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Mathis Police Chief speaks out after city investigation that looked into complaints against him alleging insensitive behavior, misconduct

The investigation has since cleared him of any wrongdoing. He says the complaints came from disgruntled former police officers.

MATHIS, Texas — Mathis Police Chief Scott Roush is speaking out over an investigation that cleared him of any kind of wrongdoing. He says the allegations came from disgruntled former police officers. The city attorney, the city manager and city council all signed off on the findings that the chief didn’t do anything wrong.  

Eusebio Lerma Junior is a former Mathis Police Officer who has made a number of allegations against Roush. He and other former employees went to the city with their complaints. One allegation is that the chief had removed Viagra pills from the evidence room. 

“To be quite honest, we don’t know what they were," Roush said. "They were never tested. We don’t know what pills they were. It was an assumption that these were Viagra pills. They were located on the desk of one of our investigators. We made small talk about it and the pills were removed and placed in evidence. That’s exactly what happened, and they were produced and shown to the folks conducting these investigations."

During Monday night’s public comment portion of city council, Lerma told the city that the chief had made rude comments about the city hosting the Special Olympics this Summer. 

"I take it personal," Lerma said. "I have Autistic kids in my family and when I heard this chief, 'so what are we supposed to do? Line up the retards?' " I wanted to contact Scott Roush and tell him what I thought about that statement." 

City Manager Michael Barrera says, “I do not have a complaint on the special Olympics comment because I don’t even know if that’s an accurate statement. So, I have no opened and do not plan to open an investigation on the special Olympics comment."

Chief Roush tells 3News that none of the allegations made against him were true in this investigation that began on March 22 and ended with City Council clearing his name. 

"The complaints filed by past employees who were terminated or asked to resign," Roush said. "They were taken serious and give to higher authorities to conduct investigations pertaining to the complaints and that's what happened here."

Once Roush’s name was cleared, Lerma made another allegation against him. 

“We can’t just take what people are saying at will and let it disrupt our operations," said Barrera.                

The chief agrees that everyone needs to get back to work. 

“I won't participate in a smear campaign - or he said-she said- back in forth with these folks," Roush said. "It's not conducive to what our mission is. We are going to stay on course and continue to make the corrections needed to make this place a better place."

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