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BCSO conducts civilian employee audit after employee with criminal history arrested

Andrew Ramos, 24, is accused of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. He was a clothing technician at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center before he resigned.

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio police arrested 24-year-old Andrew Ramos Saturday night. He's accused of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.

According to police, Ramos shot a man in the stomach after the got in an argument on the northwest side. The victim was taken to University Hospital with "possibly life-threatening" injuries.

Ramos has worked closely with law enforcement for the last three years. He was a clothing technician at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said Ramos resigned before he could be fired. "I've never been happier to accept a resignation," Salazar said. "Good riddance."

He said Ramos should've never been hired in the first place. When they took a look at his file, they found out he was arrested for robbery in 2014, but was still hired by the previous administration in 2016.

"It's very frustrating. It's ridiculous that somebody that even sets foot in this building is working here with this on his previous record," Salazar said. "It would've been unimaginable, yet here he was."

Salazar said this is why he changed hiring standards in 2018. He said people who want to work for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office need a clean record.

"For example, misdemeanor theft, misdemeanor DWI, even if it's just an arrest that was later dismissed, that's somebody that would not be qualified to work here," Salazar said.

RELATED: BCSO employee arrested in northwest-side shooting; one victim hospitalized

Salazar's team is now running an audit on more than 350 civilian employees. He wants to find out if anyone else has a criminal history so they can avoid another surprise.

"I don't want to take any chances," Salazar said. "It's possible that some of these people have things that are on their record from before, that now we don't have grounds to terminate them, but it's nice to know that it's there."

This year, nearly 3,000 people applied to be deputies with BCSO. Salazar said they hired just about 4 percent of applicants who met their qualifications. He said all employees, civilian or sworn-in, should be held to the same standard.

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