January 31, 2022 - Josh Tipton, Constable Precinct 5, has issued a statement regarding two incidents which have occurred recently involving his office and allegations about his office covering up for a family member. His statement is as follows:
"I want the people to know starting off, concerning the stolen backhoe found on my family's property, it was indeed stolen. My family member bought the backhoe, which unbeknownst to him, was stolen. Purchased it and received a bill of sale, I've got the bill of sale.
"The backhoe had a GPS tracker on it, and a law enforcement agency was dispatched out to the family farm where the GPS signal was transmitting from and at that time I was unaware they had been sent out there.
"They could not find the backhoe on the farm being as it is so remote. I caught wind if it, found out that there was possibly a piece of stolen equipment on my family farm. So, I went out there, unlocked the gate, contacted another agency to get description of the backhoe. I informed the other agency the description I was given in fact was the same description of the backhoe I was looking at.
"I contacted the head of that agency, told him what I had and for him to send other law enforcement officers to my location on my family's farm. Due to a potential conflict of interest, I called them out there and left the scene on their arrival due to that potential conflict of interest.
"My office is not in an way connected to the investigation due to family connection, nor has anybody tried to cover anything up, period.
"Another issue, there was a disturbance that happened at my family farm with two individuals including a family member of mine, and another individual. When I got there, separated all parties, and made the family member leave the property at that time. Another law enforcement agency was already en-route. When other law enforcement agency arrived, I then turned it completely 100% over to them and I left the scene, but still in the area. The other agency conducted the investigation.
"As the Constable of Precinct 5 regardless of who it is, family or not, I will respond and act accordingly. There have been times lately where I have had to remove myself, but I have always either secured the scene, made sure the scene was safe, and everything was there nothing got destroyed including evidence, and once the other agency was on scene when it became a conflict of interest for me I turned it over to them. I will respond to any active 911 call, or private call being the Constable of Precinct 5.
"There is no cover up between my office and the other agency that took it over.
"I have an open door policy. Anybody at any time can come by my office and ask questions."
