A former San Antonio Police Department officer was sentenced to six months of probation last month for a case tied up in court since 2021 over a dispute involving cellphone evidence.
Court records show Erik Rodriguez, a former 14-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department, accepted a guilty plea deal on Oct. 22 to reduce his charge of second-degree bribery to a misdemeanor distribution of confidential information.
Records also show his possession of child sex abuse material charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence the same day.
Rodriguez, 45, was arrested in January 2021 and and later indicted on charges including bribery and possession of child sex abuse material. He pleaded not guilty.
Legality of the case was discussed the year Rodriguez was arrested because his defense attorneys questioned how the evidence against him was obtained.
KSAT reported in 2021 Rodriguez’s attorneys filed a motion to suppress evidence in his case that may have been obtained with an illegal search warrant.
The former officer’s personal cell phone was seized after investigators determined he accepted money in exchange for providing information to the suspect in a domestic violence case.
That same phone allegedly had a video that showed an underage child engaged in sexual bestiality, according to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
The search warrant obtained by police was signed by a magistrate judge, who did not have the authority to do so.
A prosecutor tried explaining that a second warrant was signed by the proper judge and the phone wasn’t searched until after that second warrant.
But a judge told prosecutors that the seizure of the phone was still illegal.
In October 2022, KSAT reported the search warrants connected to Rodriguez’s arrest were tossed after a state district judge ruled the evidence was obtained improperly.
The years-long battle would continue when the former officer asked the Supreme Court to review a ruling that allowed prosecutors to use evidence obtained from his cellphone this year in August, but the case never moved forward to the Supreme Court.
Rodriguez who gave up his police license as part of the plea deal, will have to pay a $250 fine and spend six months under probation as a result of this five-year case.
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