El Paso Sheriff Chief Deputy Ousted for Embezzlement Sacked from Another Police Job

A Texas senior law enforcement official whose corrupt acts Judicial Watch reported to the feds years ago, has been ousted from yet another job. His name is Jesus “Eddie” Campa and back in 2014 federal, state and municipal law enforcement sources told Judicial Watch the top cop was criminally indicted for embezzling millions of dollars in Homeland Security funds. At the time Campa was chief deputy of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPCSO), a Texas agency responsible for patrolling more than 1,000 square miles with a population of about 700,000.

Campa served in the department as a jailer and officer for two decades, according to public records. He left the agency 2014 following the indictment allegations, supposedly for embezzling $5.6 million in Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) funds, according to Judicial Watch sources. After an unusually short stint as police chief for the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Campa was hired as police chief in Marshall, a town of about 24,000 residents in northeast Texas. At the time Marshall’s mayor was Ed Smith and he acknowledged in an interview with Judicial Watch that Campa’s work history was “unusual” though that didn’t stop the town from hiring the unscrupulous cop. A local news report says Smith resigned as mayor in May, 2015 for “personal reasons” and newly elected commissioner Eric Neal took his place.

This week Campa resigned as chief of the Marshall Police Department, according to a local newspaper story that quotes him saying “I have made the decision to step aside to pursue other opportunities that have developed.” The article says Campa wouldn’t elaborate on the opportunities. It also reveals that Campa is under investigation by the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA) for inappropriately monitoring officers’ vehicles and chastising employees that speak out against his administration. Sources tell Judicial Watch Campa practiced similar management skills in El Paso. The TMPA represents more than 24,000 local, county and state law enforcement officers across Texas and the association was in the process of obtaining records that apparently could be detrimental to Campa. The abrupt resignation will end the TMPA investigation, a north Texas representative reveals in the news article.

Just months before taking over Marshall’s police department, as chief deputy in EPCSO, Campa was arrested by the FBI and taken to a holding cell at the El Paso FBI office located at 660 Mesa Hills Drive along with another deputy, Randolph Tabbutt, who has also left EPCSO. Tabbutt and Campa once owned a business called Rst/Jac Enterprises Inc. Both men were listed as directors of the business, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch from the Texas Secretary of State. In 2003 Tabbutt filed for bankruptcy and the case wasn’t closed until 2009, according to federal court records. Details of the case have been sealed from the public, probably because Tabbutt is a law enforcement officer.

There appears to be no public record of Campa’s indictment and a spokesman, Daryl Fields, at the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Texas told Judicial Watch back in 2014 that he “can neither confirm nor deny” that Campa was indicted. This response from federal prosecutors seems rather odd, as if there’s a concerted effort to cover up information related to the case. Multiple messages to the spokesman (special agent Michael Martinez) at the FBI El Paso office where Judicial Watch’s sources say Campa and Tabbutt were detained, went unanswered.

Here’s what we do have documentation of; around the time Judicial Watch’s law enforcement sources say Campa got indicted, he appears to have been stripped of his authority at EPCSO, an internal document shows. EPCSO Executive Chief Deputy Sylvia Aguilar sent an electronic mail to all deputies saying that Campa was gone and all administrative and operational matters were to be rerouted to her. Dated February 25, 2014, the inner-agency email was titled “Absence of Command” and said that Chief Deputy Campa was on leave. “Until further notice all communications on matters involving or requiring Executive level decision making” are to be sent to Aguilar, the email said.

A few months later Campa surfaced as the police chief for the Ector County Independent School District. Glowing press reports described Campa as a “retired” EPCSO chief deputy who planned to establish an anti-bullying coalition similar to one created in El Paso years earlier. The superintendent of Ector County schools praised Campa as someone who could relate to the staff, students and the community. A separate news story quoted Campa saying that the Ector County job was a “perfect fit” because his aspirations were to become a chief of police and he was living just a couple of hours from his home city. But a few weeks later Campa quietly left the Ector County school job to become police chief in Marshall. Campa’s brief stint at the Ector County school district was not reported to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE).

Years ago Judicial Watch provided federal and Texas state authorities with detailed records documenting Campa’s corrupt acts but no action was ever taken. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the regulatory state agency that enforces standards and ethics in corrections and law enforcement personnel, has also failed to take any action against Campa.

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