Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was led into a holding room near the Geo Group-managed prison in Del Rio, Texas for our interview Friday afternoon, March 9. He was shackled in red, metal handcuffs and dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit and booties. Hernandez is awaiting sentencing from a federal judge scheduled for March 19, 2007 that could send him to a federal penitentiary for ten years.
The prison, referred to as the Val Verde County Detention Center, has seen some of the most notorious criminals in the United States pass through it. Mass murderer Tommy Lynn Sells stayed here during his trial for murdering 13-year old Kaylene "Katy" Harris in 1999 before being transferred to death row after his conviction. Adorning the doors are posters depicting the various tattoos of Mexican gangs, the pictures taken of the bodies of actual inmates in the prison.
Situated approximately 10 miles from the International Bridge separating Del Rio from Ciudad Acuña, Coahilla, Mexico, this is the lock-up for indicted suspects and convicted felons in the illegal drug trade and human trafficking along the Texas-Mexico border. It is also the detention center serving the U.S. Federal District Court, Western District of Texas, Del Rio, one of the busiest federal courts in the nation. The majority of the court’s convictions are for federal narcotics violations, illegal entry, and human trafficking.
But Deputy Hernandez isn’t in jail for dealing drugs, gang-banging, or trafficking illegal aliens.
Gilmer Hernandez is treated like any other criminal in the Geo Group Val Verde Detention Center, including being handcuffed and shackled when moved around. Although prison guards ensure that Hernandez, a peace officer, is kept isolated from other inmates who may harm him. Hernandez is in jail following his conviction for violating the civil rights of an illegal alien, Maricela Rodriguez Garcia, who suffered a minor wound from the barrel of Hernandez’s gun as she laid hidden, stuffed in the rear cargo compartment of a Chevrolet Suburban that Hernandez had pulled over on a routine traffic stop.
Friday, Gilmer Hernandez, under the watchful eye of two armed guards, told me he grew up in Rocksprings. “All my life, I’ve wanted to help people. And it’s always been my dream to be in law enforcement,” Hernandez said.
The 1999 graduate of Rocksprings High School was involved in football as the team manager when the Angoras went to area playoffs. Holding his arm up revealing a scar, Hernadez said, “My momma wouldn’t let me play football because of this injury, but I wanted to help and I did by being the team’s manager.”
Hernandez was also involved with the high school Future Farmers of America program. Although his family wasn’t in a position financially to pay for raising animals for frequent contests and stock shows, Hernandez found a way to participate anyway by being a member of the judging team.
Hernandez also helped his family with expenses while in high school. The Middle Rio Grande Development Council has a program to help low income youths find jobs. Hernandez landed one with the City of Rocksprings. “I worked on the streets, garbage collection, waste water, and checking water meters,” Hernandez said.
Gilmer Hernandez talks frankly about his upbringing, describing how he worked three jobs to get his associates degree in criminal justice, and the hardships his family endured after his father passed away in 2000. After high school graduation, Hernandez pursued his dream of becoming a peace officer by enrolling in a program to earn his 2-year associates degree in criminal justice at Southwest Texas Junior College-Uvalde campus. “It’s 69 miles, 138 miles round trip from Rocksprings to Uvalde,” Hernandez mused. His Aunt Caroline and Uncle Rudy lived in Uvalde at whose home Hernandez would sometimes stay overnight after class.
In April 2000 tragedy struck home when Hernandez’s father suddenly passed away. With no income, his mother relied upon her youngest son to make ends meet. Hernandez took on two more jobs while maintaining a full schedule at the junior college. He worked for friend Roy Cottle as a cashier at Cottle’s Country Boys Feed Store. He landed a job as a jailer and dispatcher at the county jail. All the while he still had time to work his first job at the city, too.
“I took care of mom. I paid all of her bills. I still remember that truck payment. $450 per month, and I was still going to college,” Hernandez said with a chuckle.
“The way I survived was on the Wendy’s value meal,” Hernandez said. “They got to know me there and it got to the point that they didn’t need to ask for my order: a 99 cent Caesar salad, 99 cent chicken nuggets, and a 99 cent Sprite,” Hernandez said, referring to the Wendy’s near his college in Uvalde.
In 2003, Hernandez learned of an opening for a sheriff’s deputy in Edwards County. He asked Sheriff Letsinger if he should apply for the job. According to Letsinger, he told Hernandez that he wouldn’t consider his application unless he completed his degree. “He told me to my face not to quit school,” Hernandez said. Hernandez completed the degree and also completed training at the police academy in Uvalde. Then Letsinger finally hired him in 2004, joining Edwards County’s cadre of only five deputy sheriffs.
