Former HPD officer pleads guilty to federal charges in connection with deadly Harding Street raid, US Attorney says
Former officer Gerald Goines is already serving a 60-year prison sentence.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Former Houston Police Department officer Gerald Goines pled guilty to federal charges in connection with the botched Harding Street raid in 2019, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Friday.
Over six years ago, on Jan. 28, 2019, a fake 911 call resulted in a no-knock warrant from HPD's narcotics squad at the home of husband and wife Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. The Harding Street raid left Tuttle, Nicholas, and their dog dead from a rain of police gunfire in their own southeast Houston home.
Authorities said that Goines admitted that he made "materially false statements" to obtain a search warrant that led to the raid, which resulted in the deaths, along with four HPD officers being injured.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said that Goines obtained a warrant by falsely claiming a confidential informant had purchased heroin from one of the home's residents and provided it to him. Goines later admitted he knew the information was false, officials said.
Authorities said that Goines made other false statements in the affidavit, including claims that other people had purchased drugs from the residents in the weeks leading up to the warrant.
Goines was previously convicted in Harris County on first-degree murder charges and is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence.
Goines pled guilty to two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, officials said. He will be sentenced on Nov. 9, when he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine, authorities explained.
Former HPD officers Steven O. Bryant and Patricia Ann Garcia previously pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and providing false information, respectively, officials said.
“Gerald Goines was a senior narcotics police officer who knowingly violated departmental policy and the law. He held a position of trust within this community, and he violated that trust by abusing his authority and lying to evade accountability for his actions. In this case, Goines’ actions cost the lives of two innocent people,” Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson of the FBI Houston Field Office said.
