BCSO sergeant suspended for 'lack of supervision' of jail staff

Wendy Yarbrough served one day unpaid suspension for policy violation

SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Sheriff's Office suspended a jail sergeant after an investigation determined she had not supervised staff tasked with performing mandatory checks of inmates over a nearly five-hour period, violating state jail rules.

Sgt. Wendy Yarbrough served a one-day suspension without pay in February, records obtained by the KSAT-12 Defenders show.

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Yarbrough was tasked in April 2017 with making sure the "Pipe System" was assigned to an officer. As KSAT-12 has reported, the system digitally tracks when officers do their rounds to check on inmates using a small device that must touch a sensor on the wall near the cells.

"During the course of an Observation Log Book entries review, it was discovered that the Pipe Checks were missed for 4 hours and 59 minutes, therefore placing Booking out of compliance with the Texas Jail Standards," the document said.

The state requires "inmates shall be physically counted by a jailer at frequent and regular intervals, no less than once per day." 

The Bexar County Jail passed its state inspection earlier this year. KSAT-12 has requested the inspection reports from the Texas Jail Standards Commission for 2017-2018. They do not note the skipped checks in their reports. It is unclear from the suspension order if Yarbrough's "lack of supervision in ensuring (her) staff is conducting the required observation check in a timely manner" resulted in any marks against the jail in its inspections.

Yarbrough resigned from BCSO effective March 31.

CLICK HERE to read Yarbrough's suspension order.

CLICK HERE to read the 2017 inspection report.

CLICK HERE to read the 2018 inspection report.