Iconic deer sculpture missing ...

THE WOODLANDS, TX (KTRK) -- There's something missing from The Woodlands -- life-size sculptures of wildlife, swiped right from the Woodlands' entrance. Residents are outraged.

The deer sculptures didn't run off by themselves. Investigators believe they were taken by scrap metal thieves and the artist who designed them wants them returned.

Those stolen deer statues are part of a large collection. Deputies say they don't know who the thieves are, nor when they are striking.

Many folks call the bronze deer sculptures the signature of The Woodlands.

"The deer represent The Woodlands, I think," said resident Karen Draeger.

But recently some suspicious thieves have stolen two pieces of the heavy outdoor art -- a buck weighing 400 to 500 pounds and a 100-pound sculpture of a fawn.

"Well, that's terrible," said resident Mehdi Nasvri. "Woodlands has done their best to make this area look beautiful and in harmony with nature, and people just coming to do this type of vandalism really is not acceptable."

A spokeswoman from The Woodlands Development Company says it appears a group of thieves severed the buck's leg around March 1 at State Highway 242 and FM 1488. All that's left is a stump.

There's just a platform where the fawn stood at Creekside Park until it was taken last week. Neighbors call the crime suspicious.

"They cannot sell them," said resident Alfredo Hassuy. "Who could they sell them to? So, they melt them or they sell them for scrap.

Local artist Edd Hayes designed 27 of the deer sculptures on display around The Woodlands. He told me the stainless steel platforms are set in 400 pounds of concrete. He says stainless steel rods connect the deer to the platform. Hayes says the bronze statues are easily identifiable with his name etched inside the hind leg.

"They had a lot of help," theorized resident Charles Tomasek.

For now, neighbors are hoping the thieves are caught.

Local scrap metal dealers say bronze is being sold right now on average from $1.50 to $2.50 per pound.

Anyone with information about the stolen deer statues is encouraged to call the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

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Two Harris County cops fired - one for suspected child molestation.

THE CHRON: March 03--Two Harris County sheriff's deputies were arrested Friday, including one accused of molesting a young girl on multiple occasions.

Eleazar Gongora, Jr., was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child, a felony. He was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies, the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force.

The girl, 9, knows Gongora. According to the criminal complaint against him, Gongora, 41, assaulted her between June 2009 and October 2011 at the homes he was living at in Houston and Pasadena.

The investigation that led to Friday's arrest began after the girl told her mother what happened in late December, according to the complaint.

Hired in 2000

"My employees are expected to obey the law in their private life as well as their public life. We at the Sheriff's Office see no boundary between them when it comes to protecting the community," Sheriff Adrian Garcia said in a statement following the arrest.

Gongora joined the Sheriff's Office in March 2000 and had been assigned to the Harris County Jail's mental health unit.

His employment status is under review as a result of the charge, authorities said.

He is being held without bail at the Harris County Jail.

Also on Friday, another deputy was arrested after internal affairs investigators accused him of falsifying records of his whereabouts while at work.

Jimmy W. George, 38, was later charged with felony tampering with a government record.

A woman who answered the front door at his home in Spring declined to comment about the arrest.

On Dec. 9, George was sent to investigate reports that someone in a Ford pickup was driving erratically along Brightwood Drive near Falling Creek in northwest Harris County.

Records show that George logged in at the scene on his patrol car's computer.

"We had surveillance on him. We knew he wasn't there," said Christina Garza, a Harris County sheriff's spokeswoman.

Sheriff comments

"There were other instances where he said he was at a certain location and we know for a fact that he wasn't there," Garza said.

Citing their investigation, Garza declined to say where the internal affairs investigators believe George was at the time he was supposed to have been at work.

"This case is isolated and does not represent the hard work being done by the rest of our crime fighters, especially patrol deputies who are dealing with an increasing number of emergency calls," Garcia said.

George was released from the Harris County Jail after posting bail set at $2000.

George was fired from the sheriff's department where he had worked since December 1996.