APD Officer Fired for Tampering With Rape Case

Interim Police Chief Brian Manley fired APD Officer Carlos Mayfield on Friday, May 5, after an Internal Affairs investigation concluded that the 13-year veteran tampered with a sexual assault case in November.

Manley’s disciplinary memo indicates that Mayfield accessed a police report with which he had no involvement as an officer and no work-related reason to access and then shared that confidential information with the alleged assailant.

According to Manley, Mayfield accessed a report that detailed an alleged Nov. 18 rape of an unidentified woman whose attacker fled the scene before officers arrived. Several days later, however, the woman (identified within the memo as “Ms. X”) received a series of text messages from her attacker, including one that read “If I raped you why didn’t you go to the hospital and get a rape kit done on you?” and another that read “The police report told me exactly what happened.”

An initial inquiry led by a detective from APD’s Sex Crimes Unit revealed that Mayfield accessed Ms. X’s report less than eight hours after it was filed. Mayfield later admitted to Internal Affairs that he shared information from the report with both the perpetrator and the perpetrator’s mother – a friend of his with whom he admitted to once having a romantic relationship – at the mother’s “behest” and without department authorization. The morning after Ms. X made her report, the alleged attacker’s mother called Mayfield and asked him to look into the allegations against her son. Mayfield agreed. He later told investigators that he was aware the mother was a convicted felon, despite APD’s policy explicitly prohibiting officers from “associating” with known felons.

Mayfield told investigators he shared this information because he “wanted the truth to come out” about Mr. Y’s crime. However, the memo notes his chain of command found his claim “insincere, unbelievable, and not credible.” Manley seconded that opinion.

The memo also reveals that Mayfield looked up other police reports involving Ms. X – specifically one in which she “may have been untruthful,” wrote Manley. “By confirming the existence of this report and revealing that information to Mr. Y, Officer Mayfield armed them with more information that potentially compromised the sexual assault investigation.”

The letter continues, stating Mayfield confessed to looking up reports for Ms. B since as far back as 2014, including other reports involving her three sons.

In February, an assistant district attorney declined prosecution of Ms. X’s compromised sexual assault case. However, the same A.D.A. authorized the Sex Crimes detective working Ms. X’s case to file a charge against Mr. Y for assault with injury.

Manley wrote that Mayfield violated a series of departmental policies, including those pertaining to the privacy and security of records, a responsibility to know and comply, a policy prohibiting association with known convicted felons, and a policy concerning honesty. Manley also charged that Mayfield violated two parts of the Texas Penal Code: one pertaining to Interference With Public Duties, and another concerning Misuse of Information.

Manley concludes the memo by charging that Mayfield is responsible for victimizing Ms. X a second time by “likely providing Mr. Y with critical assistance averting serious sexual assault charges. … Even if Officer Mayfield’s actions aren’t criminal, they show us he cannot be entrusted to continue as a police officer with the APD.”

A criminal investigation remains pending. Mayfield has 10 days (from May 5) to file a suspension appeal with the Civil Service Commission.