Favored bondsmen get priority in warrant service, Tarrant County deputy alleges in lawsuit

The effort to serve arrest warrants in Tarrant County is improperly influenced by bond agents whose cases receive priority because they are preferred by sheriff’s office deputies in position to direct operations, according to a description of the practice contained in a lawsuit filed by the deputies’ colleague.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office acts first on warrants connected to favored bond agents, who phone tips to deputies’ personal numbers, according to the lawsuit filed by Phillip Hill, who has been employed as a deputy at the agency for about five years.

“Given that bond agents operate in private industry, this creates a situation susceptible to conflicts of interest and misuse of the county’s resources away from warrant enforcement regarding others who should be more highly sought,” Warren Norred, an attorney who represents Hill, wrote in the lawsuit that was filed on Oct. 12 in state district court.

Tarrant County and Sgt. Christopher Salone, a warrants division supervisor, are the defendants in the lawsuit, which does not directly describe in what way the alleged practice benefits deputies who are responsive to bond agents the deputies favor. It does not indicate what number of agents that Hill alleges receive special consideration.

The lawsuit refers to as corrupt Salone and other deputies who are unidentified in the document.

Hill alleges he was, in retaliation for a formal complaint he filed against Salone, suspended without pay for three days and transferred from the warrant division to a less desirable assignment in the judicial division. The lawsuit argues in part that Hill is protected by the Texas Whistleblower Act that prohibits government entities from taking adverse personnel actions against an employee who reports in good faith a law violation.

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Hill reported Salone for alleged criminal violations of abuse of official capacity and bribery. The written complaint, known as a grievance, was not among the exhibits filed with the lawsuit. A separate grievance related to the nature of Hill’s arrests is an exhibit.

The lawsuit refers to a complaint Salone filed against Hill, although its substance is not clear.

The lawsuit describes a particular warrant service at a house in Fort Worth in which Hill was involved.

A bond agent called in a tip to Salone, according to the lawsuit. The wanted person had felony warrants for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

The names of the wanted person and the involved bondsman are not used in the lawsuit. Details that are included in the document suggest they are Delrick Seark and Ray Vaughn.

During the warrant service on Sept. 22, 2022, Salone departed from procedure on planning and coordination, jeopardizing the safety of the involved deputies, according to the lawsuit.

Hill alleges that:

No briefing occurred before the high-risk warrant service attempt.

Although a person who was with the wanted person inside the house was heard telling him to put down a gun, no perimeter had been established.

A bond agent was used at a corner of the house, and another agent was at the front of the house. Neither was properly coordinated with the deputies.

In an effort to follow protocol, Hill blocked the road with his vehicle, took up a perimeter position and aimed his rifle toward the house, according to the lawsuit.

A deputy walked in front of Hill’s line of fire to join a deputy at the front of the house who was trying to negotiate a surrender.

Salone ordered Hill to leave cover and approach the house. Hill refused the order because it was contrary to protocol and subjected him to danger, according to the lawsuit.

“[Hill] has personally witnessed bond agents used in felony warrant service, always after tipping off Sergeant Salone,” according to the lawsuit.

“Sergeant Salone has a history of allowing these agents inside private residences and onto private property, a violation of Texas Administrative Code,” according to the lawsuit.

In an email to Hill that was filed with the lawsuit, Craig Driskell, the agency’s executive chief deputy, described Hill’s transfer as necessary to meet the needs of the sheriff’s office.

Asked whether the lawsuit’s description of warrants division practice is accurate and whether Seark’s arrest was the result of information that a command deputy received from a favored bond agent, a sheriff’s office spokesperson directed a reporter to the district attorney’s office.

A spokesperson for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, which represents the county in civil matters, said the office does not comment on pending litigation.

Salone and Vaughn could not be reached for interviews.

Among the items Hill seeks in the lawsuit are his reinstatement to the warrants division, $250,000 in damages and $1,027 in back pay.