Report

Mar 4, 2010 — The Dallas Morning News

Kevin Krause and Ed Timms

Mar. 4, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Dallas County Constable Derick Evans may have abused his office by requiring his deputies to fund his re-election campaigns by selling raffle tickets or buying the tickets themselves, according to a report by the county's special investigator.

The 16-page preliminary report, released by County Judge Jim Foster, cites statements from numerous employees who said they were intimidated into providing security without pay at several community events.

The report, prepared by former FBI agent Danny Defenbaugh, said other allegations of criminal misconduct by Evans were turned over to the FBI and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, which is conducting a criminal investigation of constables.

Evans has not been charged with a crime and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying he is the target of a political witch hunt.

State Sen. Royce West, who is Evans' lawyer, said personnel matters need to be dealt with in the proper venue.

"Derick Evans stands by everything he's done while in office. The voters overwhelmingly re-elected him," he said. "I'm disappointed in Foster and what he's done. We'll be rid of him at the first of the year."

The report's release comes one day after Evans easily defeated three opponents in the Democratic primary, and Foster was defeated. Evans does not face a Republican in the fall.

"I'm greatly concerned about any mistreatment of employees," Foster said. "We will continue to pursue this until it's resolved."

Evidence indicates that Evans runs his office with an "improper or corrupt motive and malfeasance," the report concluded. It said Evans may have committed at least two crimes: abuse of official capacity and official oppression.

The report said 73 percent of the money Evans raised for his campaign in 2007 came from his employees, while 89 percent came from employees in 2008.

Allegations that Evans had been pressuring employees to raise campaign money by selling raffle tickets were reported by The Dallas Morning News almost four months ago.

The use of raffle tickets to raise campaign cash, which critics say undermines the integrity of the constable's office, also appears to be illegal. Texas' anti-gambling law says only certain charities and nonprofits can hold raffles.

Allegations about deputies being forced to work off-duty security details without pay were first addressed in a separate report from Defenbaugh that Foster released last month.

In that report, Defenbaugh concluded that deputies from Evans' office and from Jaime Cortes' Precinct 5 office improperly received the equivalent of more than $15,000 from the county for security work at Kwanzaa Fest, a charity event run by Commissioner John Wiley Price.

The report also said that while 49 deputies received compensatory time for the work, at least 22 others were "intimidated and coerced" into providing security work without compensation for the annual December event.

Price, founder of the Kwanzaa Fest event at Fair Park, said deputies volunteered to work the event and that he didn't know anything about comp time being given to them.

Foster and two county commissioners hired Defenbaugh last September to investigate the employment practices of Evans and Cortes after they said numerous employees came forward to complain of abuses.

Last month, Foster released a similar investigative report of Cortes' office that concluded it was rife with systemic corruption. That report cites witnesses who claim to have seen Evans take suspicious envelopes from the owner of a company that has an exclusive contract from Evans to tow vehicles.

West said Defenbaugh and his lawyer, John Barr, told him that he and Evans would have an opportunity to read the report and answer allegations before it was made public.

"Then, right after Foster loses the election, he releases the report. That tells you this whole thing is politically motivated," West said.

Barr said West asked to review the report before it was released but did not respond to several e-mails inviting him to do so.

Foster said that if West was concerned about the report being released, he should have contacted him. He said he is committed to open and transparent government for as long as he remains in office.

"I don't report to Senator West. I think the public has the right to know," Foster said. "My concern is for the employees and the citizens of this county, not Senator West."

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who voted for the constable investigation, said releasing the report the day after the primary was not politically motivated. If so, the time to release the report would have been before the election, he said.

West, he said, "would be saying that no matter when it was released."

"That's laughable to say that any of this was politically motivated," Mayfield said. "We have employees and former employees who stepped forward and put themselves out there. And put it in writing. And swore to it. And it's time after time, incident after incident. It's not coincidence."

Foster said now that the report has been released, he and the commissioners will have to consider whether to raise Evans' surety bond to protect the county from liability. A group of current and former deputy constables has sued the county over abuse allegations, he said.

Elected county officials are required to post a surety bond as insurance to protect the county from any liability that may arise from their official actions. By law, commissioners can raise the standard bond amount of $1,500 if they think it is insufficient.

Commissioners are expected to consider raising Cortes' bond at an upcoming meeting.

"We want to see what we believe our liability has been -- and will be -- and then set a bond sufficient to cover that," Mayfield said.

Commissioners also can reduce the size of the constables' staffs through the budgetary process, Mayfield said.

"We don't have to equip them to go out and do patrols," he said. "It seems that's a lot of the problem."

The fewer people Evans has, the fewer opportunities he has to ask them for money and to "try to make them work for free," Mayfield said.

AT A GLANCE: CONSTABLE INVESTIGATION

Key elements of an investigative report on Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans released Wednesday by the county:

-- Numerous deputies say they were coerced into selling $25 raffle tickets for Evans' campaign or buying the tickets themselves.

-- Numerous deputies say they were forced to provide security without pay at several community events, including Kwanzaa Fest, Harambee Fest, Cinco de Mayo and a Martin Luther King Jr. parade.

-- Evans violated the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits officials from coercing contributions from subordinates in support of a political party or candidate.

-- Each Evans supervisor either is engaged in active misconduct along with Evans or is "complacent in not addressing the rampant supervisory misconduct and possible criminal behavior."

-- Some, if not all, supervisors warrant criminal investigation for their actions.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0046-42545812