Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Wed 11/28/2007

Section: B Page: 3 Edition: 3 STAR

Ex-officer gets 5 years for lying to grand jury

By BRIAN ROGERS

STAFF

A former Houston police officer was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for lying to a grand jury while being investigated for official oppression.

J. Eric Matamoros, 30, also was sentenced to a year in jail for making sexual advances to a female motorist during a traffic stop in 2005, a misdemeanor.

Matamoros was fired in 2005 for inviting himself into the home of a 23-year-old woman he pulled over for a drunken driving stop, prosecutor Terese Buess said.

Police records indicate that Matamoros followed the woman to her home then went in and made verbal and physical sexual advances - including kissing, touching the woman's breast and attempting to touch her genitals, and asking to perform oral sex on her.

Buess said he covered the woman's mouth as she tried to ward him off. She said Matamoros left after the woman's father arrived.

Matamoros joined the Houston Police Department in May 2001 and was assigned to the department's traffic division.

Matamoros' attorney, Earl Musick, said he was surprised by the punishment handed down by state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez.

Matamoros pleaded guilty to the charges and asked that the judge assess punishment. Musick said Matamoros thought the victim was flirting with him. He asked for deferred adjudication or probation because Matamoros has a family to care for, including two sons and a newborn daughter.

He may be eligible for parole in 18 months. Because of the conviction, he can never be a Texas peace officer.

 

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