Limestone County Sheriff Dennis D. Wilson was issued a letter of warning from the Texas Commission On Law Enforcement (TCOLE) for failing to comply with Statutes and Rules governing law enforcement officers in the State of Texas.

Specifically, for failing to obtain and submit a complete history of compliance and supporting court documents when applying for a Class A and B Waiver that allowed Matthew Ivison to be granted a Peace Officer’s license, and subsequently become employed as a Reserve Officer with the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department.

A formal complaint had been filed against Ivison in early August by Groesbeck defense attorney, David E. Moore, alleging that the former reserve officer had lied on police reports and abused his position as a Texas police officer, in regards to Moore’s clients.

The complaint was filed with TCOLE, along with several Limestone County officials, including the County Attorney, County Sheriff, and a County Commissioner.

Soon after, Limestone County Attorney Roy DeFriend moved to drop those felony cases “in the interest of justice” and Ivison resigned after admitting his actions were in violation of department policy.

Defense attorney Moore contended that Ivison, who had two misdemeanor convictions, should never have become a police officer to begin with.

The State of Texas allows for waivers to be granted to an individual with a Class A or Class B misdemeanor who wishes to obtain a peace officer license.

Such a waiver must be applied for, on a case-by-case basis, by the head of the law enforcement agency desiring to hire the individual, which in this case was Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson.

Sheriff Wilson and his Captain, Mark Roark, both appeared before the TCOLE licensing board in Austin on December 1, 2016 to request a Class A waiver on behalf of Ivison, which was approved.

Ivison was granted a peace officer’s license upon graduation from Police Academy in August of 2017.

At issue during a TCOLE investigation into the matter was the fact that this waiver was approved based on incomplete, and potentially misleading, court documents.

The waiver application, complied by Captain Roark and submitted by Sheriff Wilson, included three documents concerning Ivison’s Class A criminal mischief case, plus an Order of Early Release from Probation from a separate case, a Class B driving with license suspended case.

TCOLE’s investigator, Captain Douglas Skolaut, asked Captain Roark whether this Early Release document from a different case was included in an attempt to show Ivison received an early release from his Class A conviction and probation.

According to Skolaut’s report, Roark answered that he did not recall any documents included from the Class B conviction.

When asked how the court documents were obtained, it was learned that they came directly from Ivison.

The report states that Captain Roark felt that Ivison’s records, along with his criminal history, provided adequate information for the waiver application.

“I suggested to Captain Roark and Sheriff Wilson that in the future, all information pertaining to prior arrests should accompany the waiver request,” reads Skolaut’s report.

Finally, Captain Skolaut asked if Captain Roark has ever thought to reach out to the Limestone County District Clerks Office to verify that all the documents related to the Class A conviction had been obtained by Ivison.

“Captain Roark advised he had not,” reads the TCOLE report.

Upon his resignation, Ivison lost the use of his peace officer’s license, and an enforcement hold has been placed on his State record.

The waiver issued by TCOLE is non-transferrable. That means that in order for Ivison to become employed as a law enforcement officer again, another agency would be required to go through the exact same process of applying for a waiver on his behalf.

“I do not believe Captain Roark or Sheriff Wilson intentionally tried to mislead the Commission regarding Matthew Ivison’s Class A waiver request,” reads Captain Skolaut’s report, “but I do find that they failed to adequately provide Ivison’s history of compliance with the terms of community supervision and all of Ivison’s court and community supervision documents.”

The state’s official letter of warning was issued to Sheriff Wilson and was placed in his permanent file.

In regards to the report filed by the State agency, attorney David Moore remarked, “It clearly shows Sheriff Wilson tried to play this off as local politics, but TCOLE took a much different view.”