claims of a San Antonio Police
Department captain having sex on duty
with a female subordinate tonight the
internal affairs investigator who worked
the case says s APD's command staff took
steps to cover it up as early as this
summer all they had to do was get out in
front of this and say hey as soon as we
found out about this we took swift
action this was done this and that and I
would have died down but why they felt
that they needed to cover this up that's
what really got me he is retired SA PD
sergeant Jim Jones despite the threat of
being arrested by an agency he proudly
served for 35 years
Jones sat down with the night team's
Dylan Collier and handed over
information the department did not want
you to see detailing a sex scandal kept
in the dark until now it's tonight's
defenders investigation it may be
embarrassing and I and I under and I
understand that and my intended it's not
to embarrass anyone in April longtime
internal affairs sergeant Jim Jones was
asked to investigate whether SAPD
captain Alex de la Garza and a female
officer engaged in a month-long affair
often on duty and often on city property
you do not want to answer any questions
regarding this investigation is that
correct that's correct
de la Garza who did not respond to our
request for comment also refused to talk
about the sexual misconduct when
interrogated by Jones in late May and
instead retired a week later walking
away according to records handed over by
the city with more than one hundred
fifty six thousand dollars in accrued
leave even without the captain's
cooperation Jones was able to gather
convincing evidence that sexual
misconduct took place I was able to
piece together a pattern if you will the
other officer came clean during two
interviews with Jones and handed over
copies of hundreds of emails between her
and de la Garza which detailed the
affair and their initial efforts to hide
it from the department
it's my question another supervisor
identified as lieutenant Brent Bell was
pulled into internal affairs after
evidence showed he served as a middleman
for the two officers to communicate even
after a no contact order was given you
asked me specific questions and I gave
you specific answers if you know that
there's an ia investigation and and even
if you didn't know that there was a no
contact order why would you put yourself
in the middle of that May 25th after
8:00 p.m.
Jones witnessed the direction of his
decades-long career changed during a
single phone call I'm outside in my back
patio with my wife grilling on the line
the commander of Internal Affairs
captain Timothy Vaughn he told me says
hey Jim he had just gotten back from
spending a lot of time in the chief's
office and he had been speaking with the
chief of staff deputy chief Robert
Blanton he said that they didn't want it
to make the papers so no it they didn't
want to issue discipline so that it
wouldn't be available to the media or to
the public
issuing verbal and written counseling to
the officers instead of suspensions men
SAPD wouldn't have to release any
records
Vaughn adding the chief's office was
circling the wagons that the
investigation would be too damaging I
said captain I don't think that's a
that's a smart decision two months
before the case was finalized and weeks
before it even went before the complaint
board for review its fate had already
been decided it just showed that they
did what they were planning on doing all
along even before I was finished with
the investigation I hadn't put the case
together yet I was still planning on
interviewing captain DeLaGarza again the
defenders made four request to interview
Chief William McManus for this story
instead of responding the city attorney
stepped in sending us this letter last
week claiming Jones committed a felony
by releasing records to us in
threatening legal action against KSAT if
we didn't immediately abandon the story
we didn't bow to the city's ultimatum am
I worried sure I mean nobody wants get
arrested nobody and their knee-jerk
reaction will be to either shut me up or
retaliate against me in some way I've
already contacted the criminal attorney
I have a I have a civil attorney in mind
already I'm prepared I've already told
my wife what to do when the officers
come to either execute a search warrant
or arrest warrant for the defenders
Dillon call your case at 12 News Jones
said he made the decision to retire
early and come forward to case out after
countless sleepless nights Thursday on
the night being you'll hear directly
from Jones supervisors in this case late
Friday Chief William McManus released
the following statement to the defenders
which we will read in its entirety the
illegally released recordings are a
grossly incomplete picture of the
disciplinary process in the specifics of
this case I made a decision based on the
full set of facts keeping it out of the
public view was not the basis for my
decision I cannot disclose those facts
because they are protected under state
law a new story suggesting otherwise
based on incomplete facts illegally
released is irresponsible and not fair
to the victim