SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County Jail Chief Bobby Hogeland has resigned, according to BCSO Sheriff Salazar. Hogeland's resignation is effective as of Friday, September 28.
The move comes days after a KENS 5 report showed BCSO spent over $50,000 on chairs last year.
Twenty BCSO deputies have been arrested so far in 2018, the majority of them coming from Hogeland's division.
In a letter obtained by KENS 5, Assistant Deputy Chief Bobby Hogeland resigned saying he was moving on to other opportunities. He's the second head of the jail to leave the job under Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Deputy Chief Ruben Vela is now stepping in as acting jail administrator.
"Whatever that next opportunity is that Bobby felt he needed to take, I wish him luck. I think he's going to be great at whatever it is. Whether it's in the private sector or the government sector, he's going to be great at whatever he does,” Sheriff Salazar said.
"I have serious concerns regarding the purchase price," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said in a statement sent to KENS 5.
“If it's a cause for concern for the tax payers, it's a cause for concern for Judge Nelson Wolff, believe me, before that point, it's a cause for concern for me too,” Sheriff Salazar said.
Wolff says that a county review of purchasing is already underway to "add additional safeguards to ensure that county purchases are appropriate.”
Sheriff Salazar added that his office has already turned down a second request to buy these same chairs. The plan is to buy more chairs, but this time find some at a lower cost.
“While I don't necessarily agree with what was ultimately selected, we're going to be going a different direction moving forward. I can see what they were trying to do. It is not necessarily the happiest place working in this Bexar County Jail but we're doing everything we can to make it better,” said Sheriff Salazar, who added that he’s rolling out a new plan to address problems inside the department.
He's proposed changing civil service requirements and stopping any applicants with DWI or family violence arrests.
His second proposal is what he's calling a unity in command effort, making sure every deputy is responsible to the same superior officer every day.