Last Friday, March 10th was a busy day for deputies in Medina County. In one bazaar incident, a resident was unloading his vehicle and carrying things into his office when a vehicle thief hopped into the vehicle and took off. Thankfully, the owner wasn’t in the vehicle at the time of contact. Medina County Sheriff’s Office quickly pursued the suspect who led them on a chase well into Bexar County. Both suspects were captured and arrested. In another case, a deputy on duty noticed a suspicious vehicle and pursued it. This resulted in the discovery of two stolen Dodge Chargers, which were found at a home in Hunter’s Lake Subdivision near Natalia and the arrest of another suspect for vehicle theft. The vehicles had just been reported stolen the day prior out of San Antonio.
The Medina County Sheriff’s office received an alarming report of a person walking with a long rifle near the school in D’Hanis last Friday afternoon. A thorough investigation led to discovery of the suspect and one un-related arrest warrant for a stolen firearm at the same residence. Even though the suspect’s weapon turned out to be a bb/pellet gun, he applauded the quick action taken by school staff. “Everyone did just as they should,” Sheriff Randy Brown said after completing a thorough investigation. “The janitor saw a woman walking with a long rifle-like gun near the school and the school went into lockdown quickly as the principal contacted us. Our investigation led us to identifying the probable person and the gun.” “The gun turned out to be a long bb/pellet gun, but looks similar to an AR rifle,” Sheriff Brown said. “While there, we noticed there were other guns at the residence. We ended up executing a search warrant at the residence, which is owned by a man who is a convicted felon, and one of those firearms was reported stolen.” “The woman who was reported walking with the bb/pellet gun did not commit a crime, however, the man who owns the home will face charges for the stolen firearm in the home,” Sheriff Brown said. The woman told investigators she was just walking from one house to another.
PRESS RELEASE Medina County Criminal District Attorney’s Office Wednesday, March 8, 2023 Jeff Diles, Assistant District Attorney and G.O.N.E. Prosecutor for the Medina County Criminal District Attorney (MCCDA), Mark P. Haby, announced that Patricia Ann Lara, of Hondo, was sentenced today by a Medina County Jury to nine years of imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for delivery of 1.44 grams of methamphetamine. The sentence was imposed by the same jury that found Lara guilty of the offense on March 7, 2023. Lara was the first case falling under the umbrella of the MCCDA G.O.N.E. initiative (Gangs, Organized Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Enforcement) to be resolved by a jury trial. Lara was one of 21 individuals arrested in an early morning warrant roundup in January of 2022 after the Medina County grand jury in Hondo and a federal grand jury in San Antonio returned indictments earlier that month charging 24 men and women with several state and federal felonies. The indictments resulted from an investigation of a methamphetamine distribution network operating in Medina County. The investigation, which unearthed methamphetamine distribution activities extending to multiple Texas counties as well as Mexico, began in October of 2020 as a collaborative effort of HPD, MCSO, supported by the MCCDA G.O.N.E. initiative. Lara had been identified as an investigation target due to her associations with other players in the larger investigation. Jury selection for the trial began on Monday, March 6 and the State, represented by Assistant District Attorneys Jeff Diles and Christian Neumann, concluded its presentation of witnesses and evidence by noon on Tuesday. Witnesses for the state included the two investigators of the Medina County Sheriff’s office, the purchaser of the methamphetamine, a private citizen who was paid by law enforcement to purchase the drugs from Lara, and the chemist for the Texas DPS lab in Abilene who confirmed that the substance delivered was methamphetamine. Investigators described how they met with the buyer, referred to as a Cooperating Individual or CI, prior to the buy to confirm that the buyer did not have drugs or money on their person or in their car then provided the buyer with cash from the Medina County Sheriff Drug Forfeiture Fund (not taxpayer funds) and a device for covertly recording the transaction. They also stated that they were able to watch the transaction on a live feed from the recording device and that they followed the CI from a safe distance and were able to park in a location where they could see the CI make contact with Lara in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Regency Hotel in Hondo where the transaction took place. Lara’s face was never seen on the video from the recording device, the investigators showed the jury an image from the video of a distinctive upper-arm tattoo and tattoo photos taken at the jail of Lara after a previous arrest that showed the same distinctive upper-arm tattoo. When the CI was called as a witness, they entered the courtroom from a secure area wearing a prison jumpsuit and shackles. The CI is currently serving a prison sentence for a drug related offense and testified in this case after a bench warrant was issued by the presiding Judge requiring the CI to be brought to court to testify. The CI’s testimony matched the statements made by the investigators, and the CI confirmed it was in fact Lara who conducted the delivery of the methamphetamine, ”I gave her the money. She gave me the drugs.” The CI also identified the defendant in the courtroom as the person who gave her the methamphetamine that day. Sarah McGregor from the DPS Crime Lab in Abilene walked the jury through the drug testing process used by DPS labs and specifically the testing used on the drugs acquired from Lara during the transaction to confirm that it was methamphetamine that was purchased by the CI. The defense produced no witnesses on behalf of Lara, and the jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict before 4:00 p.m. that same day. The punishment phase of the trial began without delay. The state submitted evidence of Lara’s prior felony conviction and prison sentence for Injury to an Elderly Person, and Lara’s defense team presented character witnesses on behalf of Lara. Lara was represented by attorneys with the Hill Country Regional Public Defender’s Office, and Judge Daniel J. Kindred, 454th Judicial District Judge, presided over the trial.
