Two Former Police Officers Indicted On Tampering Charges

Two former police officers have been indicted with tampering charges, bringing the total to four former officers.

Former El Paso Police Department officers Luis Acosta and Joshua Paulson were indicted on charges of tampering with government records. Acosta faces 18 charges and Paulson faces two charges.

Those charges stem from the internal affairs investigation launched in September 2011, investigating whether more than a dozen officers falsified documents to gain overtime pay through a federal grant program administered by TXDOT.

Paulson, whose name had not been reported back in December when 18 names were revealed during a press conference, was not originally named because he left the El Paso Police Department before the investigation began. He had been working as a U.S. deputy marshal since March. In the wake of the investigation U.S. Marshal of Texas? western district, Robert Almonte, says he assigned Paulson to a desk job last week. When an arrest warrant was activated Friday afternoon, he was placed on paid administrative leave for a five-day period.

Almonte expects that Paulson will remain on leave much longer. In fact, Almonte says an internal affairs investigation will begin within the U.S. Marshal Office?s Washington D.C. headquarters. That investigation will ultimately determine if, or when, Paulson will return to work.

?These are serious charges that could possibly result in termination,? said Almonte.

As for Acosta, little information has surfaced since his warrant was issued. A check of jail records has not shown whether an arrest has been made.

Acosta is among the five former El Paso police officers who are listed in an October injunction filed against the city. His attorneys in that case, Theresa Caballero and Stuart Leeds, were called to ask whether they had any comment on his latest legal issue but did not respond before the publication of this article.