Officer Anthony Foster Charged with Theft

A veteran Houston police officer has been charged with theft by a public servant, the result of an undercover police sting driven by citizen complaints, police said on Friday.

Anthony R. Foster, 43, a Northeast Patrol Division officer who has been on the force since early 1994, was arrested Thursday and has been removed from duty, Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties said.

“Apparently, it was a proactive internal affairs operation that was set up, and it was complaint-driven," Senties said. “He has been relieved of duty, pending the outcome of the investigation."

The charge accuses Foster of taking more than $500 “by virtue of his status as a public servant” from the undercover officer.

Houston police officials declined provide any details of the charge or complaints against Foster.

“Anytime there is a complaint, they are fully investigated,“ Senties said. “It's an investigation that is ongoing with the Internal Affairs Division and that's where it stands.”

However, Houston police union officials likened Foster's arrest to a bribery case against a Houston police officer in 2007.

“It's a strategy that the proactive detail inside Internal Affairs has used before. And the last time it resulted in criminal charges against an officer, that when he went to trial, were dismissed,” said Mark Clark, executive director of the Houston Police Officers' Union.

A jury acquitted HPD officer Alfred Alaniz in June 2007 of accepting a $200 bribe not to issue a ticket to a motorist.

Alaniz, one of the department's highest paid officers, who earned more than $100,000 in overtime during a two-year period, claimed he had been set up by internal affairs.

He later relinquished his peace officer's license and retired from the department, part of a plea bargain to dismiss related charges of evidence tampering.

Foster is represented by union attorney Sally Ring, who said she had not yet met with Harris County prosecutors to review their evidence against the officer.

“He is presumed innocent until proven guilty, he has the same constitutional rights as a citizen,“ Ring said. “Just because he is a police officer, I don't think anyone should jump to the conclusion he's guilty.”