SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy arrested earlier this month amid allegations he conducted unlawful strip searches was accused of similar impropriety years prior, personnel records show.
Prior to his Dec. 8 arrest, Deputy Floyd Berry Jr was suspended in 2010 after he asked a female deputy to film a male inmate being strip-searched.
The records state that the inmate was placed in a cell for emergency intensive supervision and that a male reserve member of the Special Emergency Response Team conducted a strip search of the inmate while Berry asked the female deputy to film the search.
According to the suspension, Berry was questioned by a lieutenant nearly a week after the incident. During questioning, Berry told the lieutenant he "didn't believe there was anything wrong with having a female present during the strip search of a male," the suspension states. According to the documents, Berry told the lieutenant he and the deputy "stood in front of the inmate blocking the (female deputy's) view of the inmate's genitals."
The female deputy initially wrote in her report that per Berry's instruction, the inmate was filmed during the strip search from the shoulders up. Berry, the records note, allegedly told the female deputy to remove any mention of the incident in her report because he would document the incident himself. Berry, however, never included that the inmate was recorded, let alone strip searched, the suspension documents state.
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Records show that the female deputy noted "that she felt uncomfortable and was embarrassed for herself and the inmate due to having to film the inmate being searched."
The male deputy who conducted the search told he lieutenant that he was acting act Berry's direction and that he had gestured for the female to turn away before he began the search, but that Berry intervened and said "it was 'OK.'"
The disciplinary record called Berry's actions "an abuse of supervisory responsibility and placing false information in an official report."
Initially, Berry was issued a proposed demotion, which was then reduced to a 10-day suspension after he "admitted to responsibility" for his actions.
Berry's personnel file notes that he was also suspended for two days for making a racially insensitive remark during SERT training.
Nearly two years later, he was served a proposed dismissal after being accused of failing to report or stop the use of excessive force against an inmate by another deputy. The suspension record also states Berry didn't allow medical professionals to treat the inmate promptly.
Records show Berry was terminated from the department in 2012 but reinstated nine months after the termination. After he was reinstated, records show he was suspended again in 2013 when he initiated a traffic stop in his personal car. In that incident, Berry stopped the driver who turned out to be a Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy.
He was suspended for five days.
Berry transferred to the patrol division in 2015.
'Absolutely disgusting': Sheriff announces Berry's arrest
Berry was arrested Dec. 8 and placed on administrative duty when several women accused him of conducting unlawful strip searches.
One woman reported Berry after he allegedly stopped her car at a convenience store and subject her to a strip search. Authorities said Berry conducted unlawful strip searches of at least six female victims while on duty between Nov. 24 and Dec. 4.
"Absolutely is disgusting. There's no other way to put it. The fact that it's quite obvious that he chose to prey upon these women," said Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Sheriff Salazar said women on the southside were targeted, mentioning one of the crimes took place at the Shell gas station at the intersection off Highway 281 near Loop 1604.
An affidavit states that video surveillance revealed Berry would make several traffic stops involving women and transport them away from their vehicles.
"Typically, if a female detainee or arrestee needs to be searched at the initial location, a male officer will request a female deputy or female officer from an outside agency to make the location to conduct the search," the affidavit says.
Berry was immediately placed on administrative leave following the arrest, along with being served a proposed termination, BCSO said.
If you or someone you know was a victim of Floyd Berry, or if you have any information on this investigation, call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Public Integrity Unit at 210-335-5110 or BCSOTIPS@bexar.org.