Five months after former and present CSU investigators at the Houston Forensic Science Center wrote a scathing letter about director Jerry Pena’s “toxic leadership,” the center has announced a new director.
Today—the day of Pena’s retirement—Carina Haynes will take the helm at HFSC. A crime scene expert with 12 years of experience, Haynes will be the first Black woman to hold the title of director at the independent lab. However, it’s important to note that Haynes was also mentioned, albeit briefly, in the letter.
In January, HFSC CSU investigators wrote a 4-page letter to the board detailing problems they said can be traced directly to Pena, including the creation of a hostile work environment, harassment and retaliation, unwillingness to change and even the issuances of “burn notices” to prevent former employees from moving on.
“For the past five years, the CSU has seen a tangible and unequivocal degradation in the organization’s performance, effectiveness, and morale. This degradation has been noticed at all levels of HFSC both in and out the CSU,” they wrote. “It is without a doubt that Mr. Peña is to hold a significant amount of blame for the majority of issues that have arisen within the crime scene unit.”
Still, in the press release announcing Pena’s retirement and the subsequent promotion of Haynes, Peter Stout, HFSC’s CEO and president, praised the former director.
“HFSC’s crime scene unit has made enormous strides under Jerry’s leadership, including civilianizing and achieving international accreditation, and we could not have made this much progress without him,” said Stout.
In the January letter, the CSU investigators pointed out that, while Pena and Deputy Director Domingo Villarreal directly created a toxic workplace, Stout shares in some of the blame for continuing to support the failure of leadership.
“Since the beginning, Dr. Stout has stood watch and has either been oblivious of the chaos or indifferent to the misery,” reads the letter. “Each supervisor, upon quitting, addressed Dr. Stout about the issues that plagued the unit. Despite receiving direct word from the supervisors about the problems within CSU, Dr. Stout ignored them entirely. Three supervisors informed the CSU during their exit that the issues caused by Mr. Peña and Mr. Villarreal were well known and that Dr. Stout is aware of this problem. Despite their efforts to bring this problem to light, Dr. Stout has yet to address any of these matters.”
After publication of the letter, HFSC asked the City of Houston’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the allegations, but nothing has been shared as follow-up in the past 5 months—with the indirect exception of Pena’s retirement and Haynes’ promotion. Haynes took over as acting director in January, after serving as a supervisor since 2017.
Some of her actions and decisions as supervisor are what’s reference in the January letter from present and past investigators. In a paragraph explaining how Pena implemented a rotating schedule that was “exhausting and detrimental,” the members say Haynes stated she was aware that the constant schedule shifting would result in further resignations.
“Rather than acknowledge that the unit is very unhappy with the schedule, management refused any input to improve it,” reads the letter.
Turnover has been a substantial problem within CSU—a fact members attribute to Pena’s hostile working environment. In the past three years, HFSC’s CSU lost 22 investigators and 4 supervisors. That is in direct opposition to the 5-year plan Pena announced in 2016 when he first came aboard, which included doubling CSU to 50 people. Since he started, CSU has been unable to sustain even the original staffing number of 28.
“Until the failed management is addressed or removed, HFSC will eventually have to face the total collapse of the CSU,” reads the letter. “The unit is not even at an acceptable manpower level currently to address the gradual increase in crime scenes. Many of the current CSIs are seeking new employment to escape this toxic work environment and management is struggling to find replacements. A further loss of CSIs will result in an incapacitated unit unable to address the growing needs of Houston. If this behavior continues, eventually there will be nobody to respond to the next homicide scene.”
When announcing Haynes’ promotion, HFSC confirmed one of her top priorities will be doubling CSU.
Haynes joined HFSC in January 2017 as a supervisor. Prior to that, she spent 9 years with the Durham (North Carolina) Police Department’s crime scene unit, where she started as a crime scene investigator and eventually became the unit’s supervisor.