A Dallas County constable lieutenant was arrested Wednesday and charged with multiple felonies as part of an investigation by the district attorney's office into activities at some constable offices, authorities said.
Lt. Howard Watson, 66, of Dallas is a senior officer in Constable Jaime Cortes' Precinct 5 office in Oak Cliff. His arrest is the first to come from a months-long investigation of constables by the DA's public integrity division.
Watson was booked into Dallas County Jail late Wednesday afternoon, sheriff's officials said. He is being charged with sexual assault, bribery, official oppression, the unauthorized use of two motor vehicles and tampering with government records.
Watson is accused of, among other things, coercing two women into performing sexual acts with him in exchange for not arresting them on outstanding warrants. Watson also used an incorrect address for a certificate that allowed him to help register voters, court records show.
Peter Schulte, an attorney for Cortes, said the constable "understands the seriousness of the allegations" and has placed Watson on leave until further notice.
Schulte said Cortes is opening an internal investigation on the matter.
Watson's wife, Janette, 64, also was arrested late Wednesday. She is charged with providing a false seller's name and previous owner's name on a vehicle title certificate. She also is charged with tampering with a government record by altering a vehicle title.
The Watsons were unavailable for comment.
Watson was one of several Precinct 5 officers who aroused suspicions in the county tax office about two years ago by driving personal vehicles with 30-day registration tags.
In August, The Dallas Morning News reported that the deputies had been renewing the temporary permits every month, paying $25 each time, leading some officials to wonder whether they had title to the vehicles.
The transactions raised questions about where the constables were getting the vehicles, some of which were in salvage yards after being damaged in crashes. The constables, however, wouldn't say where they got the vehicles.
At the time of the News report, County Judge Jim Foster said he wanted to make sure the vehicles did not come from Dowdy Ferry Auto Services, the towing company whose contracts with Cortes and Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans have been questioned by county officials.
Some constable officers using the paper tags only recently applied for titles to their vehicles, with Watson seeking a bonded title. A bonded title can protect your against future claims to a vehicle. It is generally sought after the state denies a title application because of a lack of proper ownership evidence.
It's unclear from the indictment whether the situation described by The News is tied to Watson's and his wife's arrests.
The News' investigation found that Watson received a bonded title in July for a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria he was driving with temporary tags, records show. He also was driving a 2001 Cadillac Catera with paper tags. That car, originally registered in Florida, was sold at auction in Texas in April 2007. Records don't indicate when and how Watson obtained the car.
Title records show that Watson's wife became the owner of the Cadillac in August.
Foster said some information compiled by a special investigator helped make the arrests possible. In September, county commissioners hired former FBI agent Danny Defenbaugh to conduct a civil investigation into operations at the Precinct 5 and Precinct 1 constable offices.
As part of that investigation, which is continuing, Defenbaugh turned over evidence of crimes to the DA's public integrity division.
The district attorney's office declined to comment on the arrests.
Foster said he hopes Wednesday's arrests are just the beginning.
"I just wish that this would have happened sooner," he said. "It's very serious. And I'm looking forward to all these issues being resolved."
Cortes hired Watson in July 2007 when county commissioners appointed Cortes to replace former Constable Mike Dupree, who resigned while facing criminal charges.
Previously, Watson worked briefly at two small Ellis County police departments – three months at the Maypearl Police Department and five months at the Life School ISD police department, state records show.
Watson lost his ability to park his Dallas County constable vehicle at his home about a year and a half ago after wrecking it while off-duty.
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield said he hopes more arrests will follow.
In recent months, numerous current and former deputy constables from Precincts 1 and 5 have reported wrongdoing to some of the commissioners and to the district attorney.
Mayfield said several more deputies are scheduled to appear before the grand jury investigating constable affairs.
"It's somewhat encouraging," Mayfield said about Wednesday's arrests. "It's a good sign. We'll wait to see what follows."
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