When a person raises their hand to take the oath to become a law enforcement officer, they swear to defend the people and the United States of America’s constitution. Fortunately, the vast majority of officers uphold their oaths with pride and honor. Sadly, a few take advantage of their positions of authority to benefit themselves at the expense of the public. These officers can be tough to catch simply because they often know the system inside and out, which means they can evade detection for years if not their entire careers. On July 20, 2020, one now-former police officer in California is currently facing charges after being sent to conduct a welfare check on an older man.
However, when the deputy arrived, he found that the man had died. Then, weeks after the man’s death, the attorney for his estate says that several items went missing from his client’s home, including weapon safes full of guns and even the man’s ceiling fans. After reviewing the security footage showing the activity at his client’s residence days after his death, the attorney gave the footage to the sheriff’s department. The authorities were shocked when they saw what the security video revealed.
— #NameAndShame — Meet, #SteveHortz, a 12-year Veteran of the #OrangeCounty Sheriff's Office. He Was Caught on Camera Stealing From a Home After He Was Sent There to Respond to a Someone Death.
Read here at: https://t.co/yFbScnuC1o#California#PoliceMisconduct
/#WhileBlack
/ pic.twitter.com/eH7t0EOfXH— #WhileBlack (@_While_Black) September 12, 2020
It turned out that the same deputy who found the older adult’s body was also the one who had gone back to his home to rob it a week later — while wearing his service uniform!
"OC deputy, identified as Steve Hortz, broke into the home three times. On August 10 and 16, Hortz “removed items including weapon safes, ceiling fans and cases containing unknown items” from the home" pic.twitter.com/y0fCCmZwQe
— Karen (@l_ackman) September 11, 2020
12-year Orange County Sheriff’s Department veteran Steve Hortz allegedly broke into the deceased man’s home over the next few days, making even more visits while in plain clothes.
KTLA 5 News | Orange County Deputy, Steve Hortz was arrested.
Steve's Case was the death of a 70-year old. Later, surveillance shows Steve breaking into the home 3 more times leaving with stolen items. Steve is now in Santa Ana Jail on burglary suspicion. https://t.co/HHkFbJDb3o
— Darrick Lin (@DarrickLin) September 11, 2020
The sheriff never seemed to leave the vacated residence empty-handed.
Also found a Pinterest page for a Steve Hortz, with lots of thin blue line flags, weapons, punisher logos, and even some nazi symbolism. pic.twitter.com/3TVCCY98Lw
— Hannahconda (@HannahSpjut) September 12, 2020
Today, his former department is calling the former deputy’s actions “inexcusable and intolerable.”
TONIGHT: A decorated Orange County Sheriff’s deputy arrested on numerous felonies, accused of burglarizing a home he responded to for a call for service where a man had died. And it was caught on the home’s surveillance video. OCSD says he broke his oath to public. 10pm @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/DaMRhQsHcP
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 11, 2020
Fox13 reports:
“Hortz was one of more than a half-dozen deputies criminally charged or placed on leave for misconduct last week, including several who are accused of submitting false military orders claiming they were being called to serve.”
You can watch a news report about this troubling story below.