Former Ellis County Lieutenant Accused Of Stealing Guns

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CEDAR HILL (CBSDFW.COM) - Authorities earlier this month arrested a former lieutenant with the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and charged him with tampering with government records, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and three counts of property theft. It is now known what Phillip Gary Slaughter II is accused of taking.

According to the search warrant obtained on Tuesday, the former lieutenant is believed to have stolen three firearms from the Ellis County Sheriff's Office, and had another 17 guns in his home. The case against Slaughter started on April 4 after police in Ennis recovered one of the guns from a pawn shop.

Documents said that Slaughter pawned two Colt revolvers and a Taurus semi-automatic pistol. However, according to records, Slaughter was given a court order in November to destroy those firearms, which had previously been tied to burglary and drug cases, and had been put into the Ellis County Sheriff's Office evidence room.

Slaughter had allegedly said that the three weapons, along with several others, were in fact destroyed.

The Texas Rangers were able to recover four more guns from pawn shops, and learned of another four guns that had been sold in other ways. Authorities are still working to confirm their whereabouts. A search of Slaughter's mobile home in Midlothian netted 17 weapons and started speculation that more 'destroyed' guns could still be missing.

Authorities also found ammunition and possibly steroids inside of Slaughter's home. He was taken into custody on April 15 in Cedar Hill. He actually resigned abruptly on March 28, just before the investigation began. Slaughter had been with the Ellis County Sheriff's Office since October 2001.