Category: Tid Bits by Richie Priest

For the week ending August 14, 2022, …. Officers handled 55 calls for service and conducted 104 traffic stops. Those stops resulted in 94 citations and 10 warnings. 

     We only had one arrest last week. A traffic stop on Railroad St. resulted in the arrest of a female with 3 active felony warrants out of Atascosa Co. She was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.

     Property Crimes, 3 of them:  #1 – We had a shoplifting call at H.E.B. Plus, and then the crooks committed a vehicle burglary (#2) before they left the parking lot. A couple of males with purple, green, and blue hair took about $27 in items from the store. All our witnesses and the store camera confirmed the hair color, otherwise, I would have thought our witness was stoned. Our thieves decided to remove a couple of items from the bed of a pickup before they took off, they got a duffle bag full of tools and a weed eater. Our multi-color hair dudes were in a Ford Fiesta, and they couldn’t fit the weed eater in their small car, so they just dumped it in the parking lot. A witness returned it to the bed of the pickup. So, we learned today that if you drive a small vehicle you may save on gas but, it will limit what you can steal. #3 – A female with a small child left the store without paying for 4 big containers of laundry detergent ($70 value). We think we have her identified. Everybody uses laundry detergent and it’s expensive, so it is easy to sell or trade. A lot of that stolen product ends up at flea markets, I guess some of it gets traded for dope too.

     School is back in session! Please watch out for all the kids and expect delays around the school in the morning and during the afternoon release. Feel free to report any hazardous situations to us. 

     At the last city council meeting our City Administrator, Matt Dear, was given a supervisory role over all the department heads. Matt is now my boss, and I was looking for a way to commemorate this event. I was going to write a song, but I took a shortcut. I just took the theme song from “Charles in Charge,” one of my favorite 80s sitcoms, and replaced “Charles” with “Matt”. It does get a little creepy in a few spots. If you don’t know it, search it on YouTube …. it’s catchy, you might just be humming the tune all day. Perhaps, all the department heads could perform it at our city Christmas party? 

-Richey

We got through last week with only 39 calls for service! Officers conducted 69 traffic stops. Of those stops, 63 were citations and 6 were warnings.
There was only one person arrested last week. Ofc. L. Diaz conducted a traffic stop on Main St. and determined the driver had an active warrant out of Bexar Co. for Driving While License Invalid. The suspect was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.
There were two property crimes reported. #1 – A complainant called the PD to report that they lost a money clip with $134 while at the H.E.B. Plus. With current prices, you could almost fill up one of those red, handheld baskets with $134. #2 – A hotel customer reported that someone tried to break into his pickup, they were unsuccessful but did damage the door handle. That means it was a rookie car burglar, perhaps in the initial stages of training.
Also in the news……Officers recovered a 2004 Kenworth truck that was stolen in Carrizo Springs. It was dumped in a field near Lytle State Bank. In another incident officers recovered a set of stolen license plates; they had been reported stolen to Bexar Co.
In the early morning hours (2:22 AM) of Monday, August 8, officers S. Pena and J. Cortez responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in the 14700 blk of Railroad St. Officers arrived and determined that none of the occupants were injured. It is believed that at least 6 rounds were fired from a handgun. This does not appear to be a random incident and the case is under investigation.
I, along with Ofc. D. Lopez and Cpl. D. Robison, attended Lytle ISD’s annual convocation. We set up a booth and gave out freebies to the staff of Lytle ISD. There was a huge turnout of booths from local organizations and businesses. I made myself available for photos so they could remember the special occasion. I must admit, I didn’t even know the definition of convocation until this guy named Clouser from the Lytle VFW told me, and I think his wife told him. I will tell you there was an abundance of positive energy among all those staff members. They will need all that energy once the kids start back this week. I would think we have a solid school system, if not I can’t imagine why all these subdivisions are being developed here. Having a cool Chief of Police can only go so far.
On a personal note…. I took off last Tuesday and headed down to Rockport with the family for a quick beach outing. We had a great lunch in Sinton at the Back Street Café. I had hoped it would be a Back Street Boys-themed restaurant, but they didn’t have a single poster up. What they did have was complimentary beans and cornbread, a staple for me as a young child growing up in the Free State of Van Zandt.
The kids will be back in school starting this Thursday! So, more traffic and more congestion. I ask everyone to be patient, the first few days are rough, but it gets “less rough” as the year goes on. You might see an increased police presence around the schools, don’t be alarmed. Officers are just trying to keep our school community safe. When the weather cools off, we might even get out of our patrol cars and walk around.

