SAN ANTONIO – A former reserve deputy with the Bexar County Precinct 2 Constable’s Office testified Monday that ex-captain Marc Garcia took steps to cover up a training accident and later ordered the deputy and other members of the agency to destroy records.
The testimony from Officer Gabriel Murad highlighted the second day of the civil service hearing of Garcia, who is seeking to be reinstated to his Precinct 2 position and is asking for more than four and a half years of back pay.
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The hearing continued Monday morning, more than a month after members of the civil service commission began hearing evidence in the reinstatement case.
Current Pct. 2 Constable Leticia Vazquez fired Garcia in early 2020, weeks after he and former constable Michelle Barrientes Vela were indicted in a wide-reaching public corruption case.
Barrientes Vela was eventually convicted in 2022 of two felony counts of tampering with government records.
She was sentenced to five years probation and 90 days in jail early last year after a jury determined she knowingly altered security payment logs for Rodriguez Park.
Barrientes Vela remains free while appealing the jury’s verdict.
Her appeal remained pending with the Eighth Court of Appeals as of Monday afternoon.
Garcia was granted immunity during Barrientes Vela’s trial in exchange for his testimony against his one-time boss.
Garcia, however, never had to take the witness stand.
Ex-deputy describes “unprofessional” work environment
Murad, who now works as an officer for Harlandale Independent School District and appeared in uniform Monday, detailed numerous incidents that he said contributed to an “unprofessional” work environment at Precinct 2.
He said while working at Precinct 2′s Northwest Side offices he witnessed Barrientes Vela walk out with her hair amiss and Garcia exit her private workplace bathroom.
Murad described the relationship between Barrientes Vela and Garcia as unprofessional.
Mark Anthony Sanchez, attorney for Garcia, called the allegations that an improper relationship took place “categorically false.”
Separately, Murad testified about a training incident in which a bullet fired by Murad ricocheted off of a target and struck him in the forehead.
He said Garcia forced him to go through the “unsafe” training exercise and then took steps to cover up the incident after Murad was hospitalized and forced to have surgery to remove fragments of the round from his head.
“Just wrap his head up like Aunt Jemima,” Murad recalled Garcia telling a medic after the training accident.
Murad said Garcia attempted to stop him from reporting the incident and that when the deputy tried to contact the county about what happened, he was informed that there was no report on it.
“That’s an absolute falsehood,” Sanchez told KSAT during a break in the hearing.
Murad did have a noticeable scar in the middle of his forehead while testifying Monday.
Later in his testimony, Murad said Garcia and other members of the Precinct 2 administration ordered him and fellow deputies to stay in the office and shred paperwork shortly after Barrientes Vela resigned from her position in the fall of 2019.
He recalled seeing Barrientes Vela and members of her family removing several boxes from the office and placing them in her vehicle.
The incident, according to Murad, took place after Barrientes Vela resigned and was no longer in office.
Sanchez told KSAT Garcia never issued any such order.
Sanchez pointed out that none of the allegations made by Murad were in Garcia’s notice of termination.
“At no point does Murad ever state that he filed a complaint. When you have an officer alluding to potential crimes, it’s their responsibility to file a complaint,” said Sanchez.
Pct. 2 Sgt. Leonicio Moreno and Captain Christopher De La Cerda both testified Monday that they were unfairly targeted by Barrientes Vela while working under her.
Pressed for specifics about how Garcia had targeted him, De La Cerda said Garcia had retrieved his service weapon from him at De La Cerda’s home.
De La Cerda referred to Garcia as Barrientes Vela’s enforcer.
Sanchez repeatedly attacked the credibility of both Moreno and De La Cerda, pointing out that both men had been reprimanded by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement for falsifying training records.
Both Moreno, who was also temporarily stripped of his state training license, and De La Cerda confirmed that they did not contest the state reprimands.
Both deputies later received monetary settlements from the county over their treatment while working for Barrientes Vela.
“Former constable Vela’s record of leadership will speak for itself. I can say this much, that Marc Garcia served honorably and dutifully and when an organization is called into question, it really raises the question about everyone that served on that organization,” said Sanchez. “I’m still waiting for a central allegation against captain Garcia that would establish that he violated some protocol or policy. I haven’t heard it yet.”
The county’s civil service commission stated it hope to issue a ruling on Garcia’s reinstatement attempt late Monday.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.