SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County sheriff's narcotics deputy resigned this year and his lieutenant was demoted after BCSO administrators learned the deputy was pressuring a confidential informant to illegally buy him hydrocodone, discipline paperwork obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders confirms.
Deputy Ramon Rivera, an 11-year veteran of BCSO, resigned in late April but remains under criminal investigation, agency officials said last week.
Lt. Keith Goodell, who has worked for BCSO for well over 20 years, was terminated in late June but later was reinstated with a demotion to sergeant and was reassigned to court security as part of a settlement agreement signed last month.
In late October 2017, a deputy told Goodell that Rivera was using his position to pressure a female confidential informant to illegally purchase painkillers for him, according to BCSO documents.
Additionally, the informant provided information that Rivera sexually harassed her and would show up at her apartment while both on-duty and off-duty.
Instead of reporting Rivera to BCSO administration or its Public Integrity Unit, Goodell told the deputy to have the informant record her next meeting with Rivera, "even though it is contrary to policy to be alone with a confidential informant," the paperwork states.
Even though a phone was later provided to BCSO officials, it did not include a recording of the meeting.
"The evidence that was purported to be on that phone wasn't there, so that was quite troubling there," said BCSO Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Rivera later confessed to Goodell that he was addicted to pain pills and needed help, according to the paperwork.
Records show Goodell reported Rivera in early November of last year to Deputy Chief Nancy Sanford, but only after the informant said she wanted to report Rivera to internal affairs.
A lengthy internal investigation found that Goodell put the informant in possible harm's way, and that conducting his own investigation on Rivera impaired his job effectiveness and showed a failure to perform his supervisory duties.
"That's troubling, in and of itself," Salazar said, referring to Goodell's decision to investigate Rivera himself.
Goodell chose to appeal his termination this summer through arbitration, but the case was settled before it went before it went before an arbitrator, according to BCSO officials.
Goodell will not receive back pay for the 106 days he was off the job, but will also not be hit with a break in service, officials confirmed.
Salazar said it was more appropriate to demote Goodell and move him out of narcotics after he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.