By Juan Montoya
The City of Brownsville has been sued by a former Parks and Recreation employee fired over his reporting of acts of alleges sexual assault and harassment by a parks employee on a minor who was a volunteer with the Keep Brownsville Beautiful (KBB) Program.
The suit was filed electronically February 10 and was assigned to the 107th District Court. The city has yet to be served.
Former Public Works Department and Parks and Recreation employee Hilario de Leon, who had been with the city for 10 years, alleges that three female volunteers aged 16, 17, and 18, under his direction as KBB Program director, met at his office on August 19 and complained that a male Recreational Attendant had acted inappropriately while they were under his care and supervision.
The women told him that the attendant "on a routine basis had physically assaulted and sexually harassed a 16-year-old female KBB volunteer by grabbing her from behind her body....during the time period under his supervision."
De Leon said he contacted Park Ranger Georgie Garcia who then requested that the he place the complaint in writing. Garcia then told De Leon that the volunteers file their written complaint to Supervisor Raul Marbato and that they did so on Aug. 14.
After Marabato received the emailed complaints he forwarded them to supervisor Gloria Gonzalez. A scheduled meeting between the volunteers and parents for Sept. 18 was cancelled and one held instead the following day, Sept. 19 which was attended only by De Leon, Supervisor Gonzalez and Ranger Garcia and none of the KBB volunteers or their parents.
De Leon claims that at a October 2 meeting between him Gonzalez and Parks Department Director Damaris McGlone he informed her of the girls' complaints and he was told that from then on he could only report to her regarding any allegations or complaints from KBB volunteers before any other parks personnel or law enforcement personnel was informed.
At a subsequent meeting between Gonzalez and Garcia and the volunteers who had complained from which he was excluded, Gonzalez was said to have downplayed the incident and concluded that their complaints were not valid. He then informed the volunteer that she had the right to go to the Brownsville Police Dept. or the KBB board chairman.
Suspecting that director McGlone and other administrators were engaging in a cover-up, De Leon said he met with chairman (?) Zertuche on October 25 and informed him of the alleged assaultive behavior by the attendant. That same day supervisor Gonzalez handed him a letter of suspension with pay for not following the directive by McGlone and charged him with insubordination and failure to follow the chain of command.
He then filed a police report (1910-2357). At a pre-disciplinary meeting held Oct. 30, De Leon and his legal counsel handed McGlone a written statement that he had filed a police report in the matter. Present at that meeting was Asst. City Attorney Al Padilla.
On November 22, he received a notice from McGlone that he was fired from his job.
He then appealed the termination through his whistleblower complaint January 7, 2020. His appeal was concluded January 28 and he was terminated.
Meanwhile, the attendant allegedly assaulting the minor is still employed by the city and the Parks Department does not carry out criminal background checks on attendant applicants who oversee some 85 KBB volunteers, many of who are minors.
De Leon's lawsuit seeks monetary relief over $200,000 but not more than $1 million.
The law firm of Hodge and "Roca" Shergold is representing De Leon.