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A small-town Texas police chief accused of cheating on his wife with two other women resigned last week – the same day he was arrested over allegedly tampering with government records to fake annulment papers.
Stinnett Chief of Police Jason Collier was arrested by Texas Rangers Thursday, Hutchinson County Sheriff Blaik Kemp confirmed to KAMR/KCIT. He has been on administrative leave since Wednesday.
Collier was charged with one state felony count of tampering with a government document with the intent to defraud. He was held at Hutchinson County Jail on a $10,000 bond.
Collier "resigned his position effective immediately with the City of Stinnett," city manager Durk Downs said in a statement released Thursday evening. "The city has accepted his resignation. Per city policy, we will have no comment about his personal matters."
On Tuesday, the Hutchinson County District Attorney’s Office had asked the Texas Rangers to conduct a criminal investigation into Collier, who allegedly, "sent a text message to the victim with a fraudulent government record attached," Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Cindy Barkley said. "The document was a fraudulent marriage annulment."
(Hutchinson County Sheriff's Department)
The investigation was launched after Cecily Steinmetz, a woman living in Amarillo, Texas, about 57 miles southeast of Stinnett, posted to Facebook accusing Collier of "living a double/triple life."
"I was his girlfriend until yesterday. He lied to me and presented me with fake annulment documents when I found out he was married," Steinmetz wrote, sharing a photo of the fake court document. "I also found out about a 2nd girlfriend, Kristi, last night," she continued. "He has lied to us, our children and asked us both to marry him. He is a poor representative of your town."
Steinmetz alleged that Collier would visit her in Amarillo while he was "on shift" and claimed they both had taken a vacation together in Taos, N.M., that past weekend. He allegedly told his second girlfriend that he was on a "work assignment" in Portland, Ore., at that same time, Steinmetz wrote.
Steinmetz shared other photos showing her with Collier on vacation together, as well as screenshots of his online dating profile, and a Facebook post he allegedly wrote on Sept. 3, 2020, wishing his wife a happy anniversary.
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The fake annulment document shared online by Steinmetz claimed to have been filed in the 108th District Court, where Judge Doug Woodburn presides. But Woodburn confirmed to KAMR-TV that "no match exists either under that name or cause number."
"Our cause numbers are completely different, consisting of a 0 followed by 6 numbers, starting in 7 or 8," he told the station. "My court is followed by the letter E. It’s a fake."
In an interview with KAMR, Steinmetz said she received an outpouring of comments suggesting Collier was married after changing her Facebook profile picture to a photo of them together. That’s when she said she confronted Collier about the matter, and, "he was like, ‘Well, you know, I’ll get you the annulment,’ and he’s like, ‘Just hold on.’
"And I told him, I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to take this at face value, I’m going to check it out with Potter County,'" she said. "I did not think it was right in his position to be presenting people with a false document like that."
Steinmetz said that given Collier's position in law enforcement, she almost believed him.
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"I would just hope that he has learned his lesson, not to deceive people like that. I was also about to believe him about everything due to his position. I mean, I would think that that would be a very upstanding person, and a very honest person," she said. "And that is how he presented himself. And I would just hope that this doesn’t happen to any other women in the future. Just the lies and promising things that are never going to happen. There’s just no reason to drag people and their children into that."
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