HOUSTON — A KHOU 11 Investigation has found at least 30 criminal charges have been filed in cases suspended by the Houston Police Department for “lack of personnel,” and in nearly all those cases, police were given suspect names before they were shelved.
In February, HPD Chief Troy Finner announced that 264,000 incident reports had been shelved for lack of manpower since 2016 and that his department would no longer use the controversial code.
A review of those cases and court records show of the 30 that ended in criminal charges since the scandal broke and 87% had workable leads from the beginning. Victims gave police names and photos of the suspects or pointed to video surveillance, yet they were still shelved for months or years.
One of those shelved cases includes the assault of Grant Farley back in December 2021. Two and a half years ago, he met his boss at a bar in the Heights and said a discussion about Farley quitting turned into a violent attack with a broken beer mug.
“Then he picks up the shard of glass and lunges for my face. And I raised my hands up in defense,” Farley said.
Farley said he got stabbed in both hands and went to the ER for stitches. He then filed a report with HPD.
“I provided his name, his address, his birthdate, his place of business, and I knew there was video evidence here at the bar,” Farley said.
Despite having that info, Houston police suspended the case for lack of personnel. Farley said the whole situation made him, “frustrated, extremely frustrated.” The case was reexamined last month, according to court records, and Joshua Naras was charged with aggravated assault two weeks ago.
“I’ll be the first to tell you it’s not acceptable,” Finner said about the suspended cases with known suspects.
Twenty-three of the suspended cases that ended in recent charges were for violent crimes, which include:
- Adrian Garcia Jr., now charged with assaulting his pregnant girlfriend. In May 2023, she told police she knew him by “name and sight” when he allegedly kicked her in the stomach. HPD suspended the case for lack of personnel.
- Pablo Martinez, who police knew was a domestic violence suspect last October, because the victims included his wife and children. The assault allegedly happened in the street and a bystander waved down police and another was nearly run over by Martinez, according to court records. In that incident, HPD suspended the case the very next day.
There were also several suspended cases in which the known suspect was not arrested and went on to get charged with other crimes.
They included, according to court records:
- Keonte Deason, who "officers documented that they received a photo” and his name in February 2023 after he allegedly took his ex-girlfriend’s sister’s “vehicle with her child and her belongings" on a joy ride and stole about $2,000 in money and belongings and other items. HPD shelved the case. A year later, Denson was still on the streets and accused of doing something similar to another woman when he "took her belongings, and took their children away from the person he was in a dating relationship with." He was changed in the 2023 case about a month ago.
- Louis Brown, whose Instagram handle and name were provided in July 2023 when a family friend reported that he choked him out. The case was shelved and while Brown remained free, he was arrested for terroristic threats and violations of protective orders against other people. The information was finally used in February when another investigator entered Brown’s name, found a lengthy criminal history and, “Upon reviewing the mugshot photo, I found it to a match to the photos posted on Instagram handle.”
- Meshante Elizor, who was allegedly captured on CCTV assaulting his coworker. After the case was shelved, Elizor was arrested for a separate domestic violence case.
“It should frustrate everybody, it really should. And as I said, stated numerous times, we want to make sure we clean it up and we fix it and make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Finner said.
During a press conference Thursday, Finner said he only knew of five major assault cases that resulted in charges.
None of the cases we found were sexual assault cases, of which thousands were suspended for lack of personnel.
HPD announced earlier this week that it had DNA matches in nearly 100 adult sex crime cases, that were suspended for lack of manpower.
An HPD commander said that DNA swabs are now being collected for known suspects. The goal is to present the case to the DA’s office for charges.