By Maggie Ybarra
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso police sergeant accused of stealing a couple’s wedding gifts had a history of reprimands and suspensions, according to his internal affairs file.
Alberto Madrid, 42, has been suspended five times and received three written reprimands during his 18-year career with the El Paso Police Department.
All of his discipline was based on his off-duty conduct, said Detective Mike Baranyay, a police spokesman.
“While he was at work, he was doing an acceptable job,” Baranyay said.
Madrid also received one certificate of appreciation and eight letters of commendation during his career with the department.
Madrid has been arrested three times while off duty in the past eight years.
On June 26, 2002, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and for allegedly assaulting the person who tried to assist him after he drove a truck into a utility pole, according to a police affidavit.
A judge entered Madrid into a pretrial diversion program, according to court re cords. He completed the program on Dec. 1, 2003, and the charges were dismissed.
Police arrested Madrid again on Jan. 8, 2006, on suspicion of drunken driving after they found him drunk in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle along with several open bottles of beer, according to a police affidavit.
Madrid was slurring his speech, he had bloodshot eyes, and he was surrounded by vomit, the affidavit said.
A member of the El Paso Fire Department told police that, before Fire Department personnel arrived, Madrid had been sitting in the driver’s seat while the vehicle was still running, the affidavit said. Police were told that Madrid had been moved to the back seat, the affidavit said.
Judge Alma Trejo dismissed the case on Oct. 11, 2006, because of insufficient evidence, according to court records.
Karen Larose, first assistant district attorney, said the charges were dropped because there was not enough evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Madrid had been driving the vehicle. He had been parked in a parking lot at the time, Larose said.
Prosecutors contacted the person who called police about Madrid to see how long the vehicle had been parked in the parking lot, Larose said. That person did not know, she said.
“He may have been very lucky in the regard that we did not have enough evidence on that element to go forward,” she said.
Madrid was suspended for a total of 632 hours for those two arrests, according to his disciplinary history card.
That does not include the 90-hour suspension he received after he was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stealing a gift box with money in it and then allegedly injuring a person when he tried to flee in a vehicle.
Baranyay said the Police Department has already started the process of terminating Madrid. The department also took Madrid’s badge and credentials on Sunday, he said.
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