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In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, Hidalgo Early College High School Principal Rafael Tinoco alleged that the city of Hidalgo and three members of its police force violated his constitutional rights during what he describes as a “false arrest” last month that “boils down to nothing more than an attempted political take-down.”
He says he’s suffered over $20 million in damages as a result of that arrest and the allegations against him.
“Principal Rafael Tinoco wants nothing more but for the truth to come out and that all of the Defendants in this case be held accountable for their wrongful acts,” Tinoco’s lawyer, Francisco Tinoco, wrote in a statement. “Principal Rafael Tinoco looks forward to litigating his claims in Federal Court.”
Police arrested Principal Tinoco on March 24 and charged him with witness tampering after Guadalupe Amaya, a coach, told police that Tinoco had instructed him to change a written statement regarding an alleged assault of a student.
Law enforcement arrested Athletic Director Monty Stumbaugh on March 25 and charged him with assault.
Tinoco, who remains on leave at the district, has denied allegations against him and said he intends to prove his innocence in court.
Defendants in Tinoco’s suit include city and Mayor Sergio Coronado, along with Police Chief Romeo Rodriguez, Sgt. Raul Cantu and Investigator Esteban Lozano. Amaya is also a defendant.
Cantu and Lozano, he claims, violated his constitutional rights by arresting him without probable cause, violations he says were caused by policy failures on the part of Coronado and Rodriguez.
Tinoco also claims Amaya slandered him with false allegations to aid other defendants in what the suit describes as a conspiracy.
“Principal Rafael Tinoco wants nothing more but for the truth to come out and that all of the Defendants in this case be held accountable for their wrongful acts,” Tinoco’s lawyer, Francisco Tinoco, wrote in a statement. “Principal Rafael Tinoco looks forward to litigating his claims in Federal Court.”
The suit describes events since March 1, when two parents and “an interested party” approached Tinoco over concerns about a meeting the soccer team had in a locker room on Feb. 28.
Soccer players that day protested the absence of former coach Ezequiel Morales — who had been removed from his post earlier that month — walking off the field in protest and refusing to play. Sumbaugh had a Monitor reporter removed from that game by security.
The individuals who visited Tinoco on March 1 said that during a meeting with soccer players on Feb. 28, Stumbaugh used “threats” and “profanity,” the suit says, and one of those individuals told him he should contact Amaya about it.
Tinoco said he received a call from Amaya that afternoon, who said he wanted to report something about the soccer team and Stumbaugh and that “he did not want to get in trouble for not reporting it since he [Amaya] was there.”
After hearing Amaya’s description of what happened in the locker room, Tinoco asked him to provide a written statement, the suit says.
“What he saw, what he heard, just the facts,” it reads.
After Amaya dropped off that statement the next day, the suit said, a school police officer approached Tinoco and told him a parent had filed an assault complaint against Stumbaugh.
Tinoco called Amaya in his office and asked him whether he’d witnessed Stumbaugh grab or touch any student. Amaya said no, and Tinoco asked him to write a second statement with that answer, which he did, the suit says.
The suit contains copies of both statements, mostly written in Spanish.
That account contradicts the probable cause affidavit from Hidalgo police that led to Tinoco’s arrest.
That affidavit says Amaya told police Tinoco told him to change his statement to falsely claim that Coach Esteban Alegria was present in the locker room.
On March 22, officers Cantu and Lozano asked Tinoco to stop by the police station to provide them with a statement, according to the suit. He says he went there that afternoon, but the officers weren’t available and he was told they would call him later.
Tinoco called Amaya in his office and asked him whether he’d witnessed Stumbaugh grab or touch any student. Amaya said no, and Tinoco asked him to write a second statement with that answer, which he did, the suit says.
Tinoco claims that two strange interactions followed March 23 and the morning of March 24, when police arrested him. In both — one with Morales and one with Spanish teacher Nancy Cavazos — Tinoco was urged to “tell them the order came from upstairs,” both conversations vaguely alluding to some sort of conspiracy above Tinoco.
Tinoco says he told Morales he didn’t know what he was talking about and Cavazos, who seemed to reference the witness tampering allegation, that what she said wasn’t true.
Around 3:30 p.m. on March 24 Hidalgo police arrived on campus to arrest Tinoco.
The suit says Tinoco had been notified that media wanted to enter campus about an hour before, and alleges that reporters were notified of his impending arrest “in a further coordinated effort to pressure, intimidate and humiliate” him.
Lozano interviewed Tinoco at the Hidalgo Police Department, the suit said, recording the interview on a cellphone camera. Tinoco says the room had a video camera on the ceiling covered by a blue glove; during the interview Lozano, according to the lawsuit, Lozano received a call, said “OK” and stepped onto the counter to remove the glove.
At the end of the interview, the suit reads, Lozano asked Tinoco whether anyone was directing him to do what he’d done. He said no.
The suit claims Amaya’s statement to the police was deliberately false.
It alleges that the probable cause affidavit leading to Tinoco’s arrest was faulty and that officers Cantu and Lozano deliberately fabricated it, disregarding facts “in an attempt to take-down Plaintiff Rafael Tinoco and other employees at the Hidalgo School District for political gain.”
Tinoco said the allegations have ruined aspirations to a longterm career goal of becoming a superintendent.
“Those dreams have now been shattered and destroyed by the false arrest and malicious prosecution…” the suit reads.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
Police: Hidalgo principal arrested for tampering with a witness
Hidalgo ISD principal urged coach to change statement on student assault, affidavit says
Hidalgo ISD athletic director Monty Stumbaugh charged with assault
