SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE - This article now includes a statement from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office
A former Bexar County sheriff’s detention officer who resigned this spring was hired and worked for the agency for years despite facing a felony theft warrant in Florida, BCSO officials confirmed Thursday.
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Brittney Poindexter, 34, worked as a jailer from May 2020 until she stepped down in March.
She was arrested by Converse police Sept. 4 on a 2014 warrant out of Sarasota County, Florida, for larceny grand theft, BCSO officials revealed Thursday.
The charge is a third-degree felony in Florida and covers thefts over $750.
Poindexter was briefly held without bond before she was released from Bexar County custody Sept. 6 after officials with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office declined to extradite her, booking records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
BCSO officials defended the hiring of Poindexter, which occurred despite stricter hiring standards put in place during Sheriff Javier Salazar’s time in office.
“Brittney had an active warrant locally for Florida for Larceny Grand Theft since 2014. However, that local warrant was not entered in the national database (NCIC- National Crime Information Center) by Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office until September of 2023, which is why the warrant did not show up when she was hired. The warrant is a local warrant only and they are not extraditing or requesting extradition for this warrant, meaning they will only prosecute for this charge if she is arrested in Florida,” a BCSO spokeswoman said via email Thursday.
BCSO referred additional questions about Poindexter’s warrant to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.
Poindexter told KSAT via telephone Thursday the warrant stems from allegations made by her former employer, a Florida property manager.
She said the woman falsely claimed that items in Poindexter’s home had been taken by Poindexter.
Poindexter told KSAT she plans to return to Florida to take care of the legal situation there.
She told KSAT her resignation from BCSO in March was unrelated to the Florida legal entanglement and that she was unaware she had a warrant for her arrest until after being taken into custody last month.
A spokesperson for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement:
“Ms. Poindexter’s warrant was recalled in 2015 after her attorney negotiated her surrender following charges stemming from a past criminal matter. This warrant remained listed as an ‘in-state’ (no-extradition) arrest only – which is why it did not appear in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. Ms. Poindexter did not turn herself in and the (in-state, non-extraditable) warrant remained dormant until March 2023 when deputies in our Fugitive Apprehension Unit, completing routine checks of warrant status,’ determined this to be reasonably outstanding and to be re-issued with full extradition (and entered back into NCIC). According to reports, this is when law enforcement officials in Bexar County were notified of the warrant.”