Months afterward, affidavit reveals Denton County sheriff's investigator's arrest in insurance fraud

Four months after an arrest was made — and following months of unreturned calls for information to the Denton County Sheriff’s Office — the Denton Record-Chronicle has obtained an arrest affidavit regarding a sheriff’s investigator who afterward was terminated.

Brice Hicks, a former investigator at the Sheriff’s Office, was arrested on a felony charge of insurance fraud in October and was terminated the same day, according to the arrest affidavit, obtained last week by the Record-Chronicle. Hicks is accused of hitting a Sanger police car with his own vehicle, obtaining insurance on that vehicle after the crash and presenting that insurance to police “with the intent to defraud or deceive.”

Calls first placed to Sheriff Tracy Murphree asking about the arrest in November, as well as in the months since and on Monday, have gone unreturned. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office in December deferred questions about Hicks to the sheriff.

After the Record-Chronicle requested an arrest affidavit in January from the Sheriff’s Office regarding Hicks, the records department sent the affidavit last week.

Per the Texas Public Information Act, agencies are supposed to release public information “promptly.” However, should an agency contend that the information being sought is not public, it has 10 days to ask for an attorney general’s decision allowing it to withhold the records. The sheriff’s records department did not send the request to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for an opinion.

Hicks is charged with insurance fraud with intent to defraud or deceive in connection with an incident on Sept. 19. He was arrested on Oct. 29.

A Denton County human resources employee confirmed Hicks was no longer an employee of the Sheriff’s Office effective Oct. 29, the same day as his arrest.

“I resigned. I am retired,” Hicks said in a phone call Monday. “It’s still in litigation.”

Hicks deferred any other questions to his attorney, Sarah Roland. Roland is out of the office this week, a woman at her law office said Monday.

According to the affidavit, Hicks backed an all-terrain vehicle out of Sanger Assistant Police Chief Jonathan Perkins’ home driveway and struck Perkins’ unmarked Sanger police car around 4:25 p.m. Sept. 19.

Perkins’ police car had a large dent in the left rear quarter panel, and Perkins provided the Sanger Police Department photos and video of the accident from his home security camera. The affidavit says Sanger police got an estimate that showed vehicle repairs would total $1,495.

A Sanger police officer reached out to Hicks for the accident report to get his ATV information. The affidavit says the officer and Hicks exchanged text messages in which Hicks provided the officer a liability insurance card with Progressive around 11:07 p.m. The policy period was for Sept. 19, 2021, to Sept. 19, 2022.

The officer called Progressive Direct and learned the policy started at 10:23 p.m. that day, a few hours after the accident.

According to the affidavit, the officer sent an email to Hicks’ Denton County email address for a short narrative of his point of view of the accident, but the officer hadn’t received a response by Sept. 29.

“Due to the evidence, it is reasonable to believe that the Defendant intentionally purchased a new liability insurance policy online from Progressive Insurance for the Defendant’s Kawasaki side-by-side UTV approximately 4-5 hours after backing in to and damaging the Sanger Police Vehicle, and presenting the policy to [police] after being asked for information about the Defendant’s UTV for the accident report with the intent to defraud or deceive the Progressive Insurance Company and the City of Sanger,” the affidavit says.

Hicks’ jailing record isn’t available on the county’s public database. Donna Green, a spokesperson for the city of Sanger, said Hicks’ bail was set at $1,500.

“As to why the case was not made public, that was prior to [Chief Waylan Rhodes] being here,” Green said.

Green said Perkins is out of the office this week and couldn’t provide an immediate response.

Green said the case has been forwarded to the Denton County District Attorney’s Office. Jamie Beck, a first assistant criminal district attorney, said the case is with an intake attorney for review.