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Total of 18 San Antonio police officers, Bexar deputies arrested in 2023

The charges range from murder and fatal hit-and-run to illegal recording and indecency with a child, records show.

By Sanford Nowlin on Tue, Jan 2, 2024 at 9:29 am

Shutterstock / CC7

Criminal arrests of SAPD officers were up in 2023, but they declined for Bexar County deputies, numbers collected by KSAT show.

Last year, nine San Antonio police officers and nine Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputies were arrested on criminal charges ranging from murder to making secret recordings, according to a KSAT analysis.

That total represents an increase from the seven SAPD officers taken into custody in 2022, the TV station's numbers show. Meanwhile the number of BCSO deputies arrested declined from 15 over the same period.

The highest-profile of last year's charges were undoubtedly the murder cases brought against Sgt. Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos. The three were accused of shooting Melissa Perez, 46, inside her apartment while she suffered a mental health crisis.

Last month, a Bexar County grand jury indicted Flores and Alejandro with murder and Villalobos with aggravated assault by a public servant.

Authorities brought other serious charges last year against San Antonio and Bexar County law enforcement officers, according to KSAT:

Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Giovanni Ceja was arrested on accusations that he struck and killed a man with a vehicle while on vacation in California. The five-year BCSO veteran was extradited to the Golden State last summer to face charges of murder, driving under the influence and hit-and-run causing death, according to the station.
In May, SAPD officer Andres Puente was arrested on two charges of felony invasive visual recording. He's accused of secretly recording 33 hours of footage, including some showing him setting up the camera, KSAT reports. The footage also reportedly showed Puente's ex-girlfriend and her daughter, who is a minor, partially clothed.
BCSO deputy Marcus James Alexander in July was charged with indecency with a child. He's now free on bond and faces trial on the second-degree felony, KSAT reports.

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