HOUSTON (AP) -- A former Houston police sergeant who once investigated corrupt officers could learn his punishment Monday for kidnapping a Pasadena businesswoman.
“I am guilty your honor. I was responsible for this,” Andres Reza said in court early last week.
Reza, 38, who worked 16 years for HPD before resigning in December, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the June 20 aggravated kidnapping of Maria Medeles and asked that a jury in state District Judge Don Stricklin’s court decide his punishment. He faces up to life in prison. Reza’s girlfriend, Gloria Rodriguez, also is charged.
After hearing final testimony on Friday, the jury was told by the judge to return on Monday morning to begin deliberating.
Reza abducted Medeles during a traffic stop, then used her cell phone to demand $200,000 in ransom from her boyfriend, patrol officer Jaime Escalante.
Using cell phone technology, officers tracked Medeles’ cell phone to a motel and arrested Reza and Rodriguez 17 hours later. Medeles, her eyes covered with duct tape and her hands bound, was found in the bathroom, shaken and with minor injuries.
Reza said he and Rodriguez planned the abduction for about six months. He often wanted to back out, he said, including several hours into the kidnapping when he thought undercover officers had seen him and gotten his license tag.
At the time of the abduction, Reza worked for an elite unit of the internal affairs division, which conducts undercover operations to weed out bad police officers.
“Even as you were arresting officers for wrongdoing, you were doing wrongdoing yourself,” prosecutor Julian Ramirez said. “Did you have trouble going to work knowing that?”
Reza said he did.
Prosecutors Ramirez and Donna Goode argued that Reza was motivated by greed. He was behind on credit card payments, including for a trip to Las Vegas to attend a championship boxing match, they noted. Medeles owns clubs, reception halls and property.