For his first year of his tenure at Edwards County, Hernandez described his job as routine. He recalls the traffic stops he made, especially the ones for cars and pickup trucks going a high rate of speed along a 13-mile stretch where US Highway 277 wonders into Edwards County briefly on its way from Del Rio to Sonora. “One day I caught seven speeders in a row and not one of them was going less than 91 miles per hour,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t go looking for speeding,” Hernandez said. “But I wanted to help people, and if you are going over 90 miles per hour, you are probably being a danger to yourself and the people around you,” he said.
One day, Hernandez says he stopped a man speeding while driving a pregnant woman to the hospital. “The driver, the man, had his license suspended. I could have apprehended him,” Hernandez said. “But the pregnant lady needed medical help; they needed to get to where they were going. So I wrote them up a warning or some lesser offense and sent them on their way.”
A year later, Hernandez stopped the same man again for speeding. But this time, there was an infant in a car seat in the backseat. “The man recognized me and pointed to the child in the back. ‘Remember us,’ he said,” Hernandez said. “I just shook my head. ‘You can’t be speeding with a little kid in the car,’” Hernandez recalled. “We both agreed that he deserved a ticket,” he said.
Hernandez also recalls the horrendous wrecks along the rural highways in his sparsely populated county. “I remember a black Chevy dually pickup. “Me and the DPS [Department of Public Safety] found out there was a baby in a car seat trapped in the truck. It had flipped over several times. I remember the DPS and me pulling that baby out of the wreck. That car seat saved that baby’s life,” Hernandez said. The parents were rushed to the hospital with injuries, and eventually survived.
Hernandez is married to the former Ashley Arredondo, who was his fiancé the night of the incident. “I love Ashley with all my heart. We do everything together,” Hernandez said. Since the incident almost two years ago, the two have married and have a baby girl, 7-month old Alektra Amaris Hernandez.
They were married in the Baptist Church in Rocksprings where Hernandez has been in regular attendance since December 2004. “Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior,” Hernandez said. And he is placing whatever outcome of this ordeal in the Lord’s hands.
“I take all of this day-by-day,” Hernandez said. “And I pray it will all work out.” Hernandez says there isn’t much to occupy his time. “I read. I read the Bible because that’s the only book I’m allowed,” he said. Hernandez is also receiving some letters from supporters who have learned of his plight on the Internet. “I get about six letters a day,” he said.
Whatever the outcome, Hernandez isn’t sure he wants to return to law enforcement. “It’s going to be a tough decision to go back on the force,” Hernandez said. “But the amount of community support I have heard about has me reconsidering. I pray that when or if the time comes, I’ll make the right decision,” Hernandez said.
The prison, referred to as the Val Verde County Detention Center, has seen some of the most notorious criminals in the United States pass through it. Mass murderer Tommy Lynn Sells stayed here during his trial for murdering 13-year old Kaylene "Katy" Harris in 1999 before being transferred to death row after his conviction. Adorning the doors are posters depicting the various tattoos of Mexican gangs, the pictures taken of the bodies of actual inmates in the prison.
Situated approximately 10 miles from the International Bridge separating Del Rio from Ciudad Acuña, Coahilla, Mexico, this is the lock-up for indicted suspects and convicted felons in the illegal drug trade and human trafficking along the Texas-Mexico border. It is also the detention center serving the U.S. Federal District Court, Western District of Texas, Del Rio, one of the busiest federal courts in the nation. The majority of the court’s convictions are for federal narcotics violations, illegal entry, and human trafficking.
But Deputy Hernandez isn’t in jail for dealing drugs, gang-banging, or trafficking illegal aliens.
Gilmer Hernandez is treated like any other criminal in the Geo Group Val Verde Detention Center, including being handcuffed and shackled when moved around. Although prison guards ensure that Hernandez, a peace officer, is kept isolated from other inmates who may harm him. Hernandez is in jail following his conviction for violating the civil rights of an illegal alien, Maricela Rodriguez Garcia, who suffered a minor wound from the barrel of Hernandez’s gun as she laid hidden, stuffed in the rear cargo compartment of a Chevrolet Suburban that Hernandez had pulled over on a routine traffic stop.
Friday, Gilmer Hernandez, under the watchful eye of two armed guards, told me he grew up in Rocksprings. “All my life, I’ve wanted to help people. And it’s always been my dream to be in law enforcement,” Hernandez said.
The 1999 graduate of Rocksprings High School was involved in football as the team manager when the Angoras went to area playoffs. Holding his arm up revealing a scar, Hernadez said, “My momma wouldn’t let me play football because of this injury, but I wanted to help and I did by being the team’s manager.”
Hernandez was also involved with the high school Future Farmers of America program. Although his family wasn’t in a position financially to pay for raising animals for frequent contests and stock shows, Hernandez found a way to participate anyway by being a member of the judging team.
Hernandez also helped his family with expenses while in high school. The Middle Rio Grande Development Council has a program to help low income youths find jobs. Hernandez landed one with the City of Rocksprings. “I worked on the streets, garbage collection, waste water, and checking water meters,” Hernandez said.
