SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Sheriff's Office has moved to terminate a detention officer who had a six-week relationship with an inmate who was jailed on a felony prostitution charge, according to BCSO documents obtained by the Defenders.
Deputy Raul Cervantes received notice of the proposed dismissal on Friday, six months after he first came under investigation.
The professional standards and integrity investigation determined that Cervantes performed repeated favors for Karen San Miguel, 37, from early May 2015 to late June 2015 while she was being held on a felony prostitution warrant.
Bexar County clerk records indicated that San Miguel has eight previous arrests for prostitution, at least five of which resulted in convictions.
"There are several lines you are taught not to cross. This deputy crossed several of those lines, and we believe he did it knowingly," BCSO spokesman James Keith said Monday.
The investigation found that Cervantes accepted 44 collect calls, more than one a day, from San Miguel while she was in custody.
Cervantes helped San Miguel obtain bond, arranged for her to take part in three-way calls, relayed information between her and her mother and used county computers to look up warrant information for one of San Miguel's relatives, according to BCSO records.
Keith said the investigation also determined that Cervantes visited the jail annex where female inmates are housed while San Miguel was in custody and while Cervantes was on duty. However, BCSO investigators do not believe that the pair had physical or sexual contact while San Miguel was in custody.
Cervantes, an 11-year veteran of BCSO, first drew the attention of investigators in early April after his son and two women were arrested after a brief standoff outside his far west Bexar County home.
Cervantes called deputies to the home in the 10000 block of Canton Field sometime before 2 a.m. April 10 after his son got into an altercation with a woman later identified as Angelique Campos.
Cervantes' son, also named Raul Cervantes, fired a shot at the home using his father's weapon, then fled in his father's personal vehicle, according to investigators.
He eventually returned to the home and surrendered after a brief standoff with deputies.
Deputies also arrested Campos after they said they found her in possession of heroin. A second woman at Cervantes' home, identified as Sonia Reyna, was arrested on a felony prostitution warrant.
"We didn't really have anything on him at that time, but we did feel like it was appropriate to start an internal investigation just to make sure we weren't missing anything," said Keith.
Cervantes was found to be in violation of at least six BCSO policies, according to the paperwork.
He can appeal the sheriff's decision.
Cervantes did not respond to a request for comment left at his home on Monday.
San Miguel's mother, who is listed in Cervantes' suspension paperwork, declined a request for an on-camera interview and said she does not know where her daughter is living.
Notice of Proposed Dismissal Served for Deputy Raul T. Cervantes on 09-29-16 by Adrian Garcia on Scribd