Little is being released about the FBI’s presence in Medina County this past week. However, an arrest was made that day. “The operation went down without any problems. Mission complete,” said Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown. There were shots fired in the area that day, which caused alarm in the community, but it was not at the location where the FBI search was taking place, he explained. “I cannot say anything other than that we were asked to assist the FBI, and I would like to reassure residents that everyone is safe,” Sheriff Brown said. Brown could not confirm the location of the search which was in the Castroville area according to other brief media reports.
The case in Devine which began with a bailout involving ten suspects in the early morning hours, finally wrapped up with two final apprehensions in Devine near the end of the day. One suspect was in someone’s apartment sitting in the recliner when officers walked in, Devine PD said.
A suspect hauling 10 illegal immigrants from El Salvador was spiked as it came flying into Devine around 8:45 in the morning, but the suspects continued on quite a wild ride resulting in an hours-long ordeal this past Monday, March 13. “DPS spiked the vehicle in front of their office on Hwy 132, but the pursuit continued, veering off to the left, going through the Shell gas station parking lot, then onto East Hondo Avenue near four corners, and down several city streets until the car eventually came to a stop,” Devine PD Chris Andrews said. The bailout finally happened along the railroad tracks north of Dilley Street (across from Savannah’s Carwash).
“There’s barbwire from all over Frio County under this pickup truck,” said one landowner in Bigfoot/Moore after repairing fences this truck busted through. This bailout was going on in Moore, the night before the search on Devine streets. The driver of this F250 ran through many fences on some of the same ranches that were hit twice in the past two weeks. Photo courtesy of Bryan Persyn.
“All ten of them jumped out and started running in all directions. Some of them ran at least a mile,” Lieutenant Andrews said. “We captured eight of them, with some who ran as far as Fox Run/Libold that morning.” One local resident, Ms. Bales, spotted the two men around 9 AM, and another local resident captured this photo several hours later of one of the same suspects she spotted, wearing red clothes and a mohawk as he was taken into custody. “This morning I called 911. I saw two young men running through my front yard, jumped over my 6 foot privacy fence, through my back yard and then out my back gate.” The search for people who bailed out occupied the departments time from 8:45 AM- Noon, and again from 1:45PM-5PM , when they were back at it, searching for the other two men who were still unaccounted for. One of the subjects was found in an apartment on Malone Drive. When we walked in he was sitting in the recliner eating potato chips. The second man was found hiding in a shed on Howard Drive. “We just handed them over to Border Patrol a few minutes ago,” Lieutenant Andrews said around 5 pm. Most of the subjects claimed to be from El Salvador and a couple from Honduras, according to Devine PD.
Medina County Criminal District Attorney’s Office David Garcia, Jr. is facing a murder charge for the shooting death of 16-year-old Athen Graff. Graff’s body was found in a field just outside of the Castroville City Limits just before 9 p.m. on December 2nd, 2020, not far from his home. Within days, investigators from the Medina County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a San Antonio home leading to the arrest of David Garcia, Jr., then 18-years-old, for murder. Investigators were able to tie Garcia to the death of Graff through messages found on Graff’s phone, showing a conversation taking place shortly before Graff’s death. Physical evidence found at Garcia’s far westside San Antonio home on Paseo Derecho further corroborated Garcia’s connection to the field where Graff was found shot. Graff was a student at Medina Valley High School and resident of the Castroville area. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday, December 5th, 2022, in the 454th Judicial District Court with Judge Daniel Kindred Presiding. If found guilty, Garcia could face up to life in prison.
Devine PD received a call for a break in on Upson Street this past Thursday, October 24, and responded quickly, catching the suspect in the act. “When I got there, the suspect was standing inside the Little League concession stand with a back pack of stolen items. He refused to comply with verbal commands, and received a dose of pepper gas,” Lieutenant Chris Andrews said. The suspect, 21-year-old David Solana of Devine, is charged with Burglary of a Building was arrested and booked into Medina County Jail.
In skimming the local police reports, this one might stick out a little. A suspect in Lytle apparently stole close to three dozen trees this past Saturday morning, September 24. The theft of the trees valued at $1,100 happened around 3 am at Lytle HEB Plus. “He just pulled up and loaded up something like 32 trees,” said Lytle Police Chief Richey Priest. The suspect was driving a brown Dodge Pickup truck. If you have any tips or information about this crime or others, please call the Lytle Police Department.
