SAN ANTONIO – A corporal with the Bexar County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office has been arrested nearly two years after he was accused of forcibly kissing a woman inside a Southwest Side vitamin shop.
Cpl. Adam Salazar, 34, faces a charge of indecent assault, Bexar County court records show. He was taken into custody Friday, nearly eight months after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
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Salazar followed a female employee into an “employees only” section at a vitamin shop in the 2300 block of SW Military Drive in early February 2020 and “grabbed the complaint around the torso and kissed the complainant’s neck for ten (10) to fifteen (15) seconds as the complainant tried to push (Salazar) off,” a warrant for Salazar’s arrest states.
The warrant also states that the woman “felt (Salazar’s) slobber on her neck.”
Salazar, who was identified in a San Antonio Police Department report as a “law enforcement officer,” was described as previously showing up to the store in uniform and hitting on the woman, making her feel uncomfortable.
The woman told investigators Salazar claimed he followed her to the restricted area because he got an erection, SAPD records show.
A regional manager later told police Salazar was no longer allowed on the premises and was banned from going inside the vitamin store.
San Antonio police investigated the case and later filed it at large with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. A warrant for Salazar’s arrest was issued in mid-April, court records show.
Reached for comment Tuesday, Precinct 1 Constable Ruben Tejeda confirmed Salazar has been working the past eight months, after the warrant was issued, because Tejeda was unaware that a warrant existed.
Tejeda said he placed Salazar on administrative leave late last week, after the DA’s office notified him about the pending case.
“I’m puzzled why that happened,” Tejeda said via telephone Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about why Precinct 1 was not told about the active warrant for nearly eight months.
Tejeda said Salazar will remain on administrative leave while his criminal case plays out.
Sheriff stands by decision to fire corporal after he enters pretrial diversion for indecent assault
Salazar is scheduled to be arraigned in County Court 1 on Jan. 11. He is free on bond.
Indecent assault is a Class A misdemeanor and pertains to cases in which a suspect touches the private parts of another person without their consent, exposes or attempts to expose the private parts of another person, or causes someone to have contact with another person’s bodily fluids.
The law went into effect in the fall of 2019 as a way to close a loophole in nonconsensual groping cases in Texas. Previously, those types of cases were charged as Class C misdemeanors.
Salazar’s attorney, Roy Barrera Jr., declined to comment when reached via telephone Tuesday.
Salazar was featured in a KSAT story in 2019, ahead of his debut as a professional boxer.