HOUSTON — A third former Coffee City police officer faces felony charges in the wake of a KHOU 11 Investigation that exposed questionable practices within the force.
A Henderson County grand jury indicted Jerrod Sieck on five counts of tampering with a government record. He’s accused of making false entries and omitting items on his Coffee City job application, including a three-day suspension he received at a previous job in Galena Park, a driving with suspended license charge out of Florida and a disorderly conduct citation in Galveston for urinating in public.
The indictment also alleges Sieck failed to disclose two incidents in which he was detained by police agencies in Galveston County for DWI investigations.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, TCOLE, requires police agency job applicants to disclose any prior citations, detentions, arrests, convictions and disciplinary actions on their personal history statements. The form contains a written warning: “Be truthful, as there are criminal consequences for lying on a government document.”
TCOLE records show Sieck worked at Coffee City Police from Oct. 2022 to June 2023. He was one of more than two dozen Coffee City officers that KHOU 11 Investigates found had been suspended, demoted, terminated or dishonorably discharged from their previous police jobs. Two weeks after our first report, the Coffee City Council fired Police Chief JohnJay Portillo and disbanded the entire department.
Portillo and another officer, Christopher Witzel, were later indicted on tampering with government record charges.
Henderson County jail records show Sieck posted a $50,000 bond and was released. He did not return calls and emails seeking comment.