HPD’s new assistant chief is under investigation for missing city property valued at $25K, docs say

KINGWOOD, Texas (KTRK) — One of Houston’s newly-promoted police assistant chiefs is under investigation following the disappearance of property valued at $25,000 from a police substation.

Adrian Rodriguez, promoted in April after the HPD’s suspended case scandal demotions, was most recently assigned as commander at the Kingwood substation on Rustic Woods Drive.

Last November, old security gates in the back parking lot were replaced with new ones. The old gates were left in a grassy area for months until they disappeared over the weekend of March 23rd, according to sources.

obtained part of the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report, which states Rodriguez asked a liaison with the City of Houston General Services Department if he could take the gates because “he wanted to put them in his ditch at home.”

requested surveillance video from HPD from the weekend the gates were taken. The request was denied and referred to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for a decision.

In the referral letter, the department confirmed “an open investigation being conducted by the HPD’s Internal Affairs Division of alleged improper police procedure by a police officer.”

The City of Houston has a 7-page Asset Disposition Procedure for disposing of property that is “excess, obsolete, worn or scrap.” All such property is supposed to end up at a city warehouse on Broad Street in southeast Houston unless otherwise approved, where it becomes available to taxpayers at auction.

Only after ABC13 requested records on the whereabouts of the discarded gates was a police report filed. Dated June 20, three months after the gates were removed, the report lists the City of Houston as the complainant and categorizes the incident as theft, with the gates’ estimated value at $25,000.

Chief Rodriguez is not allowed to comment on active IAD investigations per policy. The Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) called the investigation minor.

However, the portion of the IAD report obtained by ABC13 provides more context. The liaison stated he gave Rodriguez permission, believing he was allowing him to take smaller, broken pieces of gate material that should have already been disposed of by the contractor. “I did not know they were entire gate panels,” he wrote.

HPD does not comment on IAD probes but confirmed Friday that Asst. Chief Rodriguez’s status is “active.”