Ex-Harris County deputy pleads guilty to using license plate scanner for wife’s game room operation

Former deputy Jose J. Ramirez is slated for sentencing in mid-October. Former deputy Jose J. Ramirez is slated for sentencing in mid-October. Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Ex-Harris County deputy pleads guilty to using license plate scanner for wife’s game room operation 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

A former Harris County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded guilty to using a license plate scanner to keep his wife’s alleged gambling operation under wraps, his lawyer confirmed Tuesday.

Former deputy Jose J. Ramirez entered a guilty plea on Monday, more than two years after his 2016 arrest, in a case where he had been facing a felony charge of misusing official information.

Defense attorney Doug Ahern said Ramirez is slated for sentencing in mid-October. He offered no further comment on the plea. A record of the plea was not immediately available on the Harris County District Clerk's online docket.

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The 28-year-old deputy was charged with using a scanner to check for undercover officers at the Airport Game Room his wife operated in a strip mall along the 9800 block of the Gulf Freeway near Hobby Airport, according to Houston Chronicle archives.

An undercover Houston Police Department vice officer went to the game room in February 2016 and spoke to Ramirez’s wife, Karla Sandoval, according to a criminal complaint. She then sent her husband a text message asking him to scan the license plate of the officer’s vehicle.

Texas Department of Public Safety records show an identification number associated with Ramirez was used in February and April of that year to scan license plates for undercover cops, the complaint read.

The deputy’s wife again texted him in April asking him to check a plate because she believed another patron may have been “an undercover.” The game room featured so-called “8-liner” wagering machines, which are lawful in Texas as long as prizes awarded are cheap, non-cash items.

Court documents show Ramirez admitted to using the scanner because he feared his wife would be robbed.