SAN ANTONIO – Ricardo Gonzales Jr. continued working as a detention officer at the Bexar County Jail for more than a year after claims first surfaced that he had purposely injured an inmate, according to sheriff’s spokesman James Keith.
Gonzales, 33, was arrested and booked into jail Tuesday on a charge of official oppression, and could face additional charges. He is also in the process of being fired from his job at the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Keith said.
Gonzales had worked for the Sheriff’s Office as a detention officer since 2004, and spent part of that time as a member of the Sheriff’s Office Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. The division is assigned to handle emergencies within the jail, Keith said.
Gonzales was one of several CERT members who were called in after a 39-year-old inmate refused to return to his cell in April 2014, Keith said.
“They had the inmate in handcuffs,” Keith said. “This officer then decided to pick up the inmate and slam him onto the ground.”
Keith called Gonzales' alleged actions “unnecessary.” Although fellow deputies reported the incident at that time, no disciplinary action was taken until this month, he said.
Keith said the report was initially made to supervisors who determined that there were “problems” with it. At some point later, he said, they realized that the claim was valid and began conducting an official investigation.
In the meantime, Gonzales continued working in the jail for more than a year after the allegations first surfaced, Keith said.
"So that's now a concern for us,” he said. “We have to go back now and make sure that there have been no other incidents involving this person."
Keith said that while the deputies did the right thing by reporting Gonzales, the allegations are upsetting.
"This sort of behavior is not accepted nor will it be tolerated at the Bexar County Jail," he said.
Gonzales was released from jail late Tuesday night after posting bond.