Police arrested former McAllen Memorial baseball coach Felipe Barrera Tuesday for allegedly harassing and threatening Athletic Director Brian McClenny.
Barrera, 52, was charged with stalking, a third-degree misdemeanor. He was released from the Hidalgo County jail Wednesday on a $10,000 bond and on the condition that he is to have no contact with McClenny.
Court documents allege Barrera threatened McClenny with an “ass whipping” on two occasions.
Barrera, who started at Memorial as head baseball coach in 2020, resigned on March 16.
McClenny told police that Barrera was going to be placed on leave pending an investigation into alleged misconduct due to vulgarity, but before that investigation began, Barrera resigned. Barrera then requested to be “paid for days that he would no longer be working as he was no longer a coach,” the court documents say.
Barrera began sending McClenny direct messages about that pay, the documents say, but he had already begun a formal process with the district to address the complaint.
The messages, McClenny said, continued.
“Brian stated that he would receive several text messages from Felipe, but would only reply stating he had already filed his complaint and he would have a hearing for said complaint,” the documents say.
On May 10, McClenny told police he received several text messages from Barrera asking for the money he believed was owed to him.
Barrera added that he had “a list of guys that need ‘an ass beating’ and that Brian could work his way onto that list if he is not paid,” the documents said.
Barrera also allegedly told McClenny that he would be in his office the next morning if he didn’t get an answer.
McClenny told police Barrera had a reputation for being “hot headed and aggressive.”
The documents said that McClenny did not respond to Barrera’s messages and that he was on edge the following day, waiting to see if the former coach would actually show up at his office.
On May 25, McClenny told police about another threatening message he received from Barrera on May 23. He provided police with text messages that said, “That’s it! Ass whipping is like a bad kid getting as (sic) Ass whipping with the belt.”
McClenny told police he feared Barrera would make good on that threat.
Asked for comment on the arrest, the district noted that Barrera is no longer an employee, but said it couldn’t say much else.
“We are aware of the situation but since this is a personnel matter, we cannot discuss it any further,” a statement said.
Arrests over threats to Rio Grande Valley school districts since the Uvalde shooting on May 24 have climbed into the double digits.
