Police dispatcher's Facebook postings lands her in jail
A police dispatcher has been arrested on harassment charges after she allegedly posted text messages and photos between her husband and a female police officer on her Facebook page.
Dispatcher Laura De Leon turned herself into Brownsville police late Tuesday, where she was charged with one count of online harassment and one count of phone harassment, both misdemeanor charges.
Municipal Judge Ben Neece arraigned her on both counts and she was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
De Leon was one of two police department employees placed on administrative leave last month for employee misconduct. The other employee was her husband Dalberto “Louie” De Leon, a Brownsville police officer.
The two had been suspended for personnel matters. Officer Dalberto De Leon is back on the job.
Police Chief Carlos Garcia on Wednesday had a letter delivered to Laura De Leon stating she would remain on administrative leave without pay, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation against her.
Meanwhile, Laura De Leon, through an attorney, is trying to determine what part of the police department’s policy she violated that led to her initial suspension. A letter outlining her concerns had been sent to Garcia. The city’s legal department is expected to respond to her concerns, Garcia said.
According to a Brownsville police report dated Oct. 31, the charges are levied by Nancy Alanis, who is also a police officer for the city of Brownsville, and also married.
Alanis stated Laura De Leon not only harassed her by phone, but also posted several pictures of her, and the text messages exchanged between Alanis and Dalberto De Leon, on Facebook without her consent, a police narrative states.
Alanis also accused Dispatcher Laura De Leon of posting her job title and telephone number on Facebook with “intent to harm her.”
“The calls and text messages were annoying, harassing, threatening and alarming,” Alanis stated in a police report.
Laura De Leon in an interview and email to The Brownsville Herald admitted she posted the text messages and photos exchanged between Alanis and Officer De Leon (Laura’s husband) on her Facebook page for only her friends to view because she was angry. She later took them down.
She also admitted calling Alanis and leaving a message on her voice mail.
“I did what I did without thinking about the consequences because I was upset that my daughter discovered the images and text messages exchanged between the two,” Laura De Leon said in the email. “She (her daughter) did her own investigative techniques just to show and prove to me what my husband was doing because obviously she was disturbed by it.”
Some of the images are of Alanis posing in her bra and her panties. In another image, Alanis is partially exposing her breast.
Garcia said the internal investigation into the incident is ongoing and that both Alanis and Officer Dalberto De Leon will be looked at for possible employee misconduct.
“That is definitely something that is being looked into,” Garcia said. “As employees of the police department we are held to higher standards and the public expects that.”
The police chief said Laura De Leon was suspended because she was under criminal investigation.
“Internal Affairs has not completed the whole administrative investigation involving all three, so I think at the point it would be kind of premature or too early to say that there is nothing there administratively, we have to complete that investigation,” Garcia said.
Lmartinez@brownsvilleherald.com
