Donna police chief back at work; now looking for a civil attorney
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
Donna Police Chief Gilbert “Gil” Guerrero is back on the job, but he isn’t taking his suspension lightly, even if the sexual harassment allegation against him fell flat. For him, it’s personal, and now it’s time for him to find his own attorney, he said earlier this week.
As mentioned in a column published in last week’s Advance News, his job suspension came out of the blue late last month, and now he’s claiming that it was a political hack job, plain and simple.
An attempt to get Donna Mayor David Moreno’s side of the story was unsuccessful, so if this story seems one-sided, it’s not intentional.
In the Beginning
According to Guerrero, he first learned that he was no longer suspended from his job during a phone call he received from the Donna city manager last Friday over the phone at 5 p.m.
“He said, the investigation found nothing, you’re cleared, and you can come back.”
Asked if he’s learned anything from this experience, Guerrero said simply, “I’ve done nothing wrong. And I learned that people can be ruthless. They don’t care about family, or a person’s career. They’re going to go after you, no matter the cost.”
Guerrero worked with the Pharr PD for approximately 20 years, and then worked for the Texas AG’s office, before returning to his hometown, where he was first appointed police chief six years ago.
With regard to the allegation that he sexually harassed a city employee, Guerrero said there is zero evidence to support it.
“There are no emails, no text messages, nothing. No audio, no video, absolutely nothing, no obscene texts. No recordings of me yelling at employees, mistreating women, degrading women, nothing. There is just (her) word.”
The claim of sexual harassment came from a city employee who has run for political office in the past, and based on her social media posts, is expected to run for public office later this year. For this story, she won’t be named, but if she does file to run for the Donna school board later this year, then she enters into the realm of being a public figure, and this particular claim made against Guerrero would become fair game for the opposition.
The Donna police chief said that during the course of his law enforcement career, 30-plus years, he has worked with many female colleagues, and there has never been a sexual-harassment complaint filed against him.
Guerrero said he first learned of his suspension two weeks ago, Tuesday, Jan. 23, in the mid-morning hours. The day prior, Monday, the chief said that the city manager notified him that the female employee had filed a complaint against him the previous Friday (on Jan. 19).
When was he allegedly supposed to have sexually harassed her? Before last November’s municipal election? Immediately after?
“I was supposed to have sexually harassed her throughout the entire year (2023),” he said. “She doesn’t even give a date when this (allegedly) happened. She has no idea. But she had to come up with something.”
During last year, this woman in question was working at the PD, working on a grant.
“But she couldn’t even handle the grant-writing (process),” said Guerrero. “In fact, we (the city) ended up losing that grant because no stats were produced.”
This, despite the fact that the female employee in question had been working on it for about a year and nine months, according to the police chief.
Looking toward the future, said Guerrero, her position at the PD was not considered to be a full-time gig moving forward.
“In September of 2023, we learned that the grant was not going to be given to us at the end because the grants are handed out in October.”
Still, Guerrero said he went to bat for the employee.
“I went to the (previous) mayor, Ric Morales, and said, ‘This woman has a family, so is there any way the city can get her a job somewhere else?’” The fact that Guerrero actually tried to help out the woman who would later go on to stab him in the back, as he describes it, is one of the things that he finds the most hurtful.
“I also went to the city manager, saying, hey, let’s get her on board, give her a job. I did for her what I would do for any other city employee.”
This would have been a month or so prior to the November 2023 election, which saw the departure of longtime Donna mayor, Ric Morales, and the introduction of his replacement, David Moreno.
“I’m the one who got the city to create a (new) position for her, so she could keep her salary.”
The woman currently works at another city department.
“(Mayor) Morales said, ‘The city will find a job for her. We’re not going to have anyone out there on the streets.’” Based on what would follow — the sexual harassment filed by her last month against Guerrero — often makes cynics resurrect the old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
While the woman was working at the PD, Guerrero said he also did what he could to help encourage her to get her college degree.
“My motto at the PD, we have a saying, family comes first. Family comes first, guys, let’s take care of our families.”
Why Did This Happen?
Asking Guerrero if he knows why this happened to him, he doesn’t hold back.
“The minute that I was suspended, the acting police chief was told to reinstate a (former) assistant police chief who I had already gotten rid of.”
Guerrero said he removed the former assistant police chief in December 2023.
“The reason that I removed him was because he was supposed to be reporting to the bridge (Donna Rio-Bravo International). But I caught him going to breakfast out of the city for two hours every day. And I had GPS tracking in his (vehicle), and I produced all of that and handed it to the city manager. Yet, the minute I got suspended, they wanted him reinstated at the PD.”
