HOUSTON — Investigators said Robert Solis robbed a community of a beloved husband, father and deputy.
Solis has a lengthy criminal history. He served time for aggravated kidnapping. In 2016, while on parole, he was convicted of driving while intoxicated.
“The parole board at that time had an option, a decision to make, to return Solis to prison or to not. They elected not to,” said Andy Kahan, director of victim services and advocacy for Crime Stoppers of Houston.
Court records show Solis violated his parole a second time before Friday’s cold-blooded murder. The second violation involved an alleged assault of his girlfriend and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Kahan said the problem is the parole system.
“This was at least the fourth case I have covered in the last few years involving a parolee who was convicted of a new offense while on parole, yet not returned to prison, who has murdered one of our citizens,” he said.
He used the 2017 murder of Janeil Bernard in Hedwig Village and the 2016 murder of Peter Mielke at a pizzeria in Bellaire as examples.
Kahan said he helped draft a bill to make the Texas parole board more accountable when it comes to parolees who are convicted of new offenses, but the legislation has failed twice.
Now, he’s watching the same tragic story play out again.
“You could easily, plausibly argue that if Solis had been returned to prison, none of these elements find themselves meeting together that fatal Friday,” Kahan said.
KHOU 11 contacted the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to learn why the board elected not to send Solis back to prison. A public information officer has not yet responded.
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