Our call volume headed back up a little this week. Officers handled 57 calls for service and conducted 68 traffic stops. Those 68 stops resulted in 59 citations and 9 warnings.
There is a lot of stuff to steal around here, but we only had one property crime reported. A man walked out of H.E.B. Plus with about $30 worth of alcohol. He took off into the woods behind the store. Ofc. Luis Diaz tracked him a good bit until he lost him. As hot as it is I would have probably given up and jumped in the back of the air-conditioned patrol car.
Officers arrested two people last week, well we actually arrested one person once and another fellow we arrested twice. The first arrest occurred on Wisdom Road @ Norvell St. Officers stopped a bicyclist for not having lights on his bike. The peddler had an active felony warrant out of Bexar Co. for credit/debit card abuse. The second arrest occurred at a domestic disturbance on Bruce St. The suspect was booked on a charge of assault causing bodily injury to a family member, this occurred on July 31. The same suspect participated in another incident that occurred on July 27 and officers were working to get warrants (4) on that situation. The warrants were obtained, and the suspect was served while he was still in jail. Those charges include a felony of endangering a child.
Overall, it wasn’t that busy of a week. It was nice because we could spend some time catching up on other cases.
We had about 3 pursuits from the south that either came into town or terminated just south of us. On one occasion, the vehicle came to a stop behind TXN Bank, and the occupants fled on foot. Another one ended just short of the city and 20 unauthorized immigrants fled on foot. Another pursuit from Frio Co. fizzled out before they got here. There is a genuine problem with human smuggling no doubt.
My primary focus is keeping Lytle safe, and my mind is always looking for ideas. Our Mayor, Ruben Gonzalez, beat me to it last week. He came up with the idea of using signs to deter the pursuits. We could have a “flipper” on them that would change the signs to make it appear you are headed south. When officers are notified of a pursuit, they open an app on their phone and remotely “flip” the signs. Those being pursued think they are headed in the wrong direction and turn around, thereby avoiding our city. I am sure that TXDOT would have issues with it, but I thought it was a clever idea. In conclusion, citizens should rest easy knowing that they have the full brain power of the Mayor and me working 24/7 365 days a year on their behalf.

Your Lytle PD officers kept busy this past week. For the 7-day period that ended on July 10 we had a total of 63 calls for service. That period also included 87 traffic stops with 80 of those resulting in citations and 7 resulting in warnings.
Only two property crimes were reported last week. #1 – A 2014 Nissan Sentra was reported stolen. The owner had parked the car at John Lott Park (Adams St. side). #2 – A Bruce St. resident reported that her car was “keyed”.
Arrests for the last week: #1 – (Ofc. Diaz & Sgt. Hanson) A motorist stopped for speeding on Main St. was determined to be DWI. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. #2 & #3 – (Ofc. Diaz) Traffic stop at 2:40 AM resulted in two juveniles being cited for curfew violation, they were released to guardians. #4 – (Ofc. A. Lopez & Capt. Reyes) Officers responded to a trespasser in the 18000 Blk. of FM 2790 (by the Animal Control Facility). A male was arrested for trespassing and booked into the Medina Co. Jail. #5, #6, & #7 (!) – (Ofc. Cortez & Ofc. Pena) Officers responded to the Whataburger for a disturbance. The end result was one person arrested for DWI and a warrant for DWI, a passenger was arrested for a warrant out of Kendal Co. (marijuana possession), and another person was arrested for public intoxication. Three arrests for the price of one. They were all booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. This is the kind of stuff our officers deal with at 4:42 AM when most of us are home sleeping.
Crime of the Week: Aggravated Robbery – On Thursday July 7th at approx. 12:13 AM Sgt. Hanson was on routine patrol. He turned off of Wisdom Rd. onto Ball Rd. and observed a robbery in progress. Two victims were lying face down on the roadway, the suspects jumped into their vehicle and fled. Sgt. Hanson pursued them and they crashed out at Greenwood Rd. and Old Pearsall Rd. The suspects escaped on foot, and we are working to get them identified. It appears our suspect(s) impersonated law enforcement during the robbery. This case is under investigation.
The 4th of July Fireworks show was a blast! A bunch of people showed up and endured the heat for a good time. It would appear that the food trucks were a huge hit; I saw long lines and some ran out of product. I got that one wrong, I figured they wouldn’t do that well. My thought process was that people would be cooking out all day and the last thing on their mind would be food trucks. I stand corrected, this makes about the 6th or 7th time I have been wrong on something….so write it down. I talked to a lot of people and they all had positive comments about the event.
I stepped outside my comfort zone last week and was a youth camp sponsor for our church. I headed up to Highland Lakes Camp in Spicewood the morning following the fireworks show, my son and two other young men were in my care. I spent three nights in a bunkhouse we shared with about 40 kids and adults from La Vernia FBC, they were awesome. I’m not sure what they feed those boys over there, it looked more like a college football team. I was lucky and had two mattresses; I believe both of them were WWII surplus. Everyone said the food was really good for “camp food”, I didn’t miss any meals. There was a zip line, a pool, a banana boat (there was still enough water in Lake Travis, I’m not sure for how long), awesome speakers and worship music. Like most places these days they were short staffed, but they made do. By Friday morning I was wore out. If I was running that thing the schedule would include nap time.

