FAIR OAKS RANCH, Texas – A former officer of the year for the Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department has sued the city under the Texas Whistleblower Act, claiming she was subjected to “prolonged dangerous and abusive behavior” from the department’s police chief, court records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
Lacey Gonzalez, a six-year veteran of Fair Oaks Ranch PD who was terminated in early October after detailing a myriad of possible rules violations by Chief Tim Moring, filed suit earlier this month in Bexar County District Court.
Her legal filing seeks between $250,000 and $1 million in monetary relief.
“I feel like it’s just beginning. A lot of processing still. My name’s been drug through the mud. So, it’s just a work in progress,” Gonzalez told KSAT earlier this month.
The 20-page lawsuit, which notes that Gonzalez has exhausted her appeals for reinstatement to the department, largely mirrors a 14-page internal complaint she filed against Moring last summer.
Among the suit’s accusations against Moring:
- Pointed a loaded firearm at another officer
- Openly distributed Adderall, a Schedule II prescription drug, to several officers
- Abused Adderall himself and, as a result, exhibited erratic behavioral patterns that made him unapproachable and unstable in the workplace
- Consistently retaliated against any officers who formally complained about a particular supervising officer’s objectionable conduct
- Influenced other officers to cover up his own tracks during an investigation into Moring’s conduct
Her suit was still in the process of being served on the city as of Wednesday, court records show.
It is the latest filing that calls into question the actions of Moring, who leads the small department located northwest of San Antonio.
Ex-Investigator Richard Davila filed suit against Fair Oaks Ranch in 2021, claiming he was wrongfully terminated.
That case, which is scheduled to go to trial in Bexar County District Court on Feb. 5, includes details from a July 2020 incident in which Davila said Moring and a sergeant entered the property room without proper authority. Moring then disposed of evidence using a court order from a previous year, the lawsuit states.
Following the incident, Davila was removed from being in charge of the property room, his investigation files were transferred and he was reassigned to city hall, before being terminated, according to the suit.
Davila and the city have recently taken part in mediation in the case, multiple sources told KSAT, but no formal settlement had been approved by the city as of Wednesday.
“Cynically, I would say that they’re probably afraid of the pending lawsuits now, and that if they fire him, it would be an admission of guilt,” said Adam Muery, an attorney representing Gonzalez and two other former Fair Oaks Ranch police officers.
Gonzalez, former sergeant slam outside investigation
Moring was placed on paid administrative leave after Gonzalez filed her internal complaint on July 28.
He was reinstated to his command post on Oct. 10, after an outside investigation determined the allegations against Moring were unfounded or not sustained.
Gonzalez was terminated four days prior to Moring’s reinstatement.
Fair Oaks Ranch Mayor Greg Maxton did not respond to a request seeking an interview for this story.
In a taped video statement posted to the Fair Oaks Ranch YouTube page on Nov. 20, Maxton was sharply critical of Gonzalez and former Fair Oaks Ranch PD Sgt. Paul Zepeda, who filed his own workplace complaint against Moring in early August after separating from the agency.
Maxton, while summarizing the outside investigation, said Gonzalez was untruthful in her statements to the investigator and had taken steps along with Zepeda to conceal an inappropriate sexual relationship between her and Zepeda.
Maxton described the officers’ complaints against Moring as “an attempt to distract attention away from themselves and conceal their inappropriate sexual relationship.”
Both Gonzalez and Zepeda, during interviews with KSAT earlier this month, denied having an inappropriate relationship.
Gonzalez’s attorney previously provided KSAT records showing Gonzalez was cleared of wrongdoing regarding a possible inappropriate relationship with Zepeda.
The Aug. 2 letter, signed by Moring, states that he found no evidence to verify Gonzalez and Zepeda had engaged in an inappropriate relationship and that he was ruling the complaint as not sustained.
“It was their attempt to try and cover their reputations,” said Gonzalez, when asked about the findings of the outside investigation.
“Based off the questions he was asking and the people who he selectively interviewed, he never gave us a fair shot. So, I know the direction he was heading day one,” Zepeda told KSAT.
“Chief Moring was not above cleaning and demonstrated being part of a team.”
Gonzalez claimed she witnessed Moring give Adderall, a prescription stimulant, to a Fair Oaks Ranch police officer and animal control officer during a 2019 off-duty party.
During the outside investigation, however, Moring and the two officers stated the chief had not handed out Adderall. One officer instead said Moring had provided her with an over-the-counter substance.
The name of the substance and the reason it was given to the officer was redacted from the report.
