Records detail Alton police chief's lewdness arrest

MISSION — Alton’s police chief had sex with a 22-year-old woman inside police vehicles on a weekly basis for more than a year, according to an auto parts store manager cited in police records.

Alton Police Chief Baldemar Flores, who plans on running for Mission mayor in the May 2010 election, turned himself in at the Mission Police Department on Monday. He said he learned of his arrest warrant on one count of public lewdness the night before.

"They’re allegations and I am really not going to comment on anything," Flores said Tuesday. "I’ll have my day in court."

Mission police first learned of the alleged public lewdness in July, when Assistant Police Chief Martin Garza was shopping at AutoZone, 2204 N. Conway Ave., court documents in the case show.

An AutoZone manager told Garza that he had seen several Alton police units and a black BMW car park behind the store since the beginning of last year, according to the criminal complaint in the case. A woman driving the BMW would exit her vehicle and get into the police unit, typically between noon and 3 p.m., the store manager told police.

On an unknown date, the store manager reported to police, he went behind the business to dump trash and witnessed a man and the woman — later identified as 22-year-old Cynthia Garcia — having sex on the front seat of an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria police car. The woman was completely nude at the time.

The manager and another employee told police they saw several Alton police vehicles parked beside the black BMW on multiple occasions beginning last year.

Garza told the manager to call police should he ever see the vehicles behind his store again.

When the manager saw the BMW and a black Ford Expedition pull up behind his store about 4:30 p.m. Friday, he called Garza.

Earlier in the week, the manager had informed police that he recognized the previously unknown man behind his store as Flores, after seeing the Alton chief being interviewed on a local television news program.

Upon hearing from the manager Friday, Garza and Mission Police Chief Leo Longoria responded to the area behind the store. No other officers were called to the scene, Longoria said.

Garza said he saw Flores leave the scene east on Griffin Parkway in the black Expedition, ahead of the BMW, the complaint states.

Longoria pulled over the BMW along Stewart Road near Griffin Parkway and interviewed Garcia, who later told police she had been in an intimate relationship with Flores since 2006. She told police they had been meeting behind the AutoZone and other area locations "for intimacy," the complaint states.

"Everybody is subject to an error or mistake," Longoria said at a news conference Tuesday morning. "However, that being the case, we are held responsible to those actions. The case is still under investigation so we must give (Flores) due process."

Police anticipate Garcia’s arrest, as well, but investigators are still "looking at a few more details," Longoria said.

Flores, 34, was released from the Hidalgo County Jail early Monday afternoon on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.

Texas Penal Code defines public lewdness as having sex with another person or "an animal or fowl" in a public place — or, if not in public, when a person "is reckless about whether another person is present who will be offended or alarmed." The Class A misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine upon conviction.

Flores, who said he will run for Mission mayor next year, has been Alton’s police chief since January 2008. Before that, he spent nearly nine years as a Mission police officer.

Flores said Monday he requested a leave of absence without pay from Alton "because of the circumstances," he said. He added that he would continue to work at Rapid Security Inc., a Mission-based private security firm he founded with his wife, Yolanda.

Alton City Manager Jorge Arcaute said the city would conduct its own investigation into the allegations against Flores. Assistant Police Chief Enrique Sotelo will fill in during Flores’ absence.

Flores’ lawyer, Richard Alamia, said his client’s arrest was "influenced by the political process."

"I question the whole thing and the whole process and the probable cause to even arrest my client," the Edinburg-based attorney said.

Longoria, the Mission police chief, said he could not comment whether local politics contributed to the investigation.

"If that’s something they want to move forward with, that’s up to them," he said of Flores and his lawyer.

Despite the public lewdness charge, Flores said he will move forward with his campaign for mayor.

"I think the citizens of Mission will realize what it is that’s going on within their city," he said. "They’ll know the differences that are going on and the changes that I’m going to bring about."

Mission Mayor Norberto "Beto" Salinas said he plans on running for re-election, adding that Flores, like any resident eligible for election, "has got the same right" to challenge him for the post.

"It’s a very sad thing to see what happened" to Flores, the mayor said. "I just can’t believe it."