Ex-Hartford police chief convicted in drug theft and sales case

PAW PAW, Mich. – The former leader of a small West Michigan police department is heading to prison after a years-long legal battle over drug charges.

Tressa Beltran, the former chief of the Hartford Police Department, was convicted today on two charges related to an investigation that found she used her role as chief to obtain and then sell controlled substances.

The investigation into Beltran began two years ago, when detectives from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police raided the Hartford Police Department on a tip about drug trafficking inside. The city placed Beltran on leave after the search.

Eleven months later, the Michigan Attorney General’s office charged Beltran with nine counts, including:

• Delivery or possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of a controlled substance
• Using a computer to commit a crime
• Extortion
• Embezzlement by a government official of more than $50
• Misconduct in the office
• Theft in a building
• Possession of less than 25 grams of a controlled substance
• Possession of a controlled substance/analogs
• Possession of a Schedule 5 controlled substance

Former Hartford police chief turns himself in

According to the state, Beltran convinced people with drugs to give them to her and then sold the drugs to other people. She also allegedly stole drugs seized by police.

WATCH: Former Hartford police chief charged with blackmail, embezzlement and drug possession

A July 2023 ruling sent the case to trial, but Beltran and the attorney general’s office reached a settlement, with the 58-year-old admitting to possessing drugs with intent to deliver and using a computer to commit a drug offense. to commit a crime. The remaining charges were dropped.

Beltran will serve a minimum of three years and four months in prison. Her maximum sentence is twenty years.

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