The hot weather kept it slow this week; we only had 54 calls for service. Officers conducted 80 traffic stops, 72 of those resulted in a citation, and 8 were warnings.
Only two property crimes were reported last week: #1 – A home under construction on Doc Holiday had $400 worth of insulation stripped from it. #2 – John’s Small Engine Repair (Main @ Benton) reported the theft of a Husqvarna riding lawn mower.
Arrests were another story, we had seven incidents involving 9 arrested or cited persons. #1 – Ofc. A. Lopez conducted a traffic stop and determined the driver to have an active Marijuana Possession warrant out of Bexar Co. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. #2 – Cpl. Robison cited a male for a theft that occurred on 6/8/2022. He had taken a saw from a residence. #3 – Sgt. Hanson conducted a traffic stop and cited two juveniles for curfew violations. They were released to guardians. #4 – Ofc. A. Lopez conducted a traffic stop on a 2004 Ford F250, he determined it to be stolen out of San Antonio. Two males were arrested and booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. #5 – Ofc. L. Diaz conducted a traffic stop that resulted in a citation and release for possession of drug paraphernalia. #6 – Sgt. Hanson and Ofc. L. Diaz responded to a report of shots fired on Oak St. After a thorough investigation a male was arrested for Aggravated Robbery and Deadly Conduct. A firearm was recovered, and shots had been fired into the ground. The male was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. #7 – Officers Cortez and Pena responded to a hit and run accident. One of the drivers fled on foot (the one who caused the accident), but he wasn’t located. While investigating the accident the officers discovered the driver who stayed, had three theft warrants out of Bexar Co. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. Talk about bad luck!
I wish I could take a nap and wake up and it would be October. I can’t afford to drive anywhere because of the cost of gas, and I can’t afford to sit home with the AC on, what a mess.

It was another busy week; officers managed 72 calls for service and conducted 130 traffic stops. Those traffic stops resulted in 112 citations and 18 warnings.
Officers took reports of 4 property crimes. #1 – A pawn shop employee reported that a customer took his iPhone 13 Pro Max phone valued at $1,100. The phone was sitting on the counter and our crook decided to take advantage of it. #2 – A Creek St. resident reported that their trash can was taken; it was valued at $75. #3 – A complainant reported that two gas cans were stolen out of the bed of his pickup truck. The incident occurred a week prior, the exact location of the theft is unknown. #4 – A complainant reported that their vehicle was “keyed” while parked at the H.E.B. Plus.
Officers made 5 arrests last week. #1 – While we were about to dig into lunch there was a knock at the door. A male came to talk to us, and he wasn’t aware we had a warrant for his arrest. He had violated a protective order. He was taken into custody and booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. It would be nice if everything was so easy. #2 – Ofc. A. Lopez conducted a traffic stop and determine the driver had a felony warrant out of Kendall Co. He was booked into the ACSO Jail. # 3 – Ofc. Diaz conducted a traffic stop and cited and released the driver for possession of drug paraphernalia. #4 – Sgt. Hanson conducted a traffic stop and the driver gave a fake name and date of birth. He was given numerous options to come clean, but he was firm on his date of birth and name…even though when asked his age it changed numerous times. That is a clue for us, his identity was later confirmed. He thought he had a warrant, he didn’t. So, he picked up a fail to ID charge for no good reason. He was booked into the ACSO Jail. A prime case of it’s better to tell the truth. #5 – Sgt. Hanson received a call for a reckless driver on IH-35, he located the vehicle and arrested the driver for DWI. It is very possible that Sgt. Hanson prevented a tragedy on the highway that night.
Here is information worth repeating:
Don’t forget the 4th of July Fireworks Show at John Lott Park. The fireworks start when the sun goes down. There will be food trucks and live music starting at 5 PM. Looks like lots of fun; I would bring plenty of water to stay hydrated.
As a reminder, it is illegal to discharge fireworks within the city limits. If you have a fireworks complaint, please call our 24-hour dispatcher: The Atascosa Co. Sheriff’s Office in Jourdanton @ 830-769-3434 (Option #1). They have direct radio contact with all our on-duty officers. 
Stage 3 Water Restrictions are now in place for City of Lytle Water Customers. Visit the city’s website or call city hall for more details.
My wife and I taught Kinder and 1st Graders at our church’s Vacation Bible School last week. Five long, but fun, evenings. We had about 10 little kids we were watching over. I am so proud of myself, I never once said “don’t move, and let me see your hands.”