According to indictments made available Friday, two Denton police officers are accused of unlawfully arresting a 27-year-old man who was experiencing homelessness and intentionally falsifying his actions in an arrest affidavit.
The Denton County District Clerk’s Office released indictments Friday in cases against two Denton officers who were indicted by a grand jury on misconduct charges Oct. 23.
Ronald Keith Foy, 51, and William Timothy Hulslander, 33, were each indicted on one count of official oppression.
Those indictments state that Foy and Hulslander both “intentionally subjected [the man] to arrest or detention or search or seizure that [Foy] knew was unlawful” while acting as peace officers for the Denton Police Department.
The arrest occurred on March 11, 2024, in the 2600 block of Virginia Circle.
The man — who as of early October is still experiencing homelessness — was arrested on suspicion of evading arrest and detention with a previous conviction along with resisting arrest, search or transport. These offenses are a Class A misdemeanor and a state jail felony.
Narrative affidavits of the arrest were not available at the District Clerk’s Office in his case, Foy’s or Hulslander’s as of Friday.
Hulslander was also indicted on one count of tampering with a government record accusing him of intentionally misrepresenting the man’s actions during his arrest.
The indictment states that Hulslander made a false entry in a governmental record stating the man “then stood up, and started to pull away from officers in the opposite direction taking shuffling steps away from them.”
When police filed the case with the Denton County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors allege that the officers’ body-worn camera footage did not align with what Hulslander described in his report.
The District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges against the man on Feb. 5 and notified the Police Department about their concerns.
The man was released from the Denton County Jail on Feb. 6 after spending over 1 month and 3 weeks in custody.
The Denton Police Department began investigating the officers, and Police Chief Jessica Robledo sustained findings that Foy deployed a department-issued chemical spray during the arrest in a manner inconsistent with policy and training, according to a news release from Oct. 23.
Both Foy and Hulslander are indefinitely suspended without pay.
The department’s investigation also brought to light alleged misconduct issues with unrelated arrests by former officer Joel David Weinstein, who left the department in March, Denton city spokesperson Dustin Sternbeck said on Oct. 23.
Weinstein was indicted on one count of tampering with a governmental record in regards to one arrest. The grand jury declined to indict him in a different case.
Weinstein’s indictment was not available at the District Clerk’s Office late Friday afternoon.