Texas police chief arrested for allegedly showing fake marriage annulment to lover

The police chief of a small city in the Texas panhandle was arrested Thursday after allegedly showing a fake marriage annulment to a woman with whom he was having an affair.

Jason Collier, 41, was arrested by the Texas Rangers and booked into the Hutchinson County Jail, according to Sgt. Cindy Barkley of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Collier was charged with tampering with a governmental record with the intent to defraud, a state jail felony. His bail was set at $10,000.

He resigned as chief of police in Stinnett, 60 miles northeast of Amarillo, on Thursday. Stinnett City Manager Durk Downs said in a statement that the city accepted his resignation and had no comment on Collier’s “personal matters.”

The investigation into Collier’s actions began on Tuesday, when an Amarillo woman named Cecily Steinmetz wrote on Facebook that Collier had been having extramarital affairs with her and another woman.

Chief Jason Collier is living a double/triple life. I was his girlfriend until yesterday. He lied to me and presented me…

Posted by Cecily Steinmetz on Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Steinmetz returned from a New Mexico vacation with Collier on Sunday and learned Monday that he was already married. She alleged that Collier, a father of four and an ordained minister, had asked both of his girlfriends to marry him.

“He has lied to us, our children, and asked us both to marry him,” Steinmetz wrote. “He is a poor representative of your town.”

She attached a photo of a marriage annulment Collier had sent her. The document was fraudulent, officials said.

The Hutchinson County District Attorney’s Office asked the Texas Rangers to open a criminal investigation into Collier. He was placed on administrative leave Wednesday before resigning the following day.

Collier, a Texas Medal of Valor recipient with 21 years of law enforcement experience, was hired as Stinnett police chief in February 2020.