Houston Police Department's new deputy chief under investigation for $25,000 worth of missing city property, documents show

KINGWOOD, Texas (KTRK) — One of Houston's newly promoted deputy police chiefs is under investigation after property valued at $25,000 went missing from a police substation.

Adrian Rodriguez was promoted in April following demotions resulting from HPD's suspended case scandal. He was last assigned as commander of the Kingwood substation on Rustic Woods Drive.

Last November, the security barriers in the rear parking lot were removed and replaced with new, sleek ones. The old gates were left in a grassy area for months. Then, over the weekend of March 23, sources told ABC13 they went missing.

ABC13 obtained a portion of the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report that states Rodriguez asked a City of Houston Department of General Services liaison if he could take the property because he “wanted put them in his ditch at home.”

ABC13 asked HPD to review surveillance video from the weekend the doors were taken. The request was denied and forwarded to the Texas Attorney General's Office for a decision.

In the referral letter, the department confirmed “an open investigation by HPD's Internal Affairs Division into an alleged improper police procedure by a police officer.”

The City of Houston has a 7-page asset disposition procedure for disposing of “surplus, obsolete, worn out or scrapped” property.

Unless approved, this is all supposed to end up in a municipal warehouse on Broad Street in southeast Houston.

There, a large portion of these goods become available to taxpayers to purchase at auction. Impounded vehicles, paper bins and old uniform tops are some of what is available now.

It was only after ABC13 requested information about the whereabouts of the abandoned doors that a police report was filed.

The report is dated June 20, three months after the barriers were removed. The City of Houston is the complainant. This is a theft and the barriers are estimated to be worth $25,000.

Chief Rodriguez is not authorized to speak about ongoing IAD investigations, per policy. The HPOU described the investigation as minor.

However, the portion of the SAI report provided by ABC13 provides more context. The liaison officer said he gave Rodriguez permission. “I thought I was authorizing Chief Rodriguez to take away smaller pieces of broken door material that should have already been disposed of by the contractor,” he wrote. “I did not realize these were entire door panels.”

HPD does not comment on IAD investigations and said Friday that Asst. Chief Rodriguez's status is “active.”

For more on this story, follow Jessica Willey on Facebook, X and Instagram.