Gilmer Hernandez talks frankly about his upbringing, describing how he worked three jobs to get his associates degree in criminal justice, and the hardships his family endured after his father passed away in 2000. After high school graduation, Hernandez pursued his dream of becoming a peace officer by enrolling in a program to earn his 2-year associates degree in criminal justice at Southwest Texas Junior College-Uvalde campus. “It’s 69 miles, 138 miles round trip from Rocksprings to Uvalde,” Hernandez mused. His Aunt Caroline and Uncle Rudy lived in Uvalde at whose home Hernandez would sometimes stay overnight after class.
In April 2000 tragedy struck home when Hernandez’s father suddenly passed away. With no income, his mother relied upon her youngest son to make ends meet. Hernandez took on two more jobs while maintaining a full schedule at the junior college. He worked for friend Roy Cottle as a cashier at Cottle’s Country Boys Feed Store. He landed a job as a jailer and dispatcher at the county jail. All the while he still had time to work his first job at the city, too.
“I took care of mom. I paid all of her bills. I still remember that truck payment. $450 per month, and I was still going to college,” Hernandez said with a chuckle.
“The way I survived was on the Wendy’s value meal,” Hernandez said. “They got to know me there and it got to the point that they didn’t need to ask for my order: a 99 cent Caesar salad, 99 cent chicken nuggets, and a 99 cent Sprite,” Hernandez said, referring to the Wendy’s near his college in Uvalde.
In 2003, Hernandez learned of an opening for a sheriff’s deputy in Edwards County. He asked Sheriff Letsinger if he should apply for the job. According to Letsinger, he told Hernandez that he wouldn’t consider his application unless he completed his degree. “He told me to my face not to quit school,” Hernandez said. Hernandez completed the degree and also completed training at the police academy in Uvalde. Then Letsinger finally hired him in 2004, joining Edwards County’s cadre of only five deputy sheriffs.
For his first year of his tenure at Edwards County, Hernandez described his job as routine. He recalls the traffic stops he made, especially the ones for cars and pickup trucks going a high rate of speed along a 13-mile stretch where US Highway 277 wonders into Edwards County briefly on its way from Del Rio to Sonora. “One day I caught seven speeders in a row and not one of them was going less than 91 miles per hour,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t go looking for speeding,” Hernandez said. “But I wanted to help people, and if you are going over 90 miles per hour, you are probably being a danger to yourself and the people around you,” he said.
One day, Hernandez says he stopped a man speeding while driving a pregnant woman to the hospital. “The driver, the man, had his license suspended. I could have apprehended him,” Hernandez said. “But the pregnant lady needed medical help; they needed to get to where they were going. So I wrote them up a warning or some lesser offense and sent them on their way.”
A year later, Hernandez stopped the same man again for speeding. But this time, there was an infant in a car seat in the backseat. “The man recognized me and pointed to the child in the back. ‘Remember us,’ he said,” Hernandez said. “I just shook my head. ‘You can’t be speeding with a little kid in the car,’” Hernandez recalled. “We both agreed that he deserved a ticket,” he said.
Hernandez also recalls the horrendous wrecks along the rural highways in his sparsely populated county. “I remember a black Chevy dually pickup. “Me and the DPS [Department of Public Safety] found out there was a baby in a car seat trapped in the truck. It had flipped over several times. I remember the DPS and me pulling that baby out of the wreck. That car seat saved that baby’s life,” Hernandez said. The parents were rushed to the hospital with injuries, and eventually survived.
Hernandez is married to the former Ashley Arredondo, who was his fiancé the night of the incident. “I love Ashley with all my heart. We do everything together,” Hernandez said. Since the incident almost two years ago, the two have married and have a baby girl, 7-month old Alektra Amaris Hernandez.
They were married in the Baptist Church in Rocksprings where Hernandez has been in regular attendance since December 2004. “Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior,” Hernandez said. And he is placing whatever outcome of this ordeal in the Lord’s hands.
“I take all of this day-by-day,” Hernandez said. “And I pray it will all work out.” Hernandez says there isn’t much to occupy his time. “I read. I read the Bible because that’s the only book I’m allowed,” he said. Hernandez is also receiving some letters from supporters who have learned of his plight on the Internet. “I get about six letters a day,” he said.
Whatever the outcome, Hernandez isn’t sure he wants to return to law enforcement. “It’s going to be a tough decision to go back on the force,” Hernandez said. “But the amount of community support I have heard about has me reconsidering. I pray that when or if the time comes, I’ll make the right decision,” Hernandez said.
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![[shocked]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/007.gif "Shocked [shocked]")
Wow. That is seriously messed up.
![[puke]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/023.gif "Puke [puke]")