In a separate allegation by Gonzalez accusing Moring of shoving a lieutenant against a wall while fighting over a mop in 2020, the outside investigator determined the two men were arguing in “a friendly way.”
“Officer Gonzalez has worded this in a way to make it appear to be a violent act when it was not. Chief Moring was not above cleaning and demonstrated being part of a team,” the investigator wrote.
In 2019, then-lieutenant Moring was accused of pointing his service weapon at Officer Evan Downey while Downey was engaging in horseplay.
But shortly after the incident, both Moring and Downey denied the altercation had taken place.
After Gonzalez listed the incident in her internal complaint against Moring, however, the outside investigator attempted to reexamine what occurred.
In late August, while being questioned by the outside investigator, Downey changed his story and stated Moring had pointed his service weapon at him.
“I was afraid to come forward. I was scared,” Downey told KSAT. “We were horse playing in the hallway, right outside the property room,” said Downey, who described the horseplay to KSAT as him putting an alligator clip on Moring’s shirt.
“I guess he got upset or mad about it. Pulled out his gun at me, pointed it towards me. It scared me. I didn’t know what to think or what to do at that time,” said Downey.
Downey’s decision to change his story about the incident had major ramifications on his position with Fair Oaks Ranch PD.
Oct. 10, the same day Moring was reinstated to his position of chief, Downey received a notification that he was under internal investigation, personnel records show.
The department alleged that Downey claimed to have witnessed a felony being committed and had lied about it in his original 2019 report on the gun-pulling incident.
“You chose to protect your own job, claiming to be in fear of getting in trouble for horseplay,” the notification letter states.
Downey submitted his resignation the same day he was notified he was under internal investigation, records show.
Downey said he saw the writing on the wall and would have likely been terminated had he not resigned.
“Rather than terminate the chief who actually pulled the gun and pointed it at the officer, they terminate the officer who was the victim of the assault,” said Muery.
There has been no finding to date that Moring engaged in any professional misconduct and he has not been charged with any crimes in connection with incidents alleged by people who worked under him.
Moring did not respond to a request from KSAT seeking an interview for this story.
Federal suit planned over officers being placed on Brady Lists
Muery said he is preparing to file a federal lawsuit on behalf of Gonzalez, Downey and Zepeda, claiming their rights to due process were violated when the department had them added to the Brady Lists in three counties.
Fair Oaks Ranch’s borders cross into Bexar, Comal and Kendall County.
A Brady List, which is maintained by prosecutor offices, contains the names of law enforcement officers with sustained incidents of untruthfulness.
An officer’s name appearing on the list makes him or her an ineffective witness to call to testify at trial.
It is also difficult for officers who appear on the Brady List to be hired by another law enforcement agency.
Muery said an assistant district attorney in Kendall County confirmed Gonzalez was added to the Brady List there.
He told KSAT he is still waiting to hear back about her Brady List status from Bexar and Comal County.
Zepeda and Downey said they were informed they were added to the Brady Lists in all three counties.
KSAT attempted to verify the inclusion of all three officers’ names in each of the three counties.
Comal County officials this week closed KSAT’s request for information, stating that the state’s Public Information Act does not require the agency to create new information, do legal research or answer questions.
A Kendall County prosecutor sent KSAT an email this week confirming that office is asking the Texas Attorney General’s Office to allow it to withhold information about its Brady List.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to KSAT’s inquiry about its Brady List.
The list is typically not a record that prosecutor offices must release publicly, although the names of officers on Brady Lists are sometimes mentioned during open court proceedings.
Muery said there is no due process to challenge being placed on this type of list and that agencies, typically smaller departments, use the Brady List to retaliate against former officers.
He pointed out that in Zepeda’s case, the sergeant was given an honorable discharge and a letter of recommendation signed by Moring.
The July 18 letter refers to Zepeda as “a natural leader” and “an extremely valuable asset to any organization he joins.”
Muery said Zepeda was then added to the Brady Lists as retaliation, after filing a workplace complaint against Moring in early August.
“It was a toxic culture. Everything you can imagine. You’re on edge the entire time. There’s more internal stress than external stress. I had a harder time going to the department, dealing with those conditions rather than dealing with the conditions the job brings in itself,” said Zepeda.
Fair Oaks Ranch City Manager Scott Huizenga told KSAT in an email: “The City authorized an independent investigation specifically based on complaints by former officer Gonzalez and former sergeant Zepeda. The City stands behind the investigation outcome and has made public its findings. The City will not comment on these particular Police Department matters any further.”
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.