HARTFORD, Michigan — A now-retired West Michigan Chief of Police will spend at least three years in jail after she pleaded guilty to stealing drugs from a medication disposal box and selling those drugs.
Tressa Beltran pleaded guilty to one count of delivery or possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of a controlled substance, and one count of use of a computer to commit a crime back in April.
The other seven charges—which included embezzlement by a public official, misconduct in office, larceny and extortion charges—were dropped.
On Monday, she learned her sentence in court.
During the sentencing hearing, Beltran's attorney argued that she was being painted in a bad light, saying that when he worked with her she was "open, honest, caring, considerate, involved in the community, involved in her family."
Beltran went on to apologize to the judge and the prosecutor.
"I am trying to make myself better," she told the judge, "and I do think that putting me in prison is really not the answer, but...I'm just sorry."
The prosecuting attorney, however, emphasized that Beltran repeatedly chose to take and sell the drugs that other officers worked to collect—sometimes dealing those drugs while in her uniform or patrol vehicle.
"Law enforcement officers spend their time, risking their lives on a daily basis, to get drugs off the street," she said. "And Tressa Beltran used her position as the Chief of Police for the City of Hartford to take those drugs that they have risked their lives to keep them out of the hands of children, out of the hands of addicts, and put them out on the street."
After hearing both arguments, Judge Kathleen Brickley chose to sentence Beltran to at least 3.3 years in prison.
"Your job was to protect and to serve. You blew that up, and instead involved yourself in the very activity that you were called upon to curb," Brickley said. "How can we ask that of others when we don't require that ourselves?"
She said that Beltran's actions could impact how other police officers are seen.
"The reverberations from what you did will carry on long after what you did," she said. "Well-meaning law enforcement who do protect and serve will now be criticized and second-guessed, not because of what they do, but because of what you did."
The AG's office said Beltran admitted under oath that while she was working as the City of Hartford’s chief law enforcement officer that she possessed controlled substances with the intent to deliver them and that she used a computer to arrange to deliver controlled substances.
“Today’s sentence delivered a clear message that no one is above the law,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “I commend the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office for their diligent investigative efforts that led to the removal of Ms. Beltran from her position as police chief, ensuring she could no longer jeopardize public health. My office will continue to pursue public integrity and hold accountable those who abuse their positions of power."
Detectives from the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office launched the investigation after multiple tipsters informed them that Beltran had been dealing drugs, in some cases on duty, in uniform and in her squad car.
That's when the Michigan Attorney General's Public Integrity Unit got involved and accused her of using her position as Chief of Police to commit these crimes.
Testimony from one of the sheriff's department detectives revealed that they first became suspicious in June 2022, and after some digging, they allege the crimes date back to 2017.
Detectives came up with an idea to mark pills and their containers, and then drop them off at the Hartford medical disposal box in the police lobby.
After telling the chief exactly the type of medication in these marked containers, detectives returned within a few days asking to dispose of the medication inside the box.
What they found was the bag they had dropped off into the disposal box had been tampered with, and many of the pills were missing.
After serving a search warrant at the Hartford Police station, they found evidence bags that were torn open and controlled substances stolen from inside of them.
Detectives said that Beltran didn't have a prescription for these controlled substances.
Her search history on her computer showed she had been trying to identify pills.
Detectives checked in with the Michigan State Police Department to find out if she had sent in pills to the lab, and the only record was marijuana-laced brownies.
Detectives also conducted a search warrant on her personal and work phones and found that she had been purchasing oxycodone pills via text message. The court testimony reveals that she would ask to buy "puppies" when she was setting up a purchase of the pills.
The testimony also alleges that "[Beltran] told him that she was the chief of police and that she would make things bad for him if he didn't sell pills to her. And being that he was on parole, she also told him that she would contact his parole officer if he said anything."
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