Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sheriff Roberts Convicted on All Counts

From the Law Med Blog.
From Newswest9:
by Victor Lopez

MIDLAND COUNTY--Winkler County Sheriff Robert Roberts found guilty of retaliating against two nurses. Now he's not only facing jail time, he's out of job.

After Roberts was found guilty of retaliating against two former nurses, one of them says, justice has been served.

When you hear what sentence former Sheriff Robert Roberts received, some people might think it was kind of light. But, when you think about it, he'll be spending time in the jail he used to run.

Because of the guilty verdicts, Roberts was stripped of his title as Winkler County Sheriff. As for his punishment, Roberts agreed to let Judge Robert Moore sentence him, instead of the jury that found him guilty.

Following the state's recommendation, he was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay a one thousand dollar fine for each of the felony convictions. That sentence was suspended to four years probation and 100 days in county jail. Roberts also received 100 days in jail and a one thousand dollar fine for each of the misdemeanor convictions.

In addition to jail time and having to turn in his badge, Roberts was also ordered to surrender his license as a peace officer in the State of Texas.

Vicki Galle and Anne Mitchell were both present when those sentences were announced.

Galle said, as far as she is concerned, after two long years, justice has been served, "I am thankful to the Texas Attorney General for noticing this case, justice was served and we appreciate that. I do feel that our voice was heard and I'm thankful for that."

Roberts' fines total $6,000 and he cannot appeal his conviction. He will begin serving his sentence in the Winkler County Jail on June 27th. Calls to County Judge Bonnie Leck for a comment were not immediately returned.

Roberts is the second of four men facing these charges. Former hospital administrator Stan Wiley plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony. Next on the list to stand trial, Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell and Dr. Rolando Arafiles.

(And in a related story, Dr. Arafiles has found a new place to work.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its about time this Sheriff got what was coming to him. Hes pushed people around and lied to this community for over 20 years. I'm quit sure there is more to reasoning for his actions in this, maybe one ought to look at the medicaid fraud he was committing at the jail with Dr. Arafiles being the doctor for the jail.

Rawhide said...

So, your former County Attorney is a pimp who your former Sheriff embraced with open arms? What was so special about this 'doctor' and his 'special cures' that they would work so hard to protect him? Sure would love to know the rest of the story...

Rawhide said...

A West Texas farmer loaded a cow into a truck to transport it to another barn. A couple of miles down the road he lost control of the truck. It ran off the road and overturned in the ditch by the side of the road.

When Sheriff Bubba arrived on the scene, he first found the cow, suffering with two broken legs. The Sheriff went ahead and put the animal out of its misery.

Circling the vehicle the Sheriff found the farmer lying on the ground. With gun still in hand the Sheriff asked the farmer “Are you okay?”

The farmer jumped to his feet, danced a jig and quickly said “There’s nothing wrong with me, Sheriff!”

David Kirk said...

Rawhide: This will make a diggity-dank movie someday soon!

Wes Tex Blogger said...

Great post! I read it before and meant to leave a comment then. Keep up the good blogging. People think small towns are boring. No true!

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