Trend Furniture Trial Questions Defendant's Competence

Guilt, innocence and competence are being weighed in Judge Barbara Walther’s 391st District Court this week, as the State of Texas pursues a conviction against 40-year-old Mark Anthony Serrano, who is accused of stealing some $30k worth of furniture from a local business.

The investigation into the case first made headlines in November 2013, when the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office (TGCSO) sought input from the public relating to the theft at the Trend Furniture warehouse, which occurred between Nov. 11-14, 2013.

Listed among the items stolen were two armoires, 35 sofas, six recliners, eight love seats, one ottoman, nine night stands, four headboards, 20 footboards, two bed frames, one box spring, one mattress, one bird cage with stand, one chest, two bunk beds, one bookcase, one desk, one table, 13 chairs, 20 tabletops, one dining set, one washing machine, one dryer, three sets of headboards, footboards and rails to a bed, and 38 cartons of flooring, a document filed with the court states.

Following information from a criminal informant and evidence collected via search warrant, Serrano was arrested on Nov. 20, 2013. Four accomplices have been named as co-defendants in the case, three of which have been convicted of the crime and received various sentences and restitution sums. Serrano entered a plea of not guilty. He is charged with theft greater than or equal to $20k, less than $100k, a third-degree felony.

Serrano’s trial came to a slow start Monday at 3:15 p.m., when 12 jurors heard testimony from Tom Green County Sheriff’s Detectives Terry Lowe and Ray Mellas, as well as that of Bobbie Reed, an employee of Trend Furniture and the son of the business’s owners.

Reed related to the jury that on Nov. 11, 2013, he went to the warehouse located in the 2800 block on U.S. 87 to pick up a piece of furniture, and was the last person in the building before the theft occurred. Prompted by an employee who contacted him and his mother, Kristie Reed, he returned to the warehouse on Nov. 14, 2013 to find the place in disarray, with several items of inventory missing.

“When we got there, we noticed that we had many, many pieces of furniture missing,” Reed said in court. “It took a while for us to comprehend what was missing.”

When leading investigator Ray Mellas fell ill, TGCSO Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Sergeant Terry Lowe responded to the scene in his place, however testified that he was unable to collect fingerprints and other evidence due to the state of the warehouse when he arrived.

“The scene had been altered by employees of Trend Furniture,” he relayed. “They had re-arranged and cleaned up.”

Mellas took over the investigation after Lowe’s initial response, and returned to the scene to look around, he said. While initially no evidence of forced entry had been detected, Mellas stated that upon inspection of the building’s double doors, he noticed scrapings on the doorplate, and stated “it looked like somebody had pried it open with a screwdriver”.

On Nov. 19, 2013, Mellas said, he received a phone call from a tipster who alleged she worked with co-defendant Veronica Estrada, whom she had heard bragging about involvement in the theft.

The criminal informant (CI) stated that Estrada had not only admitted to the crime, but mentioned three others that were involved. The CI further stated that she had personally been inside Serrano’s house, where she observed large quantities of new furniture.

“She observed several couches and different types of furniture, but one couch she remembered in particular. It was a big, brown, leather couch,” Mellas testified. “[She said there were] approximately 25 couches with tags and other types of furniture that were in Mr. Serrano’s living room and other rooms throughout the house.”

The CI provided Mellas with a thorough physical description of Serrano’s house, he said, including the address and the color of the residence, the backyard and a gold-colored, flat-tired sedan parked outside. She also noted nearby landmarks as reference points.

In a second call to Mellas on that same day, the CI placed her phone in a pocket and engaged Estrada in a conversation about the wares as Mellas listened. Mellas described in court how the CI began asking about the brown leather couch she’d remembered so well, and found further information on the items in Serrano’s home.

“I heard the person identified as Veronica Estrada say the couch was worth $2,000 and they’d sold it for $900,” Mellas said. He stated he then heard her speak of other items that were still available.

On the basis of information gathered, Mellas began to watch Serrano’s house in the 1400 block of Irving St., where he stated he noticed old furniture standing in the yard, a pallet and packing materials leaning against a chain-link fence, and a swath of plastic packing wrap caught in the tree.

He then wrote an affidavit for a search warrant, which he executed at Serrano’s home on Nov. 20,2013. The CI had told him that Estrada had become nervous about the ordeal, noting the press release that circulated throughout local media outlets seeking information from the public involving the crime, and that a good portion of the wares had been transported and stowed at Serrano’s mother’s house in the 300 block of Milton St, while other furniture was stashed in Serrano’s attic.

“I knocked on the (Serrano’s) door and identified who I was and that I was with the Sheriff’s Office,” Mellas testified. “Mr. Serrano answered the door and when I told him who I was and who we were with, he shut the door and locked it.”

Mellas stated that a fellow detective and member of the SO’s SWAT team then forced entry and the deputies carried out the search. A consensual search was also carried out at Serrano’s mother’s house, and during, both deputies located several items of furniture that had been stolen from the store.

Just as Mellas began to go into the details of the search, Judge Barbara Walther interjected and recessed the jury. Defense attorney Shawntell McKillop had filed two motions to suppress evidence, one of which included all testimony regarding the search warrant and affidavit, stating that it was not valid.

McKillop contended that because the CI had never been used before and because she had given some false information relating to the inclusion of a delivery driver in the scheme, the warrant was invalid. Mellas had no probable cause, she said, as anyone could have driven by the house and described its color.

At 4:15 p.m., Judge Walther dismissed the jury and the court heard both attorney’s arguments. Ultimately, the motion to suppress was denied and the court moved forward with a second motion, this time to suppress evidence gathered during an interview at the Sheriff’s Office while Serrano was in custody.

Calling Serrano to the stand, McKillop argued that his statement had been made involuntarily, citing his intellectual ability as a hindrance to his understanding. Serrano stated that when deputies pulled him out of the jail and walked him to the Sheriff’s Office next door, he was under the impression he was going to speak to an attorney.

Asked about his educational background, Serrano stated: “I was in special ed classes and somehow got my GED. I have trouble writing and I can’t read very good.”

As the lawyer’s played back a video of portions of the interview, Serrano kept his head down with a hand to his forehead. In the video, Deputy Martha Ibarra handed Serrano a card with his Miranda Rights on it and instructed him to read along as she read them back individually, asking if he understood after each one. At the end, she asked him to sign the card—which he did—and then continued the interrogation.

Serrano was read his rights twice in the interview—first with Ibarra and again when a detective entered the room. Both times he verbally agreed and signed the cards. He then asked if he had a lawyer and was told that he did not, however the day before McKillop had been appointed to him. He did not request to speak with a lawyer or to discontinue the interview, however, and deputies stated they were unaware an attorney had been assigned.

Prosecuting attorney John Best asked Serrano if he remembered during the interview that he knew the property was stolen, however Serrano could not remember, he said.

Serrano makes a living purchasing items from auctions, estate sales and storage buildings and reselling them, and contends that he purchased the furniture from Aaron Wilde, a co-defendant who Serrano’s council advised is the actual thief. Wilde has already plead guilty to the charge and been sentenced as one of the five allegedly involved.

“He (Wilde) told me he got it from a dead man,” Serrano alleged he purchased the items. “I was kind of curious where he got it because I knew he lived out on the streets.”

After both attorney’s finished questioning Serrano, Judge Walther passed down a decision on the second motion to suppress. Citing the fact that he had not discontinued the interview nor asked for an attorney, Walther denied the motion.

At just after 6:00 p.m., both attorney’s finished for the afternoon. The trial will continue Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. in courtroom C.

Here is the story where Serrano was caught.