Theft charges dropped on local cop

DEER PARK, TEXAS — Theft charges have been dropped against a suburban Houston cop accused of stealing co-workers' food from the police station refrigerator.

A sting operation by the Deer Park Police Department netted Officer Kevin Yang. Police Chief Greg Griggs had said surveillance cameras caught Yang repeatedly stealing colleagues' food and drinks from the refrigerator in the station's break room.

Yang was charged with misdemeanor theft and suspended for 30 days without pay. According to a statement issued by the city, Yang agreed not to sue the city over the investigation if the class C misdemeanor charge was dropped.

Yang is back on duty after his 30-day suspension, which cost him $4,500 in lost pay. A class C misdemeanor conviction would have meant a fine of no more than $50

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.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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.

Deer Park Cop caught stealing on video ...

DEER PARK, Texas -- It's something that happens at some workplaces -- items suddenly come up missing from the company fridge. But it has happened so often at the Deer Park Police Department that they decided to watch the refrigerator with a surveillance camera. And now a police officer faces charges.

The police chief told us someone had been stealing lunches, drinks, even 60 pounds of deer sausage out of the break room fridge for about a year and police employees were pretty mad. So, the chief authorized a sting operation on the refrigerator.

According to Deer Park police, on November 19 last year Officer Kevin Yang was caught on video taking an unopened Monster energy drink out of the break room refrigerator. That drink was marked with 'MSA', a detective's initials. Yang told investigators he took it upon himself to keep the fridge clean.

"A lot of times we clean up the community refrigerator like once a week, everything take by Friday or certain date or everything gets thrown out, which we don't do here," explained Deer Park Police Chief Greg Griggs.

But Deer Park police say it happened again and again. Officer Yang was reportedly caught again November 22 taking a bag from a local sandwich shop marked with a detective's initials. Then, on November 26, Officer Yang is seen taking a Monster drink and on November 27, he takes another drink, once again marked with initials.

The police chief authorized the video sting because he says the thefts had gone on for a while.

Chief Griggs said, "The conversations in the hallways and briefings and people's frustrations and aggravation with that occurring did not deter the events. In fact, they increased."

So investigators set up a hidden camera and put Monster energy drinks and some food in the fridge and waited.

"The same officer was taking the items each time," Chief Griggs said. "Nobody else was taking it during that three week period."

Officer Yang began a 30-day unpaid suspension on Tuesday and is facing misdemeanor theft charges now.

The chief says no matter what's stolen or where, theft is theft.

He said, "When you're not putting anything in and you're taking things out, it became clear to us he was taking things knowingly and against the law."

Officer Yang will be reinstated from his 30 day suspension March 22. Even if he is convicted of the misdemeanor theft charge, he will be able to return to the job, because it's not a class B or above offense.

Severe weather expected today in Houston area

KRPC: You can see a wall of heavy rain," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez. "From 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock is the time to watch for these dangerous storms."

"Do not take these warnings lightly. Typically, whenever we get these and see a pattern like we had this morning, we'll see a handful of tornadoes," Yanez said.

Gusty winds and scattered showers moved through the area at 2 a.m., knocking out power to 30,000 CenterPoint Energy customers. As of 6:30 a.m., approximately 18,000 people remained without electricity.

"Earlier this morning, we had wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph," Yanez said. "That's what knocked down some of those trees and power lines. We could still see some 60 mph straight-line winds, hail and lots of lightning."

A low-pressure system is responsible for strong storms in central and northern Texas, which are expected to drench the Houston area most of the day.

"There's a couple of lines that we're tracking. The strongest one will arrive in Houston around noon. It's a concern for this morning until early afternoon. The radar is picking up a lot of twisting winds," Yanez said. "It's going to be wet from 8 o'clock all the way through 2 o'clock. By 5 p.m., this storm system will be in our eastern counties."

Yanez said south of Interstate 10 is not expected to see the strongest storms.

"It's a lot more scattered and not as well put together," Yanez said.

Power outages caused problems for some southwest Houston businesses.

Whataburger on the Southwest Freeway near Weslayan had to turn away customers when employees could not prepare food for the morning rush.

"Their lights just came back on (at 6 a.m.), but they weren't ready to serve yet," customer Carol Bennett said.

Many Houstonians were worried about flooding after severe weather left its mark on Jan. 9.

Houston firefighters performed about 140 water rescues when people became stranded in high water.

Officials warned drivers to "turn around, not drown" if they approached rising water.

Flooding is the most common hazard in Houston and many times, individuals are not able to judge the depths of water along roadways and find themselves in perilous conditions.

Officials said 6 inches of water can cause tires to lose traction and begin to slide, and 12 inches of water can float many cars. Two feet of rushing water will carry off pickup trucks, SUVs and most other vehicles.

Water across a roadway may hide a missing segment of road or a missing bridge, officials said.

In flash floods, waters rise so rapidly they may be far deeper by the time you are halfway across, trapping you in your vehicle.

Be especially cautious at night, when it's even more difficult to gauge the amount of water in a roadway.

The safest option is to simply avoid driving over water and find an alternate, safer route, or wait until the danger has passed.

Rare treat: Houstonians can watch as Space Station crosses Moon

A slice of Houston will have a chance to view a rare treat this evening.

Not only will the International Space Station make an incredibly bright, six-minute track across the sky tonight, some observers will be able to see the orbital laboratory blink across the moon.

Beginning at 6:28 p.m. the station will rise above the northwest horizon in Houston, and disappear just above the southeast horizon some six minutes later. Skies are forecast to be partly cloudy.

Along this path, for some parts of Houston all the way to Galveston, the station’s track will bring it across the face of the moon.

The following map, made by Steve Clayworth of Observable Universe, shows the approximate area from which this will be visible.

Houston ship channel shut due to collision

By Bruce Nichols

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Houston Ship Channel, the busiest U.S. petrochemical port, was shut indefinitely on Tuesday after two vessels collided in heavy fog, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

There were no injuries or fires after a tanker and a cargo vessel collided at about 8 a.m. CST near the Texas City Dike, which is in the lower end of the channel between Galveston and Texas City.

There were no oil or chemicals spilled during the collision on the 53-mile (85-km) waterway that routes vessels from the Gulf of Mexico to the huge complex of refineries in Houston and Texas City, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

The tanker was believed to be carrying the chemical acetone, a cleaning solvent, the spokesman said. It was not known what the cargo vessel was carrying.

The vessels involved were the tanker Charleston and the cargo vessel Harvest Sun, both about 50,000 tons dead weight and about 600 feet long, the Coast Guard said.

The Charleston was northbound, headed to Houston. The Harvest Sun was southbound, headed from Houston to Texas City, the Coast guard said.

Both vessels anchored safely outside the channel, awaiting investigators, the spokesman said.

Houston Pilots had stopped boarding vessels due to the fog prior to the accident, the spokesman said, and it was unclear when the fog would lift or boarding would resume.

Houston refineries along the ship channel are Lyondell Basell's 268,000 barrel-per-day refinery, Pasadena Refining's 100,000-bpd refinery, Valero Energy Corp's (VLO.N) 83,000-bpd refinery and Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSa.L) joint-venture 327,000 bpd refinery in Deer Park.

Exxon Mobil Corp's 560,640-bpd refinery in Baytown, the country's largest, also receives crude via the waterway.

The refineries in Texas City supplied by the ship channel are BP Plc.'s 437,080-bpd refinery, Valero's 214,000-bpd refinery and Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s 76,000-bpd refinery.

(Editing by Chris Baltimore and Andrea Evans)