Hidalgo County bailiff arrested on drug, weapons charges

The Pharr Police Department arrested a Hidalgo County bailiff last week on drug and weapons charges.

Investigators arrested Jose R. Hernandez, 40, of Pharr on Sept. 18, when they caught him with three baggies of cocaine and two handguns, according to Pharr Municipal Court records.

Officers arrested Hernandez at about 5:30 p.m., when they conducted a traffic stop on a white Chevrolet Silverado “for parking against traffic.”

Hernandez appeared “overly nervous,” according to the criminal complaint. When police officers searched him, they found three baggies of cocaine in his right pocket. The baggies weighed 1.2 grams.

Officers charged Hernandez with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, and unlawfully carrying a weapon, a Class A misdemeanor.

Hernandez, the bailiff for state District Judge Luis Singleterry, declined to comment. Singleterry didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Before he became a bailiff, Hernandez spent 12 years with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. The Sheriff’s Office, which had allowed Hernandez to remain a reserve deputy, canceled his commission on Sept. 19.

Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra said the Sheriff’s Office maintains a zero-tolerance policy for drugs, drunken driving and other criminal offenses.

“That’s up to the judge whether he keeps him as a bailiff,” Guerra said. “But he no longer has a peace officer license.”

This article originally appeared in the Friday Sept. 27, 2019 issue of the Progress Times.