Granted, this may be one of those “wow” moments, but Donna, whether it be city or ISD, has had more than its fair share of “wow moments” over the years.
After Guerrero was reinstated late last week, plans to bring back the former assistant chief fell flat, at the chief’s insistence. He had already violated city procedures, according to Guerrero, so why bring him back for a second go-around?
“That’s the same guy who was making $110,000 a year even though he didn’t qualify for the position.”
At present, Guerrero has been Donna police chief for six years.
So how did the former assistant chief get the job in the first place?
Guerrero cuts quickly to the heart of the matter as he sees it: “Politics.”
At the time, 2022, Donna had a different city manager, (interim) Frank Perez.
“He (Perez) suspended me because he said I had interviewed him too harshly. And then two months later, he fired me because he said I had refused to let (Donna PD) officers respond to a (school shooting threat). Which wasn’t true.”
In fact, based on an anonymous tip, it was the Donna PD, with the help of the FBI, that would later identify four suspects, two aged 17, and two minors, who were later arrested and taken into custody before any school incident could occur.
Support/No Support
Guerrero said that during this sexual-harassment allegation, the four city councilmen — Jesse Jackson, Joey Garza, Jr., Ernesto Lugo, and Oscar Gonzalez — have reached out to him in a show of support, but Mayor David Moreno has said nothing.
“I don’t want to give anyone room to say that I’m attacking them personally” said Guerrero, “but it’s David Moreno (the mayor). He’s the one (behind all of this).”
Looking at the city council makeup in 2022 and in 2024, given the fact that the city had different city managers both years, the one common denominator during both of Guerrero’s troubles, as it were, has indeed been David Moreno, who was a city councilman before being elected mayor last year.
Moreno, 55, was first elected to the city council in 2020, running on a slate with then-Mayor Ric Morales at the time. He’s been a longtime employee with Donna ISD.
On Jan. 4, 2023, he was arrested in Weslaco, charged with DWI and speeding (allegedly doing 50 in a 30).
Currently, Moreno has a pre-trial hearing set for March 6, 2024. It had been originally set for Sept. 28, 2023, but what with the upcoming city election and all...
His attorney of record is Robert J. Salinas, who also serves as city attorney. Moreno’s case rests in County Court-at-Law #4 (Judge Fred Garza).
According to the criminal complaint filed March 29, 2023: “DAVID MORENO, on or about the 4th day of January, 2023, did then and there operate a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug or a combination of two or more substances into the body.”
A search of the District Clerk’s Office shows no priors.
This is Personal
Having been a cop, basically, for 30-plus years, Guerrero is no stranger to stress, aggravation, especially considering that he’s been the police chief in Donna for six years, where politics is often considered more of a sport than public service.
“But this one,” said Guerrero, “hit my family hard. You know, I worked for Pharr for 20 years, the AG’s office, where I would do white-collar investigations and ride around with female investigators all day, both at the state level and the federal level. Beautiful women. Never had a complaint. I worked with eight women at the AG’s Office, rode around with them for eight hours, never had a complaint.”
Given his clean record as it relates to job performance, this allegation coming out of Donna late last month really upset him, Guerrero said.
“That blew my mind because I have always respected women. But when I hear family members crying, what am I going to do but reassure them that everything is going to be okay. What can I do, though, because this thing (the allegation) is already out there.”
On a more positive note, said Guerrero, he would be remiss if he didn’t thank his supporters, those who stood by him after the charge of sexual harassment allegation hit him like a ton of bricks.
“I’ve had hundreds of calls, a lot of people who stood by me. I do want to mention the support I got especially from (city council members) Oscar Gonzalez, Jesse Jackson, Joey Garza, Jr., and Ernesto Lugo. Those guys were solid with me. I never talked to them, but I would get texts, hey, keep your head up, that sort of thing, just let the process take its course.”
After he was reinstated to his job, then the calls came from other public officials, but the one omission, said Guerrero, is the mayor, David Moreno.
“To this day, he has yet to call me. Guilty conscience, my friend. Guilty conscience.”
The Donna chief, now back at his job, said he has a date with the Texas Rangers, soon, because he is contemplating looking at official oppression or abuse of power, because there was clear malicious intent here, he said.
“I’m going to get myself an attorney and seek a civil case against the city, against my accuser, and a certain public official. I’m going to go for them.”
Stay tuned.