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Ortego
Mental illness and depressive thoughts of suicide are of the utmost seriousness, which makes it a downright dastardly act for an elected official to invoke pangs of a legitimate illness when, in actuality, they are simply a drunk with authority – or so they now claim.
In the case of Orange County Pct. 4 Constable Matt Ortego, he’s not only a drunk with authority, the law enforcement officer also possesses a badge and a gun – which he admittedly threatened to use unlawfully in the presence of his minor child against the peace and dignity of the community he is paid to serve. First self-reported as a mental breakdown that allowed the officer of the law to enter medical treatment rather than a jail cell for an after-midnight distress call from the child he was supposed to be caring for, Ortego has since stated that doctors found him to be “of sound mind and body” three days after the Orange County district attorney elected not to pursue criminal charges and he was, at the time of the incident, two years into a break-up and immensely drunk.
Persons drunk and threatening to use a gun against a child – or themself – are not uncommonly arrested and taken to jail when police are called to the hectic scenes of possible crimes. However, despite a multi-agency response, as well as response from off-duty Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll on Sunday, Nov. 26, at 1:05 a.m., Ortego was not taken into custody. Instead, Vidor Police Officer In Charge Joshua Lockett drove Ortego to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont roughly an hour after a 911 call led police to Ortego’s home.
The distress call phoned into the Vidor Police Department at 1:05 a.m. from Ortego’s ex-wife and mother of his child expressed deep concern for the couple’s daughter “and other kids who are in the home” after the child reported gun threats from her intoxicated father. A second call from the mom reported “a loud bang” at the home. Within 5 minutes, two Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies and three Vidor police cruisers arrived at the specified location on Timberlane Street. Before the Vidor police could arrive, someone notified Unit #301, Carroll, who showed up on scene roughly 30 minutes later. Vidor dispatch, answering a public information request, confirmed that Carroll was not dispatched to the scene through the department. Also called to the scene and arriving much later, a fifth Vidor police cruiser carrying Captain Edward Martin.
What transpired at the scene to result in “medical treatment” and no call for an ambulance is confined to whispered firstand second-hand accounts, social media posturing and radio logs and dispatcher notes of the incident. Despite the saturation of officers at the scene, little to nothing was recorded for public review.
A public information request seeking to shine light on the case was met with rebuff for much of the sought-after truth. As an example, according to the public records keeper for the city of Vidor, one reason the municipality was allegedly keeping secreted body camera footage of the officers’ response to Ortego’s home on Nov. 26 is an exception to public disclosure allowed due to the recording taking place in the “private place” of the suspect, Ortego. Vidor asserts that Ortego would need to allow the release of the footage before it could be disseminated.
Absent official recordings currently shrouded in uncertainty as the involved agencies wait for a Texas Attorney General’s opinion on whether they are obligated to release the information, the public is left with knowledge of long-held allegiances and friendships, personal affections for a man that holds himself out as a respecter of the law, and self-reported assessments from a man who – at 1 a.m. on the Sunday after Thanksgiving – was either so drunk that he threatened to shoot himself while in the presence of his minor child; or, he was so drunk he threatened to shoot the minor child and/or assorted other children at the home.
What is clear is that at 1:05 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 26, someone reached out to Carroll, known as a longtime friend of Ortego. Less than 30 minutes after Carroll took charge of the alleged crime scene, the call was made to treat the incident as a medical emergency instead.
Subsequently, Ortego reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility in Houston and, 18 days later, announced word that no charges would be submitted to a grand jury regarding the alleged threat that scared his family enough to call 911. A couple days later, Ortego issued an apology for an “attempted suicide,” expressing love for his children and disclosing that a two-year-old divorce and other personal struggles prompted his threat of suicide. Further, Ortego promised to live a life of sobriety since, as he claims, that is really the root of his problem.
“After getting much needed help, I was declared to be of sound mind and body and released to return to work, which I have done as of today,” Ortego announced online Dec. 18.
Meanwhile, the community is left wondering what the Vidor Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Assistant District Attorney Krispen Walker, who is also running for the Orange County DA job, are safeguarding by keeping incident notes and recordings away from the public. Are they really trying to shield the minor who reported threats, or Chief Carroll’s friend, Constable Matt Ortego?
Dec. 21, Ortego announced a “blessing” in winning the No. 1 spot on the ballot in the upcoming primary election as Constable for Pct. 4, again asking voters to entrust authority of the law in a man who claims he was so drunk he threatened to shoot himself in front of his minor daughter and others. At the same time, the man seeking public office is hiding behind the privacy of a medical condition known as drinking too much alcohol.
For the sake of transparency and accountability in a free society, Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll is urged to disclose the information sought by the public. Only with all the facts can the com- munity make an informed decision on whether Constable Matt Ortego is a threat to others or should continue to serve as their law enforcement representative.