By Maggie Ybarra
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso police sergeant with 18 years on the force was arrested on suspicion of stealing wedding gifts from a bride and groom while working a security detail at their reception.
Alberto Madrid, 42, allegedly stole a gift box containing money, cards and checks for bride Christina Frescas Bustillos and her husband, Jose Antonio Bustillos II.
Madrid then tried to flee in his truck after people attending the reception at Bebe’s Hall, 1212 N. Yarbrough, attempted to confront him, police said.
The gift box had been sitting on a table at the entrance to the hall, according to a police affidavit. Madrid took the box between 11 p.m. and midnight Saturday, police said.
Several guests followed him outside, the affidavit said. They watched a dark-colored truck leave the rear parking lot of Bebe’s Hall and park in another parking lot across the street.
Guests told police they approached the truck, saw Madrid inside and tried to talk to him. At one point, the affidavit said, Madrid accelerated toward a guest named Joey Zaragoza, who jumped on the hood of the truck to avoid being hit.
Zaragoza tried to hang on to the hood as Madrid drove out of the parking lot onto Vista Del Sol and toward Vista de Oro, but he was eventually thrown onto the street, the affidavit said.
He was treated at a hospital for injuries to his back and wrist, then released Monday, said Detective Mike Baranyay, a police spokesman.
Madrid was booked into the El Paso County Jail, where he remained Monday in lieu of $5,000 bail, according to county records.
Criminal and administrative investigations are under way, police said. Baranyay said the department had started the process of firing Madrid.
Baranyay said police took Madrid’s credentials and badge Sunday, but he was not put on administrative leave. Madrid was working as a sergeant assigned to the West Side station, Baranyay said.
“At this point he’s still in jail so they haven’t been able to formally put him on administrative leave or terminate him,” Baranyay said.
Madrid was working as an off-duty security officer for Bebe’s Hall at the time of the alleged theft, Baranyay said.
Madrid has been charged with three other crimes during his career with the police department, according to county records.
He was charged with assault causing bodily injury in 2002 but that charge was dismissed on June 17, 2003, according to court records. Madrid was charged with drunken driving in 2002 but was allowed to enter a pretrial diversion program by prosecutors. That charge was dismissed on Jan. 9, 2004, the records said.
Madrid again was charged with drunken driving in 2006 but that charge was dismissed due to insufficient evidence on Oct. 5, 2006, according to court records.
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