Staff -

San Marcos, TX

The Maverick County Sheriff's Department released a statement on Tuesday in reference to an incident which occurred when a deputy sheriff and a jailer were transporting a prisoner from Oklahoma. According to the report, when returning from Oklahoma, prisoner in hand, the deputy and the jailer stopped in San Marcos, TX to eat. The irregularity occurred when all three men got off of the vehicle as prisoners are not allowed to do so. The incident occurred in what was described in the press release as a bag & grill in which alcoholic beverages are served which is another violation of procedure. After an internal investigation was conducted, Deputy Sheriff Gerardo Zuñiga tendered his letter of resignation due to the fact that he had ordered an alcoholic beverage while on duty and had placed citizens in danger and both he and the jailer failed to safeguard the citizens of San Marcos by allowing the prisoner to get off the vehicle. The jailer was suspended for to weeks without pay for his participation in the incident and Sheriff Tomas Herrera has noted within the context of the release that he will not have any tolerance for this type of behavior from his personnel and will continue to have zero tolerance for such behavior until he relinquishes his responsibilities as Sheriff.