A Bexar County deputy ensnared in a federal drug task force investigation is suspected of helping collect drug debts for a jail inmate, officials said.
Rita Alvarez was arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, illegal barter, expenditures and investments as part of a multiagency investigation that went on months, according to KENS.
"We don't know at this point if it was any sort of a romantic relationship or just a business relationship. I can tell you, and you know well, any relationship is unacceptable," Sheriff Javier Salazar told KENS.
Alvarez, an 11-year veteran with the department, placed at least a couple of hundred dollars into the commissary account of Cristobal Perez, 35, an inmate held since April on multiple drug related charges, as part of her debt collecting, Salazar said.
She was arrested at her home. In all, four people were arrested; however, the other two were not identified.
Alvarez has been employed with the Sheriff’s Office since 2006. She is on unpaid administrative leave and is expected to be fired, Salazar said.
It is still unclear why Alvarez was involved with Perez.
"We're human. We had lives before we start our career," Salazar told KENS. "It's up to us to end those relationships when we choose to get into this profession. Clearly in this case that didn't occur."
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