“We got a call from a dispatcher saying (Sheriff John Woodward) is up in his office hammered drunk and he’s got an inmate with him,” a former Martin County sheriff’s deputy said.

It was about 8 p.m. March 27, 2013, when the former deputy said he received the call from dispatch. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Now, a year and a half later, one deputy was fired, another was forced out, and no charges have been filed against a sheriff who’s been accused of supplying an inmate with alcohol while having the inmate give him a tattoo, accusations that could be charged as a third-degree felony. The story is coming out as news has become public that Woodward has not been in the office for several weeks and intends to resign.

The district attorney and county judge said they expect the resignation and the district attorney even said it was needed, but those same public officials were responsible for not pursuing an investigation into Woodward for the potential crimes.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Kenny Stewart said the sheriff should have been held accountable for his actions.

“There should have been an investigation and not just a good ol’ boy, “Well we’re just going to let this one slide,” type of deal,” Stewart said.

The former deputy said he arrived at the office and heard the tattoo gun and the drunken voices, at which point he called his superiors – another deputy and Chief Deputy Ernest Wakefield.

Wakefield entered the office, the former deputy said, to find 29-year-old inmate John Michael Vasquez giving Woodward a tattoo of Santa Muerte and both men were “extremely intoxicated.”

So the sheriff’s deputies took his keys, gun and truck and put the sheriff in a hotel for the night, the former deputy said. But the sheriff didn’t stop there.

“The next day I guess he got his truck. He shows back up at the sheriff’s office, picks the inmate up, and goes to Odessa to finish the tattoo,” the former deputy said.

Shortly after, Woodward admitted himself into a rehab facility.

Vasquez has a long rap sheet in Martin County. Based on court documents, he’s been convicted of felony charges of evading arrest and two counts of burglary of a habitation. He also has a misdemeanor A assault charge against him and a criminal trespass charge against him.

Vasquez did not answer several calls Monday and did not answer the door at the home address provided in court documents.

The former deputy said Woodward had been known to disappear for a week at a time, but he had never done anything criminal until March 27, 2013.

“All of a sudden he just showed back up one day, said I’m the sheriff, I did it, deal with it,” the former deputy said. “Basically, his attitude was I’m the sheriff, I can do whatever I want, and no one can do anything to me.”

The former deputy said he’s not surprised the case was never investigated and that a video of the incident and audio from an interview between Wakefield and Vasquez had disappeared.

Indeed, County Attorney James Napper responded to a 2013 open records request from the Odessa American for a copy of any recordings that none existed.

“What he did was wrong and he should have been gone a long time ago. He actually should be in prison,” the former deputy said. “The deal with the inmate should have been documented. I wish the DA’s office would have taken it for what it was.”

The question still remains why Woodward was never charged or prosecuted.

District Attorney Hardy Wilkerson said he was notified by Wakefield about the incident after Woodward had already gone to a rehabilitation facility, and that Wilkerson, Napper and County Judge Charles Blocker discussed what to do next.

Wilkerson said their first concern in 2013 was whether they should initiate proceedings to remove Woodward from office. He said it was decided that because he was checked into rehab at the time, they would wait to see how he acted when he returned.

“On the periphery, there might have been (discussions about criminal charges),” Wilkerson said, but those discussions never turned into an investigation or a request to law enforcement officials for further investigation.

Initially, Wilkerson said if there were any potential criminal charges, it would only be a misdemeanor.

After being questioned about it more, Wilkerson looked up the charge and found that giving alcohol to an inmate could be charged as a third-degree felony for prohibited substances in a correctional facility.

According to the Texas Penal Code 38.11(a)(1), “A person commits an offense if the person provides an alcoholic beverage, controlled substance, or dangerous drug to an inmate of a correctional facility or to a person in the custody of a secure correctional facility.”

Wilkerson stood by the decision to not charge Woodward or request further investigation from law enforcement, stating that Napper and Blocker thought rehab was enough.

“Certainly it’s concerning whenever you have someone in your care and it appears they’re giving you a service. That could be considered questionable conduct,” Wilkerson said. “I think your primary concern is was the sheriff under the influence while he was at the sheriff’s office. I think first and foremost it was a concern for the health of the sheriff.”

Wilkerson repeatedly shifted the conversation from the potential of criminal charges to moral questions and whether Woodward was fulfilling his job duties at present.

He also said the sheriff may be resigning soon and the situation might end up fixing itself anyway.

“You try to give a duly elected official — the person who was elected by the people of Martin County — a chance to straighten himself out,” Wilkerson said. “Insofar as a good ol’ boy system, that may be harsh because consultations were made.”

Wakefield called Texas Ranger Philip Breeding, but the Rangers were never officially brought on to investigate. Wilkerson said he could have asked that they investigate but did not.

Breeding did not return a message for comment Monday afternoon.

Though he never brought the case before a grand jury, Wilkerson said he did mention Woodward’s drinking problems to a grand jury when Woodward was the main witness in a case.

Wilkerson said he had to explain why the sheriff wasn’t there, and he said the sentiment from the grand jurors was that it was important for him to get himself straightened out. Wilkerson also said that he did not explain the sheriff might have provided alcohol to the inmate.

Stewart said the commissioners were notified weeks later that something had happened and even then were encouraged by Blocker and Napper to leave it alone.

Blocker said he doesn’t remember saying that, but that the district attorney has the power to order an investigation and charge someone, not him.

Blocker said he was part of the consensus agreement with Napper and Wilkerson that the sheriff shouldn’t be charged, but said he wouldn’t say why and then refused to comment further.

In a previous interview, Blocker said he believed that Wilkerson “looked into it evidently.”

Stewart said commissioners were not kept in the loop, and all he knew was that Woodward told him he was drinking at the sheriff’s office.

“If a law was really broken, then there should have been some consequences suffered there,” Stewart said. “Commissioners weren’t aware of any type of investigation. The only thing that we knew of was the judge just told us – and not told us in court, told us on a one-on-one basis — that if the sheriff decided to go to rehab, he would avoid prosecution.”

Wilkerson said there was no such deal set up between the district attorney’s office and Woodward.

Stewart also said he was told by Blocker and Napper that they should “just kind of let sleeping dogs lay” instead of continue to pursue what happened at the sheriff’s office.

“We really figured that it was in the hands of Hardy Wilkerson, who hardly did anything,” Stewart said. “That’s kind of what we had to live with.”

Wilkerson said the door is not shut on bringing Woodward’s case before a grand jury as the statute of limitations on the case is three years. Wilkerson did not, however, answer why it would take a year and a half to begin an investigation.