Fair Oaks Ranch PD officer of the year says she was fired for exposing chief’s possible misconduct

FAIR OAKS RANCH, Texas – A former officer of the year for the Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department mentioned she was fired this month after exposing a couple of acts of misconduct via the division’s leader.

Lacey Gonzalez, a six-year veteran of the small division situated northwest of San Antonio, was separated from the company on Oct. 6, months after detailing a myriad of possible regulations violations via Chief Tim Moring in a 14-page written grievance.

The grievance, which was received via previous this year, accused Moring of intimidation, threats, being bodily violent to different officials, pulling out his carrier weapon and pointing it at a fellow officer and offering metropolis body of workers contributors a prescription stimulant off accountability.

Moring was put on paid administrative depart after the grievance was filed this summer time however was reinstated to his command post on Oct. 10, after metropolis officers mentioned an unbiased investigation discovered all allegations towards Chief Moring have been unfounded or now not sustained.

“There’s a code, you don’t talk. Because if you do something you’re going to get retaliated against,” mentioned Gonzalez.

She advised in an interview this month that she continues to be processing what took place to her.

“This is my life for the last six years. A lot of sacrifice was given to that department. You would think at some point they would do the right thing. But then again, seeing what’s happened to previous officers, it doesn’t surprise me,” mentioned Gonzalez.

Gonzalez’s lawyer, Adam Muery, mentioned his shopper is no less than the fourth officer to be terminated or to stand termination after elevating considerations about Moring’s habits.

“You can make suppositions about why somebody would be afraid of upsetting a law enforcement officer. I don’t know what he knows or why it is that they would stand by him,” mentioned Muery, a former police officer who now represents legislation enforcement officials in employment disputes.

Gonzalez was named Fair Oaks Ranch worker of the year, in line with the division’s 2022 annual report.

“Nothing but glowing reviews in her job performance, commendations from the community,” mentioned Muery, who added that he’s these days interesting Gonzalez’s termination thru the metropolis in addition to the dishonorable discharge she was given via the division with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

A dishonorable discharge is reserved for officials who become independent from an company in reference to allegations of felony misconduct, insubordination or untruthfulness. Having that designation makes it tough to get employed via some other legislation enforcement company in Texas.

Muery mentioned division officers cited a non-public subject — that Gonzalez was cleared of two months previous — as a reason why to terminate her this month.

He mentioned she was additionally terminated for violating a Garrity order, via discussing the division’s investigation of her. Muery mentioned Gonzalez’s discussions of the case have been together with her prison suggest, which is safe communique.

Gonzalez, in line with Muery, was additionally terminated for failing to document doable regulations violations via Moring in a well timed method.

“Hindsight being 20/20, people can easily say ‘Oh, well, the very first time you saw anything you should have reported it.’ That’s hard to say to an officer who sees every other officer who reports it, get terminated, get run off, lose their job,” mentioned Muery.

Muery didn’t put a lot benefit in the metropolis’s appeals procedure, claiming the metropolis modified its procedure “midstream” whilst he represented former Fair Oaks Ranch police investigator Richard Davila in a 2020 termination dispute.

Gonzalez’s grievance towards Moring laid out a bunch of incidents on accountability and rancid accountability protecting a number of years.

Gonzalez wrote that dried elements on the partitions of the division’s patrol room and kitchen house have been from Moring throwing meals pieces towards the partitions whilst attractive in “unpredictable and irate” habits, the grievance alleges.

In an unrelated incident, Gonzalez wrote that she walked into Moring’s administrative center for a work-related subject “and immediately Chief Moring aggressively stated in a threatening manner to ‘get the f*** out.’” Moring despatched a textual content message to Gonzalez later in the shift apologizing for his habits, in line with the grievance.

In 2018, then-Lieutenant Moring mentioned he would “blackball” an officer who did not discover medication on an individual who was being arrested.

Gonzalez wrote that during 2019 she witnessed then-Lt. Moring pull his carrier weapon out of its holster and level it at the torso house of a fellow officer whilst a bunch of officials have been amassed in Moring’s administrative center.

That identical year, Gonzalez mentioned she witnessed Moring supply the prescription stimulant Adderall to a fellow officer and an animal regulate officer at a retirement birthday celebration for the division’s earlier leader. Gonzalez mentioned she witnessed each officials ingest the stimulant.

“I could immediately confirm through training and experience that the pills were 15 mg of Adderall pills,” wrote Gonzalez.

She wrote that Moring introduced to provide her an Adderall tablet at paintings that very same year, relating to it as a G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) tablet. She mentioned Moring modified the topic when she requested what a G.O.A.T. tablet was, in line with the grievance.

During the preliminary months of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, officials have been assigned cleansing tasks on every shift, in line with the grievance. Gonzalez wrote that she noticed Moring shove a lieutenant towards a wall with each fingers “in a very stern and aggressive manner” whilst seeking to take a mop from him.

In mid-July, in a while prior to Gonzalez filed her grievance, she wrote that whilst talking to Moring he “hit his hands hard on his desk, turned red and knocked down items from his desk and then stated, ‘I am not going to put up with your piss a** attitude or gender claiming bullsh** anymore!’”

In an unrelated incident, a dashboard-camera video received via Investigates presentations a Fair Oaks Ranch police automobile pursuing a rushing automobile alongside Fair Oaks Parkway closing fall.

After the automobile pulls over, the photos presentations an officer strolling as much as the automobile and spotting the motive force as Moring.

“Tim, don’t do that to me!” the officer yells after seeing Moring at the back of the wheel.

Multiple assets mentioned Moring was riding a seized Toyota sedan all through the incident. A former Fair Oaks Ranch worker, who spoke with on the situation of anonymity, mentioned Moring has many times sped alongside public roadways in city-owned automobiles “to keep officers on their toes.”

may to find no document that Moring was disciplined for the incident.

City officers, together with Moring, declined to remark to about the allegations.

“I mean, this is things for which he should be going to prison and instead they’re keeping him in his position and retaliating against the officers who are brave enough to speak out against him,” mentioned Muery.

Investigates asked a replica of the unbiased investigation of Moring. City officers have stated the public data request however thus far have now not launched the data.

may to find no document that Moring has been accused or charged with any crimes via legislation enforcement and may to find no prison or disciplinary discovering that he abused his energy.

Davila lawsuit vs. Fair Oaks Ranch scheduled for trial

Davila filed swimsuit towards Fair Oaks Ranch in 2021 claiming he was wrongfully terminated from his place.

His petition incessantly names Moring and contains main points from a July 2020 incident during which Davila mentioned Moring and a sergeant entered the assets room with out correct authority. Moring then disposed of proof the use of a court docket order from a prior year, the lawsuit states.

Following the incident, Davila was got rid of from being in fee of the assets room, his investigation information have been transferred and he was reassigned to metropolis corridor, prior to being terminated, in line with the swimsuit.

The swimsuit is scheduled for mediation this autumn, in line with a couple of assets.

It is tentatively scheduled for trial in early February, Bexar County court docket data display.