MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX- District Attorney Brett Ligon’s Office held its annual Vehicular Crimes Awards on Thursday, recognizing those who worked so hard in 2023 to make Montgomery County roads safer. The DA welcomed everyone in attendance and recognized a local Police Chief who was having an incredible week. On Monday, Splendora Police Chief Wally Wieghat was honored and celebrated his 50th anniversary as a law enforcement officer. Thursday night, Chief Wieghat beamed with pride as the City of Splendora Police Department was named Agency of the Year.
After 15 years as District Attorney, Ligon has a lot to brag about. When he took office, Montgomery County had a bad reputation, with the dubious distinction of having the deadliest roadways in the state and being listed as home to one of the seven deadliest lakes in the state. Those days are long gone. The dramatic increase in population has brought more crime of every sort, and much more traffic, making roads more congested. Thankfully, Montgomery County now has a reputation for being a Texas county that takes impaired driving very seriously, from the patrol officers to the prosecutors and judges, to the civilians who serve on juries. The tough, community-wide stance on DWI and DUI is in stark contrast to nearby Harris County, where law enforcement doesn’t have the same strong community support, and the judicial system doesn’t seem to share law enforcement’s determination to hold violators accountable. This is one of many reasons so many local members of law enforcement were previously employed in Harris County.
When Ligon took office, Montgomery County’s collective face was still red from the Houston news expose on the previous District Attorney’s use of asset forfeiture money to purchase a margarita machine. At first, District Attorney Mike McDougal denied the allegation, but he eventually admitted it. With the ever-increasing number of drunk driving fatalities, the public was outraged. Brett Ligon ran against McDougal promising to tackle the impaired driving issue that plagued Montgomery County, and that promise resonated with voters. Ligon was elected DA, and McDougal returned to private practice.
DA Brett Ligon took office and went to work to keep his promise, starting with having Warren Diepraam, the number one DWI prosecutor in Texas join the team as Vehicular Crimes Chief Prosecutor.
Ligon said he’d spent his career prosecuting violent crimes, and thought he knew everything about violent crime from handling murder cases, but until he began responding to DWI fatalities, he hadn’t realized “just how brutal these crimes were”.
“When it comes to violent crime, there is no more violent crime than an auto-ped, or an alcohol-related Intox Manslaughter,” Ligon said. “They rip a person apart, but they also rip the community apart because the types of victims we have in these case are oftentimes our most innocent victims and their one risk factor is the fact that they decide to get up and go to church, they decide to get up and go to work, and they decide to go home – and that’s it.”
Ligon said those activities should not be risk factors for living in Montgomery County. He said people making drug transactions, engaging in barfights and other such activities know they’re assuming a certain amount of risk and they make the decision to take that risk.
“There should not be a risk, in this community, to going to work, school, or home,” he said.
Ligon spoke about the list of promises he wrote when he first took office and said it was very short. The list began with making sure he maintained a professional office and then listed being a “friend to law enforcement”. Ligon spoke about the importance of his office supporting them and the sacrifices law enforcement officers make to serve the community. A big part of that was assembling a team to work with law enforcement on vehicular crimes.
Ligon listed the all-star Vehicular Crimes Chief Prosecutors he’s had since taking office, starting with Warren Diepraam, who hit the ground running with Ligon and made an incredible impact in Montgomery County before passing the mantle to Tyler Dunman, who then handed it off to Andrew James. Now, Taylor Vanegas fills that important and uber-stressful slot at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. Ligon says he “couldn’t be prouder”, with Vanegas having graduated in the top two percent of law school students in south Texas. He’s also an Aggie, he began working with Ligon as an intern in 2016 and became an attorney in 2018. Ligon said Vanegas was chosen for the position because he wants to give Montgomery County residents the best people for the job, and Ligon said he wants to do everything he can to discourage and prevent vehicular crimes. However, when those crimes happen, Ligon said he also wants to prosecute them to the fullest extent, and he believes Vanegas is the right man to head that up.
Vanegas took the podium after Ligon and explained the effectiveness of the Vehicular Crimes Callout Team, which he said “exists to integrate law enforcement and the DA’s Office” and it has provided a much more efficient and effective system for prosecuting those who cause fatal or serious injury crashes.
“Trying an Intoxication Manslaughter case is highly technical and it starts at the roadway,” Venegas said. “It doesn’t start in the courtroom.”
He explained the Vehicular Crimes Team members volunteer their time, and it’s in addition to their regular duties and normal hours. They’re on-call for a month at a time to respond to major crash scenes and assist law enforcement, and they keep those cases all the way through trial.
He recognized Assistant Chief Investigator John Stevenson and Administrative Manager Melody Pena for their hard work and commitment.
Venegas then recognized the ‘No Refusal’ Team, which he said the County is fortunate to have. He said someone is under contract to draw blood, an Administrative Assistant to shoot video, for notarizing and swearing of blood warrants, and a Prosecutor to assist with blood warrants and legal questions.
“That team of three people is at the Jail every weekend and every holiday, serving our community, to assist law enforcement in getting those blood draws and those blood warrants done as quickly as we can,” Venegas said.
The following is a list of the awards and recipients from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Vehicular Crimes Awards (for calendar year 2023):
DWI Officer of the Year
Deputy Joseph O’Neill – Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
This award recognizes an officer that has gone above and beyond the normal call of duty to protect the public from intoxicated drivers. Conroe PD Officer Stephen Carni and Splendora PD Corporal Ronnie Culberth received honorable mentions in this category.
DWI Agency of the Year
Splendora Police Department
This award recognizes an agency that makes enforcement of impaired driving a priority, dedicates resources to vehicular investigations, and implements programs to raise awareness about impaired driving and increased enforcement efforts.
Magnolia PD and Precinct 4 Constable’s Office received honorable mentions in this category.
Investigator of the Year
Sgt. Ethan McAdoo – Texas Department of Public Safety
This award recognizes an officer who has performed exceptionally in vehicular crimes investigations involving serious bodily injury or death. The Conroe PD crash unit (Sgt. Andres Garcia, Officer Allan Bell, and Officer Steve Hurd) received honorable mentions in this category.
Public Service Award
Milstead Automotive
This award recognizes a non-law enforcement individual, organization, or business that has made a substantial contribution to impaired driving enforcement efforts or vehicular crimes investigations.
Editor’s Note: On behalf of MCPR and the citizens of Montgomery County, we thank and congratulate everyone listed above, and all of those who weren’t listed this year but work so hard to keep our roadways safe!