The first high speed chase lasted 60+ miles before local deputies put an end to it near Ingram Rd. in Devine around 8AM.
A long DPS pursuit that reportedly began near LaPryor came into Devine Sunday morning around 8AM ending near Ingram Road. Local deputies were able to use a maneuver to bring the chase to an end after a dangerous 60+ mile pursuit up and down local highways and many city streets that morning. Later that afternoon, another pursuit crashed-out right in the middle of Devine after skidding across Hwy 173. The first out of town pursuit (from LaPryor) came up I-35, to SH 132 and then went straight down Teel, Colonial, and Allman street near the cemetery, according to local law enforcement, who noted the chase began approximately 60 miles southwest of Devine. The pursuit ended near the intersection of Ingram, where three subjects reportedly bailed out.
Around 6:30 Sunday evening the driver in a second pursuit busted straight through one of the concrete barriers at the library in Devine and then flew across the drainage ditch and highway. Thankfully no one else was hit as it flew across Hwy 173 in the middle of town.
“Our officer who assisted at the scene stated that 11 people including the driver were captured. Two were transported to the hospital, while others were transported to be turned over to border patrol,” Devine PD Lieutenant Chris Andrews said. Later on Sunday afternoon, the driver of a stolen vehicle flew straight across Hwy 173 in downtown Devine as suspects evaded another out of town DPS pursuit. “The vehicle went across the library parking lot, took out one of the concrete barriers, jumped the canal and went across Hwy 173 before hitting a backhoe at the old co-op,” said Sheriff Randy Brown. “It’s real lucky nobody got killed.” Ernie Morales, Sr., of Devine, was thankfully sitting at a stop sign, and hadn’t yet turned in the path of the pursuit, as the chase flew across Hwy 173 right in the middle of town. “I looked to my left and just saw this car fly by. It was going so fast…all I saw was dust. He zoomed across 173,” Morales said, thankful that he wasn’t yet on Hwy 173 when the car came crashing across it.
Note: The DPS units that initiated these pursuits were reportedly from other counties, and no additional information was available about any charges that the suspects evading arrest may face as of press time.
A pursuit between this vehicle and Medina County SO ended in a rollover on the I-35 access road near Lytle this past Wednesday, August 17. Five undocumented migrants and the driver were all transported to University Hospital. Courtesy Photo.
Several recent incidents at the local Walmart in Devine have residents on edge. Reports of men following and approaching female shoppers have come in one after another on social media. Two of the men actually followed a woman out of the store. Devine PD is asking victims to please call them instead of just posting online, so they can identify subjects and address the situation. “In one case, the two men actually followed a woman out of the store and all the way to the frontage road, and were on both sides of her vehicle, on bicycles, from what I understand,” Chief Kandi Benavides stated. “She took a different route home, but still, no one called us. After seeing social media posts, I followed up with a few of the women in these cases because I want to get to the bottom of it.” So far, police made contact with one juvenile male and one adult male from Guatemala who were identified. “The two men who were identified were spoken to. We let them know we are aware of what has been occurring and unless they are shopping at Walmart, they don’t need to be there,” Chief Benavides said. “They did not really have an explanation as to why they were there.” Benavides notes that Devine PD has officers patrolling in Devine 24/7. “There is no excuse for this kind of behavior and we won’t tolerate it,” Benavides said. “Please call us and we will send someone immediately. We will make contact with you, and then address the suspects, so that it is properly documented. So if it happens again, and it is the same subjects, then we can take further action.” “A third subject (seen in footage) will be contacted when we are notified of his return to Walmart in Devine,” Devine Lieutenant Chris Andrews said. “Unfortunately, we were not notified until after the fact in these cases. We made contact with each victim for every post that was brought to our attention,” Andrews added. “If something occurs, please notify the police department immediately, and/or store management.” Earlier this August, one local family shared their story of one of these incidents. “First, my daughter was approached by a man who started speaking Spanish to her. She acted like she didn’t understand him, so he moved closer to her and repeated it until she got out of line and moved to another register. She asked for someone to walk her to her car. It scared her to death,” the family stated. “The next night, while I was at Walmart, I could tell I was being followed by two men with an empty basket. I called my husband to come to the front and pick me u. In the meantime, my husband noticed there was a white van in parking lot with Mexico plates and a man standing out by it talking on the phone. Then another man came out of the stores and got in the van. I will not be going back there. They need to hire security officers!” Devine PD is urging citizens who encounter situations like this to please call 830-663-4403. After 5 pm, this same number will transfer to county dispatch who will notify an officer in Devine immediately. “We have to be aware of our surroundings everywhere we go,” Chief Benavides adds. “Some of these women have said they felt something was not right but didn’t want to bother us. So instead they asked an unarmed employee to walk them out to their car. So I asked, without a weapon, what could that person have done to stop someone from harming you? Follow you gut–if something doesn’t feel right–please call us. We are here to help. We want our community to feel safe.”
