You see the Provincial Law Court in Ciudad Real has found a Guardia Civil officer guilty of extending favours to people in exchange for legs of Jamón Serrano amongst others treats, such as invitations attend hunting/beats parties (monterías) on private estates.

He now faces two years’ imprisonment and a fine of nearly 3,000 euros for document forgery and discloser of official information.

The officer, who joined the Guardia Civil in 1987, was arrested in November 2021 after a year-long internal-affairs investigation. His ham-inspired deeds came to light after an anonymous tip off to his superiors.

Amongst these instances of revelation of official information was using the car numberplate register to gain information for a third party. It was thanks to this access ot the Sistema Integrado de Gestión Operativa, Análisis y Seguridad Ciudadana that he received an invitation to a wild-boar hunt.

On another occasion he used this database to obtain information for a hotelier who wanted to know if a waiter he was about to hire had a criminal record.

He also altered traffic fines in favour of a person fined: one was a  young quad owner who drove the wrong way down a street and failed to stop when a Guardia patrol waved him down, for which he would have lost 10 points off his driving licence, and the other was for a man who was found to have shotgun ammunition in his car. The officer contacted the colleague who had issued the fine, asking him to contact their superior to say that he had made a mistake when noting down the number plate. He even forged somebody’s signature on an official police statement in order to enter an appeal.

All this came to light during phone conversations after the Internal Affairs tapped his mobile 

During his trial, he admitted that he had conceded certain favours but only because he wanted to help out and never for personal benefit. A leg of cured him is not personal benefit?

The Public Prosecutor had recommended six years’ imprisonment and another barred from serving. His defence lawyer intends to appeal against the length of the sentence handed down.

(News: Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha)

Keywords: Guardia Civil Officer, Corruption, Document Forgery, Boar Hunt