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The hearing held in Hays County District Court on January 2, 2024, addressed the allegation that the Kyle Police Department improperly withheld a record ordered to be public. The record was used to protect the name of a claimed victim, a senior law enforcement official, who misused his office to harm a citizen. Despite ethical concerns and an unsuccessful legal battle, the Kyle PD refused to disclose the record and ignored court orders. This refusal may lead to contempt of court charges. The unethical conduct of the Kyle PD, has raised serious questions about the department’s integrity and accountability.
Kyle PD Defies Judicial Order
On January 2, 2024, there was a hearing held in Hays County District Court over the allegation that the Kyle Police Department (Kyle PD) was improperly withholding a record previously ordered public. The record was used to improperly protect the name of a claimed victim in a Kyle PD case. However, the use of the form was just a mode to improperly benefit the claimed victim and intentionally harm the person he focused on. The claimed victim was the highest law enforcement official for the City of Kyle.
For about two years, this top official elected to misuse his office to cause havoc and harm to a citizen who spoke the truth about him. The City of Kyle never took disciplinary action; instead, they elected to assist in violating the law. Even the City of Kyle Ethics Commission believed one misused his job, yet the City Manager swept it under the rug:
During the time of the matter in the video (2022), the community may remember J. Scott Sellers coming under fire for an “internal” complaint related to sexual harassment. Interestingly enough, the City of Kyle elected to ignore the external complaint identified to not be frivolous by a panel of citizens that formed the Ethics Commission.
Now, the City of Kyle is tangled in another legal matter where it already lost. This time it involves a pseudonym form that should never have been used. The form, in this case, was used so ones officers could run around and say they were investigating a matter for a “John Smith,” rather than telling people they were working on behalf of their senior official.
Eventually, the scheme came to a massive loss when the senior official lost his criminal case too. This time, in an embarrassing attempt to cover for the Police Chief, the prosecuting attorney’s office tried to make it look like the citizen took a deal. Nothing could be further than the truth. There was no deal, even when the prosecuting attorney wanted to reference such on a motion to dismiss. This was also disclosed in the court case where the Kyle PD continues to defy judicial order issued.
Kyle PD Refuses to Turn Over Exculpatory Records
The initial request for the pseudonym was during criminal discovery of the case the senior official lost. The citizen requested and received an order from the court for various pieces of discovery information, to include the pseudonym form. However, the citizen never had to request the form because the law says he is entitled to it:
(b) A completed and returned pseudonym form is confidential and may not be disclosed to any person other than the victim identified by the pseudonym form, a defendant in the case, or the defendant’s attorney, except on an order of a court.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedures, Article 58.153
He still requested it and made three open records requests. He made a request to the prosecuting attorney’s office (Travis County Attorney’s, acting as Pro Tem), the recusing attorney’s office (Hays County District Attorney’s Office), and the City of Kyle. Only the City of Kyle had the form. They attempted to withhold the record and effectively did such through violation of multiple orders to inform them they must release the record.
Even the criminal case ordered release of the form, yet, Kyle PD elected to attempt to use the Texas Attorney General’s Office to obtain a bad faith opinion to withhold the record. They have improperly relied upon that ruling for about two years.
Kyle PD Improperly Uses Pseudonym
One may ask, why does this form matter so much. They’d have good reason to ask. It is simple, because someone cannot simply use the form because they believe they’re victims of stalking. There are requirements which must be met to use a pseudonym:
“victim” means a person who is the subject of:(1) an offense that allegedly constitutes stalking under Section 42.072, Penal Code; or
(2) an offense that is part of the same criminal episode, as defined by Section 3.01, Penal Code, as an offense under Section 42.072, Penal Code.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedures, Article 58.151
In order to be subject to an offense of stalking, in certain aspects, there has to be multiple components. In this case, this started out with the citizen attempting to make a complaint on the City of Kyle’s senior law enforcement official. Instead of taking a complaint in September of 2018, the official elected to act like he was a stalking victim. The citizen was harmed for years – retaliated against – and it is just now being exposed: the illegal, elicit, and rouge conduct of Kyle PD.
The form matters because the official could never properly use it under the facts and circumstances in the case – but the senior official did use it because he didn’t want to be listed as the victim on his own employers records. This allowed him to have custody and control of Kyle PD to harm his victims. It allowed him to maintain his economic benefit without fear. He ended up misleading the City Council and did all of this to avoid even the smallest level of disciplinary action.
Kyle PD Still Has Not Complied With a Court Order
The order issued on January 8, 2024, mandates Kyle PD to turn over a record deemed public by multiple courts. Instead, they elect to improperly withhold the record. Now there may be a motion for contempt of court and a request the involved individual improperly withholding every citizens right to be held accountable in court.
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You may be interested in our publishing on two State Board of Pharmacy officers resigning to avoid termination.
Or you may find our publishing about a TABC officer resigning to avoid termination, of interest.
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