Surprise: Another Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been fired for misconduct in the course of the investigation into Deputy Darren Goforth’s murder last year.
Sheriff Ron Hickman told us that Deputy Marc DeLeon was untruthful with internal affairs investigators “apparently about his involvement with a witness.”
This comes on the heels of former sergeant Craig Clopton’s being fired last year, allegedly for having an affair with a key witness in the Goforth murder investigation — Goforth’s mistress.
While KPRC is currently reporting that DeLeon also “had a relationship” with that same witness, Sheriff Hickman himself couldn’t even confirm that when we asked him in person on Wednesday. “That’s what I’m led to believe,” he told us. “That case hasn’t come to me yet for an appeal. Obviously, the employee is afforded an appeal process. I’m speaking from general knowledge about what reporters had indicated to me. That’s my impression.”
For now, though, here’s a recap on what has happened in the Goforth murder investigation so far: Suspect Shannon Miles was arrested and charged with Goforth’s murder at a gas station last August; Hickman immediately linked the murder to the “dangerous national rhetoric” from the Black Lives Matter movement; one of his deputies was caught sleeping with a key witness in the case and then fired; Miles earlier this week was found to be schizophrenic and unfit for trial; and now, another deputy has been fired for “involvement” with a witness in the case.
In other news, the sheriff’s office recently added to its official rule book that deputies aren’t allowed to have sex with witnesses. The office’s official word, via HCSO spokesman Ryan Sullivan, is that the policy had nothing to do with misconduct in the Goforth investigation.
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2016.
