The evidence in the case of the kidnapping of an army veteran was seriously flawed. The BCSO blamed him anyway.

Former Army medic Juan “Tony” Valdez has had his life turned upside down after being charged with kidnapping, home theft, and domestic violence following an altercation with his girlfriend, Melanie Hagner on November 18th. Despite being charged, the case against Valdez was far from clear and the charges have since been dropped. Valdez and his lawyer have expressed their disbelief at the case, which suggested that he would face imprisonment for the incident.

The case centred around evidence presented by Undersecretary Adam Moreno, who claimed that Valdez dragged Hagner into his truck, hit her, and then tried to break into her home. Two eyewitnesses disputed these claims, stating that Hagner jumped out of the truck as if her life depended on it, leading to further scrutiny of the body camera footage.

While Hagner cited parts of the Texas Penal Code regarding the incident, Moreno seemed to be at odds with his superiors regarding the level of charges wanted. “I just don’t know if this goes to the level of a kidnapping,” an investigator is heard saying to Moreno during a phone conversation recorded on the deputy’s body camera.

Additional Bexar County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) evidence revealed that Hagner drove the truck that was part of the incident and both she and Valdes took part in the riot. However, one eyewitnesses claimed that Hagner could have left but did not. Meanwhile, divorce court records showed that the garage door was previously damaged and that Hagner was trying to get $500 in damages for it.

In a shocking twist, Valdez received a fourth felony charge in January after Hagner turned up at his apartment while he was under house arrest. Despite leaving the apartment and calling the police, San Antonio police determined that Valdez violated a protection order by allowing Hagner to spend time there.

However, on April 13th, the Bexar County Attorney’s Office dismissed all four criminal cases against Valdez, reportedly after reviewing a transcript of an earlier protection order hearing. Representing Valdez in several civil lawsuits related to the November incident, his lawyer Joe Hoelscher was highly critical of both the DA’s office and the BCSO.

Despite this conclusion to the criminal case, Hagner has filed a small claims suit against Valdez in February seeking payment for her damaged property and the return of some of her property, with several civil cases also initiated. Valdez said that he and Hagner had been dating for less than four months, and that she gained access to his auto insurance policy by adding herself and changing Valdez’s marital status to ‘married’. The incident took place just a week after Valdez’s first arrest in November, according to documents obtained by KSAT.

Content and Photo credit go to Texas Standard

Read the full article on Texas Standard News