Officer Jose Vela says Sex was Consensual

EDINBURG, Texas

A former South Texas police chief accused of sexually assaulting one of his officers testified Monday that the encounter was consensual and his attorney suggested the chief was the victim of a conspiracy.

Jose Luis Vela, 44, is accused of assaulting the officer after the man passed out drunk at a party at Vela's home in August 2006.

Vela threw more than 100 parties at his home during his decade-long reign as chief. The parties were often attended by his employees.

The former chief said Monday that the officer was a willing participant and the August 2006 incident was not their first sexual encounter. The Associated Press does not identify people who are victims of alleged sexual assaults.

When Vela's attorney Luis Singleterry asked if it had been sex between two consenting adults, Vela answered: "That's exactly what it was."

Asked if the officer had been passed out or unable to resist, Vela said the officer was "wide awake and doing the same thing."

Vela also countered two other former employees who testified last week that Vela has sexually assaulted them. In one case, Vela said it was also a consensual encounter and denied using any sort of device and in the other, he denied the employee's account entirely.

"I'm not a bad person," Vela said. "I don't consider myself to be a bad person."

Instead, Singleterry suggested that three of Vela's former employees had been brought together by Hidalgo County Sheriff's investigator Raul Cantu, who was retaliating against Vela. A week earlier Vela had suspended the investigator's wife, who worked for the Alton Police Department. Cantu testified last week that the incident with his ex-wife had no bearing on his investigation.

Each of Vela's alleged victims have said that they were approached about the investigation and none of them had reported the incidents to authorities. Singleterry also pointed out that each of the men had joined in a civil lawsuit against Vela and the city.

But prosecutor Hope Palacios painted Vela as an inexperienced chief running a department with such unqualified officers that they could not quit their jobs even after the alleged sexual assaults because they had little hope of finding new ones.

Asked if having a romantic relationship with one of his officers was unprofessional, Vela said that since it happened outside the workplace it was all right.

Vela's cross-examination is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.

Accusations of bad record keeping and stealing confiscated alcohol ultimately cost Vela his job in September 2007. Vela testified Monday that he never instructed his employees to bring alcohol from the department's evidence locker to his parties.

Alton is a town of about 4,400 residents located 10 miles north of the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley.