On Dec. 14, Armando Rodriguez Morales from Hermosillo, Mexico, was stopped by Gilbert police Officer Chad Wright on a Mesa street.
Wright cited Morales for backing illegally, having a false driver’s license and insurance information. Wright confiscated Morales’ car, his driver’s license, insurance information and left Morales and his family and their suitcases on the sidewalk.
On Dec. 20, Gilbert authorities released Morales’ car saying it has been wrongly impounded.
On Jan. 8 the town of Gilbert dropped the charges over the driver’s license and insurance after the Mexican Embassy validated them.
On Jan. 22, the Gilbert Police Department found that Wright didn’t report facts properly or accurately and that he abused and lost Morales’ driver’s license, but they dismissed a claim of racial profiling. But they didn’t drop the final charge against Morales
But that wasn’t the end of it. The police did not drop the illegal backing charge and prosecutors even tried to talk Morales into pleading out.
On Tuesday March 18, a justice court judge found Morales, 60, not guilty of the backing charge.
And so ends a sorry chapter in Gilbert law enforcement.
