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 (Oscar) 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.
24 comments:
Your writing is too-dense, bro. Short sentences! smh
Those minors were there under his supervision!!! What a crock of shit! He gets fired for this and now he wants to turn it around and sue the city? Please don’t settle out of court COB!!!
He’s lucky that he isn’t being prosecuted. When a minor confides abuse, you are required to contact authorities before anyone else.
did you all read the story?
@1524 & @1617
We need a lot more people in the city to be whistle blowers.
Idiots comment 3:24 and 4:17. The accuser wasn’t the one who was fired! It was the supervisor who reported the incident to director and assistant. . City parks and recreation tried to cover it up. As a educator any crime needs to be reported and damaris and Raul need to be held accountable for not taking action! City failed in protecting these minors. City should have ran a background check with any employee working directly with minors. City needs to fire Raul Marbato and Damaris McGlone! If I were the parents I would go after these two people and the city for allowing them to not run background checks. Hope the accuser is charged and never allowed near minors.
If Damaris McGlone is involved, that’s all one needs to know. She’s the biggest fuck that exists on this planet. Isn’t any wonder that the Parks Dept always looks like shit when compared to other departments. This chick runs from fire to fire biggest she can’t even tie her shoe laces on time. Chris Patterson was a saint compared to her. Please dispatch her to somewhere she can’t fuck up as bad, or even worse just get rid of her ass.
“Dirty little secrets" from McGlone in Parks & Recreation, facts begin to uncover the range, if not the depth, of such corruption and her abuse of power; will Bernal put an end to it? transparency neither honesty haven’t been her mantra with the COB; city records and hearsay evidence would substantiate how she pushed the right buttons to get her husband's father company awarded for the Civic Pavillion audio system upgrade project; inducement is improper, wrong and unlawful, McGlone is a succinct definition of corruption and abuse of public office for private gain…
Where that park director come from Harlingen with a GED other gringo smh kms.
This is not elemenatry to write short sentences pendejo at: February 12, 2020 at 12:42 PM
How can you let a supervisor like Damaris McGlone remain on her job? She is not supervisor material. She is a liability to the city. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Ask her employees and others under her what they think of her. She’s a nut and incompetent. All her failures are everyone’s else’s fault. The city has many other qualified people that could be moved around to fill her shoes. If the my let her remain then Bernal should be the next to go. And if not now it will happen soon because of her negligence.
How many incompetent gringos are employed by the city being paid by hispanic tax payers??? Do as the others, promote them to ass city managers isn't that the common route of advancement for all these incompetent AHs...
for 10.39 am i agree with you is the browntown city manager noel(No Balls) Bernal do anything about this or just look the other way like he did when he was in la villa or falfurrias? He will just look the other way, dont want to make waves, me corren from my jale.
For you dumb fucks that think that reading the “whole” story on here is understanding it, you are sadly mistaken. KBB was under the supervision of Mr. Whistleblower… He was the one that had these kids working with individuals that they should have never been around. He was the one that put these children in precarious positions and is now trying to turn everything on the city. He no longer had his momma in the COB HR department to help save him from all his fuck ups… Pathetic shitty individual who put the KBB children in danger and then is trying to benefit monetarily, GTFO here with that bullshit!!!
Hearsay evidence… That’s nice… Let’s take that to court…
Where was the HR department on all of this? They could have prevented all of this mess if they were contacted.
Gringos dept heads don't use the HR dept because its run by a meskin
Thats why they screwed up
You know that you racist pieces of shit are the ones that keep the division going… Regardless of what “color” or ethnic background the director is or has, it was the whistleblower that was the direct supervisor to the KBB children. It was his doing that had this children in harm’s way. He’s brown… does that matter to you racist bastards? Why can’t you look past color and ethnicity and see content of character? Especially where Mr. Deleon is a piece of shit and so is his character…
I love the racism towards gringos. You people are so ignorant it hurts. Your part of the problem racists!!!
Its incompetence idiota whites gringos walk aroung here like their shit don't sting but it does and travels a long way. When they get their mojones out that won't make a difference any way, its ingrained in their dna genes and what ever. ESTUPIDO BABOSO...
White or Brown who here knows where the word GRINGO came from or how is was first used????
February 17, 2020 at 11:16 AM
Idiota you only care about white gringo targeted racism what about towards mexican why don't you complain about that pinche pendejo idiota there's a lot of that here it doesn't bother YOU idiota only gringo the piece of shit is you bastardo...
La bandeja should evaluate all the gringos working for the COB and demote them to assistant city managers but he won't he's a coco himself and thinks he's a gringo white boy. Incompetent gringos are rewarded and promoted to ass city manager like the airport director never fixed the traffic congestion on billy mitchell and boca chica so he got promoted...
Who's next the city traffic engineers????
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