Criminal Justice Event Bios
Richard Wille
Pasadena Law Enforcement; Chief City Marshal and Director of Code Enforcement
Richard Wille has been with Pasadena Law Enforcement for 32 years and currently holds the position
of Chief City Marshal and Director of Code Enforcement. His experience includes several
decades of work within criminal investigations, as well as work in the Crime Scene
Unit, Internal Affairs, and Personnel & Training. Richard is a graduate of the FBI’s
National Academy, Sam Houston State’s Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas,
and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development program. Richard earned both his
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at the University of Houston-Downtown,
where he currently serves as an adjunct professor in the College of Public Service.
Diana Rodriquez (BSCJ '14; MSCJ '20)
Project Remix Ventures
After graduating in December of 2014, I earned a position with TRIAD; a Harris County
program that provides countywide prevention and early intervention services to divert
youth and families from involvement with the CPS, mental health and/or juvenile justice
systems. As a Liaison, I rotated four Justice of the Peace (JP) courts working with
youth and their families for either truancy or class C misdemeanor juvenile referrals.
My roll required me to go out into the community in search of community resources
focused on providing crisis interventions or immediate relief intended to quickly
address factors resulting in truancy or incidental behavioral issues. One of the JP
court judges I worked with at the time was Judge JoAnn Delgado.
Rafael Pruneda (BAAS CJ ' 22)
Senior Investigator with the Harris County Attorney’s Office; Disability and Elder
Law Division
Rafael Pruneda is a Senior Investigator with the Harris County Attorney’s Office assigned to the Disability and Elder Law Division. Rafael is a 30-year career law enforcement peace officer. He worked for 20 years with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in the Detentions, Patrol, and Investigations Bureaus. Rafael also served 4 honorable years in the United States Marine Corps between 1988 – 1992 and is a veteran of Desert Storm/Gulf War with deployments to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Okinawa, Japan.
For the past 10 years, Rafael has worked in the Hospital District Division, Compliance Division and currently, in the Disability and Elder Law Division. Rafael’s background investigations include violations against the Texas Elections Code, Texas Business and Commerce Code, (Deceptive Trade Practices-Immigration Applications), Price Gouging during declared Natural Disasters, Healthcare Fraud (Tampering with Government Record) and cases against the Elderly involving Financial Exploitation and Physical Abuse.
Ryan Kuriakose (BSCJ '18)
Sugar Land Police Department; Crime Analyst
My name is Ryan Kuriakose, and I was born and raised in Houston, TX. I graduated from the University of Houston Downtown in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. I am now pursuing a Master's in Security Management at UHD. Some of my hobbies are traveling, being around family and friends, playing video games, and watching anime. I work at the Sugar Land Police Department as a crime analyst. My job is to identify hot spots and trends that are affecting the city. My path to get to my position was difficult as I started as a pre-pharm student, and I was sure that was the correct path for me. After some trial and error, the path I am on now is the one that will further my career.
Ming-Li Hsieh PhD. 
Associate Professor in Criminal Justice Program at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Ming-Li Hsieh, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Criminal Justice Program at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC). Her research includes an examination of cybercrime and policing, recidivism risk assessment, crime control policies and comparative criminal justice. Her recent work has been published in the Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Police Quarterly, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Sexual Abuse, Victims and Offenders, International Journal of Cyber Criminology, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Criminal Justice Policy Review, International Criminal Justice Review, and Feminist Criminology, among others. Dr. Hsieh regularly presents papers at professional conferences, and has co-authored a textbook with Marilyn McShane, Women in Criminal Justice (Wolters Klewer) and another co-authored a research monograph for the SpringerBriefs series, “Digital Robbery: ATM Hacking and Implications.” Her achievements were recently recognized by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, awarding her the Dorothy Bracey/Janice Joseph Minority and Women New Scholar Award in 2021. This year, Dr. Hsieh received Excellence in Mentoring in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award at UWEC.
Criminal Justice Event
March 27th, 2024