SINTON, Tx. — Formerly the top law enforcement officer in Mathis, Marshall Scott Roush is alleged to have tampered with evidence in nine drug cases.
As KRIS 6 News previously reported, former Mathis Police Chief Roush was hired as the city's police chief in 2019. In January, he was placed on administrative leave and terminated by the city in February.
In an "affidavit for arrest warrant" obtained by 6 Investigates, the investigation into Roush began with a former employee coming forward.
According to that document, this former employee had allowed Roush to stay at a home she owned in the latter part of 2023.
On December 26, 2023, she entered the home to remove guns from the property after she said she noticed "Roush acting erratically."
It was then that she said she discovered the "Mathis Police Department evidence items that she photographed, as well as a plate that contained a white powdery substance in lines and a straw," according to the affidavit.
On February 5, the Texas Rangers conducted an inventory of the Mathis Police Department Evidence Room and could not locate evidence items that had been photographed in the bedroom of Roush.
Those evidence bags are tied to several drug possession cases, including cocaine and methamphetamine.
According to the affidavit, employees of the Mathis Police Department said Roush "was the sole custodian of evidence and the only key-holder of the MPD Evidence Room and the MPD Evidence Drop Box."
One officer reported there had been "times Roush was asked for evidence that needed to be submitted to the Crime Laboratory and Roush 'could not locate' the evidence."
Texas Ranger Cody Lankford interviewed Roush on February 14 and Roush stated "he had the only key to the Evidence Room and did not allow anyone else to go into the Evidence Room nor did he give anyone permission to go into the Evidence Room."
When asked about the evidence bags that had been photographed in his bedroom, "Roush stated he didn't know anything about that evidence" and that he didn't use drugs or alcohol.
Roush later said he uses "Xanax, anti-depressants, all kinds of stuff" and after initially denying he had removed evidence he said, "sometimes he didn't know what he was doing due to the medications he was taking."
According to the affidavit, "Roush also stated that he was not 'fit for duty.'"
Other officers interviewed by Lankford noted occasions over the last two years in which Roush had "real thick-tongued speech" and "he was falling all over the place."
"(Redacted) was surprised and concerned when Roush told him the number of pills that Roush was taking at one time," according to the affidavit. "According to (redacted), around the Fall of 2023, 'all of the Xanax symptoms kind of stopped' and other things started happening that were more akin to what would be seen with 'maybe meth or cocaine use.'"
It was during this time that Roush microwaved his Mathis Police Department cellular phone and was known to say he had been awake for days at a time, according to the affidavit.
Roush was taken into custody last month and remains in the San Patricio County Jail with a $225,000 bond.
