FBI clears City Manager Eads and DRPD Chief Debrow
FBI investigators say they have closed their review of a complaint that City Manager Robert A. Eads and Del Rio Police Department Chief James Von Debrow III violated federal civil rights laws in the 2013 arrest of a man planning a protest against the city.
A letter sent by FBI Section Chief Robert J. Moossy Jr. earlier this year informed Eads that the FBI has closed its investigation and found no evidence of “a prosecutable violation” of federal civil rights laws in the arrest of Del Rioan Maximo “Max” Perales in June 2013.
Eads said of the letter, “We have been steadfast about our innocence from inception. The finding of no criminal violations by either Chief Debrow or myself, which was issued by the Department of Justice in January, validates our innocence. I trust in the judicial system. I was confident that the truth would eventually come out.”
The FBI letter noted that investigators’ conclusions were drawn following “careful consideration” of a complaint filed by Perales alleging that Eads and Debrow violated his civil rights when DRPD officers arrested Perales and charged him in June 2013 with the offense of coercion of a public servant.
In an affidavit filed in the misdemeanor criminal case against Perales, DRPD Officer Somer Fernandez wrote that during a meeting between Eads and Perales on May 7, 2013, Perales demanded that Eads reinstate another police officer who had been placed on administrative leave during an internal investigation.
“Mr. Perales threatened to have 600 of ‘his people’ protest if (former DRPD Cpl.) Richard Roman was not taken off administrative leave . . . and placed back to work within a week,” Fernandez wrote.
Perales filed his complaint with the FBI after the county attorney had dismissed the case against him.
The FBI letters to Eads and Debrow, both dated Jan. 31, read, “We received a complaint alleging that you violated the civil rights of Maximo Perales. We recently completed our review of the results of the investigation of that complaint to determine whether a federal criminal prosecution was warranted. After careful consideration, we concluded that the evidence does not establish a prosecutable violation of federal civil rights statutes. Accordingly, we have closed our investigation. Please be advised that our conclusion in this matter does not preclude other components of the U.S. Department of Justice from taking action, where appropriate, under their separate enforcement authority.”
“People have to understand that as law enforcement officers, we only enforce laws. We don’t adjudicate them. At the end of the day, when we’re finished with any investigations, my role, my officers’ role, stops,” commented Chief Debrow.
