CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The three Nueces County jailers were booked into the Nueces County Jail on Wednesday.
Sheriff John Hooper said 40-year-old William Fielder and 33-year-old Richard Culp surrendered before noon today, and 22-year-old Javier Zapata Jr. was arrested.
All were released on bond this afternoon; Fielder and Culp were released on $5,000 bond, and Zapata on a $10,000 bond.
The three were indicted on Oct. 17. Nueces County Asst. District Attorney Matthew Manning said the men were charged after being implicated in actions that took place around the time of 49-year-old David Johnson's death.
Johnson died on Dec. 15, 2018, but Hooper said the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the jailers' actions didn't result in Johnson's death.
"The medical examiner's ruling is that it was a death of natural causes," Hooper said. "He had numerous medical issues."
All three jailers are charged with tampering with a government record and official oppression. Zapata is facing an additional charge of invasive visual recording.
The findings of a Texas Rangers investigation led to Fielder and Culp resigning and later being and reinstated. Zapata resigned in lieu of termination in January.
"Their actions around the time of the death were policy violations in our mind," Hooper said.
