HOUSTON - Prosecutors have filed additional charges against Gregory Rosa, one of three officers facing felonies in the Houston Police ticket-rigging scandal the I-Team first uncovered.
"With regard to aggravated perjury, it is a big deal," said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Angela Weltin.
The perjury indictment against Rosa stems from a speeding ticket along the Katy Freeway in June 2013. It accuses Rosa of claiming he was at the scene as a witnessing officer, when he really wasn't. When the case later went to trial, Rosa allegedly lied under oath.
"No one is above the law," Weltin said.
"When you have the responsibility to uphold the trust of others, and you yourself have acted in a criminal way, then you yourself need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent," Weltin added.
Rosa was previously charged with two counts of tampering with government documents, for allegedly lying on speeding tickets. He is one of three former traffic enforcement officers charged in the scandal--along with Robert Manzanales and John Garcia.
Their alleged motivation for the ticket-rigging--to appear in court more often to collect more overtime. City of Houston prosecutors had dismissed thousands of tickets this past September written by the accused officers "in the interest of justice."
A fourth officer, Rudolph Farias, committed suicide this past August after learning he was under investigation. Rosa's defense attorney Mark Thiessen did not return repeated requests for comment.
