Full memo inside: Police sergeant faked drug warrants, exposed informant

EDINBURG -- A police sergeant suspended indefinitely in March admitted to fabricating court documents, possible civil rights violations and breaking other state and federal laws, according to public records obtained this week. (Click here to read the documents)

Edinburg police uncovered the staggering list of suspected abuses in an internal investigation launched last year when a confidential police informant claimed he was kidnapped and beaten after Sgt. Santos Leal, 42, revealed his identity.

No charges have been filed against Leal, who admitted during a lie detector test earlier this year that he falsified warrants and probable cause affidavits to search suspected drug houses, according to the documents, which were obtained this week following an open records ruling from the Texas attorney general.

Efforts to contact Leal at his family's home Thursday evening were unsuccessful. A man who identified himself as his brother refused to provide any contact information and said a lawyer would call The Monitor. No such call was received.

Edinburg police Chief Quirino Muñoz declined to comment Thursday on any specific allegations lodged against Leal and said the sergeant's conduct is not reflective of the rest of the department.

He added that Leal was able to commit the violations without raising suspicion because the 19-year veteran was in a position of authority.

"It's a personnel matter. Let's see what develops," Muñoz said. "Whatever it is, we'll certainly take measures to minimize or prevent this from happening."

But in a March 26 memo to Diana Salas, the city's civil service director, the chief explained the grounds for Leal's suspension. Investigators found that the sergeant had used drug evidence with the wrong cases, disposed of narcotics evidence and improperly stored evidence envelopes in his desk.

The probe also revealed that Leal could not account for drugs allegedly purchased by a confidential informant and used by Leal as the basis for five search warrants.

During a subsequent polygraph test, Leal admitted that for at least two of those, he had merely cut and pasted information from other warrants and that no drug purchases were ever made, the memo states.

He also admitted to reprinting prior warrants from other cases and changing times, dates and locations to obtain legal permission to search other suspected drug houses, according to the memo.

"You admitted that you knew the information was incorrect, but left it as is and never took any corrective measures," Muñoz writes.

Edinburg police launched the internal investigation into the sergeant in October after one of his confidential informants claimed that he was kidnapped and beaten after Leal revealed his identity.

Chief Muñoz declined to discuss the sergeant's suspected involvement in the kidnapping but said at least two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The informant also told investigators Leal allowed him to keep drugs he purchased as part of police investigations and encouraged him to deliver cocaine to homes the sergeant later searched, according to the memo. Leal is also suspected of allowing the informant to smoke cocaine and drink alcohol in his unmarked police car.

None of the cases the sergeant built with this confidential source in a two-year period ever resulted in prosecution.

Leal has contested his suspension from the department and is expected to plead his case before the city's civil service commission next week, Muñoz said.

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Monitor staff writers Jeremy Roebuck, Jared Taylor and Zack Quaintance contributed to this report.

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Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.