowed a car from his employer at a used car lot in Austin, then drove to Brownsville to arrange for his dying aunt's burial. He brought more than $10,000 in cash. He was pulled over in Jim Wells County and asked to sign a waiver releasing the money or face money laundering charges. He signed the waiver but later hired an attorney and won back the money plus attorney fees, only after fighting in federal court.

Brock's is the latest in a series of cases that have shed light on abuses of asset forfeiture.

Under state law, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors can use forfeiture funds — money seized from criminals — for law enforcement purposes. But in recent years, a string of high-profile cases demonstrated a lack of oversight of forfeiture funds that allowed officers to spend money on trips to Hawaii, exorbitant salaries, personal vehicles and other unauthorized items.

In February, a Caller-Times analysis of reports filed annually by law enforcement agencies and prosecutors across Texas showed that agencies patrolling rural highways, such as U.S. Highway 77 in Refugio, seized far more per capita than their urban counterparts. The newspaper analyzed a database of nearly 24,000 Chapter 59 reports, named for the section of state law that governs property forfeiture.

Despite changes in state law meant to improve the system, the analysis found scores of agencies ignore asset forfeiture reporting requirements, and even for those that do send financial reports to the Texas Attorney General, they are likely to go unchecked, entered into an electronic database and left in storage.

caller times had a great article :

http://www.caller.com/news/2012/may/2...

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

Same thing as a corrupt Mexican, look folks this is exactly what our war on drug has done to Mexico. Refugio and other corrupt municipalities on the drug trade routes are no different than corrupt Mexican municipalities. And you would have to be naive to think there aren't more crimes swept under the rug in Refugio. The difference here is who he robbed.

forfeiture account - the account funded by pulling over people then confiscating their car and valuables under the Texas Forfeiture Law. the more people you can pull over and harass the more the fund can grow.

The Texas Forfeiture Law is one of the most abused laws on the books. Google Tenaha, TX. Look around other South Texas counties for forfeiture abuse, it's rampant.

roberttx,
What does this article have anything to do with supposed speed traps.
This has to do with misappropriating funds out of an account.

Besides, danged near 99.9999999% of all supposed speed traps. Aren't.
Just because people like yourself and others claim something is a speed trap, does not mean it is. Mostly what people call speed traps are perfectly legal. It is the legal ignorance of the one claiming speed traps rather than an illegality on the part of police.

Outside of a "Dukes of Hazard" style of speed limit sign that switches from one limit to another at the push of a button, it's almost impossible to have an actual "speed trap"

An officer sitting out of sight watching a stretch of road known for speed violations, does not constitute a speed trap. there is no legal requirement for the officer to be in plain view.

Mr. "Politician, Not a prosecutor",
Pay attention now...

well, well, well the biggest speed trap / boondoggle in south texas is finally exposed !!!

I'll find it hard to believe that he was the ONLY one involved. I hope all involved get exposed and receive similar sentences.