Police Misconduct in the Texas Department of Public Safety

Texas DPS Corruption and FBI Intervention

• In 2010 Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Trooper Mark DeArza, 39, of Houston, and DPS clerk Lidia Gutierrez, 37, of Galena Park, Texas, were convicted of conspiring to sell Texas driver’s licenses to unqualified applicants for a fee after pleading guilty to the charge before United States District Judge Gray Miller. According to the FBI public record of the case, the FBI learned through a confidential source of information (CS) that the operator of a Conoco station located on Almeda-Genoa Street in Houston was allegedly selling Texas driver’s licenses for a fee.

In two separate meetings, first on May 14, 2010, then again on July 26, the CS arranged with the operator of the gasoline station for assistance in obtaining a Texas driver’s license, for which he paid $3000 and for assistance with obtaining a commercial driver’s license for a friend, for which he paid $3500.

In the first instance, the CS was referred to and met with DeArza at the DPS office on May 17, 2010, and with his assistance and that of Gutierrez, obtained a Texas driver’s license which he was unauthorized to receive. In the second instance, the CS sought a commercial driver’s license for a friend. The CS allegedly paid $3500 for the arrangements to be made with DeArza and Gutierrez to obtain this driver’s license as well. On July 26, 2010, at the gasoline station, the CS received a temporary driver’s license personally delivered by DeArza. The CS later received both Texas driver’s licenses by United States mail.

Maen Bittar, 46, of Houston, the operator of a Houston Conoco gas station, plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Gray Miller—admitting collecting fees from individuals, such as illegal aliens, in amounts of $3000 or more to arrange with DPS employees Mark DeArza, a DPS Trooper, and Lidia Gutierrez, a DPS clerk, to process applications and receive driver’s licenses for these unqualified individuals.

• In 2010 A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper was sentenced to four years in prison for depriving multiple motorists of their civil rights, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas E. Perez announced. Michael Anthony Higgins, 43, formerly of the Corpus Christi area, was found guilty on Jan. 13, 2010, by a jury’s verdict on all four counts of the indictment of willfully stealing money from motorists he stopped on the highway while working as a trooper. In addition to the four-year prison term, U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey ordered Higgins to pay $850 restitution, representing the money he took from the motorists, and will serve a one-year term of supervised release following completion of his prison term. Upon motion of the government, Judge Rainey ordered Higgins, previously released on bond, to be immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Higgins stopped motorists who appeared to be of Hispanic descent and stole their money, usually in amounts of several hundred dollars. Civilian complaints prompted an undercover investigation of Higgins by DPS, in conjunction with the Texas Rangers. A Hispanic undercover officer was issued several pre-recorded $100 bills, and posed as a civilian with limited English language ability. Monitored by DPS aerial surveillance, the undercover officer drove past Higgins' duty area in Kleberg County and was eventually stopped by Higgins. Upon making a traffic stop, Higgins asked the undercover officer for money in his possession and then took the money behind the passenger side door of his police cruiser. After Higgins returned bills to the officer, the officer realized that some of the money was missing. Texas Rangers and DPS officers confronted Higgins and, upon inspection of the police cruiser, found two of the pre-recorded $100 bills secreted in the passenger side door pocket which was next to the area where Higgins had gone to count the money. The case was investigated by the FBI, Texas Rangers, and Officers of the Texas DPS. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruben Perez of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas and Trial Attorney Jim Felte from the Civil Rights Division.