Llano PD officer indicted

LPD officer indicted

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Llano Police Department (LPD) Ofcr. Grant Harden has been indicted by a Llano County Grand Jury on six various counts related to video evidence of a June traffic stop.

Harden had been banned from the dispatch and administrative areas of the Llano County Law Enforcement Center since around that time and was further blocked from entering the jail recently. Sheriff Bill Blackburn said that was because of “not being professional while in the jail area.”

The indictments, recorded Tuesday, Dec. 5 include two third-degree felony charges of tampering or fabricating physical evidence; one count of a state jail felony of tampering with a governmental record and three counts of a Class A felony, official oppression.

The charges before the 33rd Judicial District Court originated in the course of a driving while intoxicated or public intoxication investigation on June 20. They say audio and video records of the arrest of Jenny Cambiano or Enrique Gonzalez were destroyed or concealed.

Those recordings were turned off or partially deleted, according to the charges.

The final three charges are based on treatment of Cambiano: use of excessive force or injuring her, unlawful arrest for assault of a public servant and for resisting arrest.

The first two counts were assessed bond of $3,000 each; the second two, $1,500 each and the final three $500 per count. Harden went into the Llano County Jail on Dec. 5 when the warrants were issued and was released on $9,000 bond.

If convicted, Harden could face 2-10 years in jail for the third degree felonies, not more than two years for the state jail felonies and 2-10 years for each charge of Class A misdemeanor.

Harden was in the news at the end of November when an Austin television station said a social media post of his triggered a Department of Public Safety alert and it came to light he had been barred from the jail.

Llano City Manager Scott Edmonson said Harden remains on suspension with pay from the LPD. He has served the LPD for almost three years and was previously recognized as an Employee of the Quarter by the city.