Texas jail guard accused of helping and laughing as four inmates killed another prisoner over $40 debt

A Texas jail guard is accused of helping four jail inmates kill another prisoner over an unpaid $40 debt.

Bexar County Detention Center officer Clemente Lopez Jr., 20, helped facilitate the deadly assault by allowing inmates into 46-year-old Francisco Bazan’s cell, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. He now faces a murder charge.

The four inmates — Rudy Bueno, Gilbert Suarez, Rodrigo Martinez III, and Gabriel Benjamin Garcia — have also been charged with first-degree murder and remain in custody on $500,000 bond.

According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Bazan was found unresponsive in his cell on April 30, two days after the alleged premeditated attack.

The alleged event took place in a unit designated for inmates affiliated with criminal gangs.

An unnamed inmate told authorities that Martinez ordered Bazan into his cell where he initially fought Bueno before Garcia and Suarez joined in.

Lopez allegedly laughed from outside Bazan’s deadly beating and told the attackers, “Don’t make it bad.” He later admitted that he opened cell doors to allow the attack and had done so at least three other times in recent months, authorities said.

Investigators found drug paraphernalia near Bazan’s bunk, including a plastic bag and rolled paper beside a Bible. His cellmate, Rudy Bueno, said Bazan had snorted suboxone the night before, later becoming unsteady and vomiting.

Lopez, employed with the sheriff’s office since August 2023, was taken into custody immediately after submitting his resignation, officials said. He was released on a $500,000 bond on May 3, online court records show.

“I wanted to look [Lopez] in the eye and tell him exactly how disgusted I was with the behavior, and I did so,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told KSAT on Thursday.

“He was apologetic, of course, but unfortunately, to me, that was very little consolation for what he put this agency through and this family that has been put through this horrible, unimaginable tragedy of losing a loved one,” he added.

More arrests could come as the alleged incident remains under investigation.