An investigation into inappropriate text messages sent to a confidential informant led to a Comal County Sheriff’s deputy’s demotion. The Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office knew about the messages but hired him anyway, records reviewed by KSAT Investigates show.
An investigation into inappropriate text messages sent to a confidential informant led to a Comal County Sheriff’s deputy’s demotion. The Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office knew about the messages but hired him anyway, records reviewed by KSAT Investigates show.
A tip prompted KSAT Investigates to review Raphael Pinilla’s personnel record. Records show that he began working for GCSO in 2017 and left the agency in December 2024.
Guadalupe County Sheriff Joshua Ray is making changes in the department, including a push to hire more deputies. He told KSAT that candidates must comply with the requirements specified by the legislature in the Texas Local Government Code.
That’s just the minimum standard.
“The day I got here, I had roughly about 12 to 15 applications sitting on my desk to look at, and I only forwarded two out of all those,” he said.
Ray, who became the sheriff in January 2025, did not review Pinilla’s application. Records show he was hired by the previous sheriff in 2017.
Just months before his hiring, records reveal Pinilla was demoted while working at the Comal County Sheriff’s Office. According to his application, he failed to follow the policy about confidential informants – especially of the opposite sex.
Pinilla, according to his application, tried to create a confidential informant relationship with a woman he pulled over and took to jail. He sent the woman several text messages and photos, per the investigation.
“Hey good morning beautiful,” he wrote in one text message, according to records.
Records indicate that Pinilla was attempting to persuade the woman to arrange a drug purchase, a law enforcement strategy used to facilitate drug-related arrests.
Although the investigation revealed that none of the texts or pictures were sexually suggestive, records indicate that this was the reason Pinilla was removed from Comal County’s gang and narcotics unit.
“That would have been a red flag,” Ray told KSAT.
Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds took additional action, records show. He ordered that Pinilla’s peace officer commission be revoked, and personnel records confirm those instructions were carried out.
Despite that, records show a Comal County sergeant told the person reviewing the application that bypassing Pinilla would mean missing out on “a fine officer.”
“About the only thing I can say is I don’t think I would have forwarded that one for further employment in our office,” Ray said.
In a phone interview, Reynolds told KSAT it was disappointing that the sergeant, who no longer works for him, recommended Pinilla. Reynolds stated that the former Guadalupe County sheriff never contacted him for a reference and mentioned that no one came to review Pinilla’s file. A review of Pinilla’s personnel records shows no mention of any reference check or conversation between GCSO and Reynolds.
Personnel records show Pinilla resigned from GCSO in December 2024. His GCSO personnel record does not show any disciplinary action during his time with the agency.
While the resignation letter did not explain why he left, Pinilla told KSAT in a phone conversation that “he wanted a change.”
Pinilla declined to comment on his past actions in Comal County.
“How do you move forward from this?” KSAT Investigates reporter Daniela Ibarra asked Ray.
“It’s a good question,” he responded. “I would say there’s new leadership in place. There’s higher expectations.”
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
