A newly elected city council member and the acting police chief of Wilmer were arrested in separate but related incidents last week.
According to an affidavit released by the Wilmer Police Department, Moses Garcia was arrested on July 22 related to an incident at a gas station in the city.
Police said Garcia, who was elected to the city council in May, threatened violence against a man at the gas station.
“The complainant, Jackson Rickey, reported that while at the Shell gas station, Moses Garcia approached him and began making threatening and aggressive statements toward him,” read the affidavit. “Jackson reported Garcia referred to him using racial slurs and threatened to ‘beat his ass.’”
Garcia was arrested and charged with terroristic threat, a Class B misdemeanor.
The next day, investigators searching for surveillance footage of the incident found acting Police Chief Jesus Mancillas asking for the same footage while in plain clothes.
"[He] did not display any other indication that he was acting as a commissioned peace officer," read the affidavit.
Mancillas took the footage and later sent an email to investigators informing them he would "be managing this case completely until further notice."
Mancillas was then charged with interference of public duties, a class B misdemeanor. The affidavit was signed by Detective Sergeant Isabel Peña and Sergeant Arturo Almanza as the affiant.
"Your affiant believes that Mancillas, while acting in this civilian capacity, inserted himself into an active criminal investigation and performed duties involving criminal investigative evidence and information gathered for law enforcement purposes," the affidavit read.
During an interview with NBC5 following the arrest, Garcia and his attorney Joshua Carpenter said Garcia and the complainant are “friends.”
“He's a good friend of mine, and, uh, our normal conversations when we see each other, if there's no profanity, there's something wrong with me and Rickey," Garcia told NBC5.
KERA reached out to Garcia and the city of Wilmer for comment and will update this story with any response.
KERA previously reported on Garcia for campaigning against rapid data center growth in the rural southern Dallas County town of about 7,000 people. His arrest follows a series of firings and resignations at the city.
Wilmer’s former mayor Sheila Petta resigned earlier this month and the former city administrator, police chief and other officials stepped down or were asked to resign by the council since the beginning of the year.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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