INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - A Metro police officer was arrested Thursday morning, accused of tampering with the phone of a suicide victim he knew.
Francisco Olmos patrols in IMPD's East District where he's gained respect among officers and the people he's sworn to protect and serve.
Troubles stem from what investigators say Olmos did during the investigation of police explorer Heidi Gatliff’s suicide two years ago.
Court documents say Olmos and Heidi's father found the girl dead in her bedroom at home in November, 2015. The teenager had apparently shot herself.
Her cell phone played music when the two found her in the bedroom. Her father Michael Gatliff picked up the phone and stopped the music and placed the phone in his pocket. He told investigators that’s when Olmos asked to use it to make a call to one of the explorer program’s facilitators
Investigators say Olmos secretly deleted information from the cell phone.
During standard routine questioning for the death investigation, Olmos, according to court documents, denied affection for Heidi. He explained that he cared for her a lot and that her death bothered him a great deal.
As detectives searched for a motive for the suicide, they couldn't search her phone due to a passcode lock. That came as a surprise her father.
2015 technology limited what forensic experts could recover from the phone, even after getting it unlocked technology.
Two years later, IMPD’s Digital Forensic Unit can see the 2015 messages between Heidi and Officer Olmos.
Investigator say Olmos not only obstructed justice by putting a lock on Heidi's phone, but he also deleted messages.
Investigators say Officer Olmos texted Heidi several times on the day of the suicide.
According to court documents, some of the messages from Olmos read:
"Please don't do this to me. Don't go over there. You said you would see me."
"Answer me you can't do this to me again."
"How can you ignore me like I'm just one of them..."
"You are gonna make me look so stupid in front of your family."
Police say the text information was deleted after Heidi's death, at about the time her father reportedly gave Olmos her phone to use.
Olmos was arrested Thursday afternoon at the City County Building. Police Chief Bryan Roach suspended him without pay and wants him fired.
Olmos is scheduled for court Friday morning.