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EDINBURG — The city council here is investigating one of their own after concerns that he may have improperly used his position to aid a man who was taken into custody by Edinburg police.
Twice now, the Edinburg City Council has held closed door discussions to determine whether Place 3 Councilman Johnny Garcia violated the city’s code of ethics when he came to the assistance of a longtime family friend during a traffic stop in early June.
But the outcome of those discussions remain largely shrouded in mystery.
Edinburg City Attorney Omar Ochoa declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of discussions that occur during an executive session of a public meeting.
“I can’t confirm that,” Ochoa said when asked after a special council meeting on Thursday whether the council had completed its investigation into the matter.
“I would suggest that you contact the city’s communication department and speak with them,” he said.
According to meeting agendas, the city council first took the matter under review during a specially called meeting that was held at noon on June 16.
That discussion was the sole item on the agenda.
However, Councilman Garcia himself said the matter is now closed.
“We just discussed the incident and, of course, we looked at every angle and nothing came out as far as negative. My position was never used,” Garcia said after Thursday’s lengthy meeting.
“Everything’s was cleared,” he added a moment later.
Garcia explained that the man, 20-year-old Cody Aguirre, is a family friend.
“I’m actually a pastor, so I’ve known the kid since he was born,” Garcia said.
According to Garcia, Aguirre called him to retrieve his vehicle after Edinburg police discovered Aguirre had an active warrant during a traffic stop just before midnight on June 8.
But police records from that night obtained by The Monitor reveal a sense of confusion from the officers — one of whom was still undergoing field training — over what occurred and how Aguirre was ultimately released from custody.
The incident sparked a flurry of late-night communication between the officers on the scene and the department’s top brass.
“Just and (sic) FYI; We had an incident involving councilman Johnny Garcia. Officers conducted a traffic stop moments ago near university and depot rd. (sic). The driver turned out to have an outstanding warrant out of the sheriff’s office,” Lt. Primitivo Rodriguez informed Chief Jaime Ayala and Assistant Chief Chad Dufner via text message at approximately 1 a.m.
“Somehow Councilman Garcia arrived at scene and got hold of the county court judge who issued the warrant,” Primitivo Rodriguez texted.
Further, according to the lieutenant, the judge issued an order “over the phone” to not take Aguirre into custody and that he would drop off paperwork for the warrant’s dismissal later that day.
The patrol officers had allowed Aguirre to make two phone calls to spare his vehicle from being impounded. During one of those calls, they overheard him refer to the person on the other end of the phone as “Johnny,” according to an internal investigations report.
Both Garcia and Aguirre’s mother arrived at the scene just minutes later. Garcia spoke with officers while Aguirre’s mother remained in the vehicle.
The police department immediately launched an internal affairs investigation into the incident, led by Lt. Orlando Garcia.
But Orlando Garcia’s probing just led to more questions.
When the patrol officers ran Aguirre’s identity that night, they were alerted to a warrant that had originated out of the 430th state District Court, where Aguirre faces two felony counts of drug possession.
The first is for cocaine possession and the second for possession of a substance containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
But the judge who ordered Aguirre’s dismissal that night was County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Rudy Gonzalez.
Furthermore, the case numbers didn’t match up between the release paperwork Gonzalez signed and the warrant which officers had been alerted to.
“So, in essence, he quashed someone else’s warrants, which is not even correct? As in warrants, another judge issued,” Chief Ayala asked Orlando Garcia via text.
“That’s what it appears like,” the internal affairs investigator replied.
Aguirre is also facing two misdemeanor charges in Gonzalez’s lower court — one for possession of marijuana and one for unlawful carrying of a handgun.
The charges in both courts appear to be tied to the same incident in November 2020 when Aguirre was arrested by Mercedes police.
Aguirre was scheduled to go before Judge Gonzalez the same day he was later pulled over by Edinburg police. When speaking to the patrol officers via phone that night, Gonzalez said Aguirre had appeared before him via Zoom.
But that day, June 8, was one of several during which the entire Hidalgo County Courthouse was shut down due to a lack of air conditioning.
The courthouse didn’t reopen until the middle of the following week, a fact which the police chief noted in text messages to Orlando Garcia.
“Also, the courts were closed yesterday,” Ayala said.
Ultimately, it was the councilman who called Judge Gonzalez that night. And it was the councilman who volunteered to personally go to the judge’s house to pick up the release paperwork, according to the internal affairs investigation report.
And though a sergeant was on duty overseeing the patrol officers that night, it was Primitivo Rodriguez who “told Johnny Garcia he spoke with the officers who would release the male subject on-scene,” the report states.
At the end of his conversation with the internal affairs investigators, Chief Ayala indicated he didn’t think there was enough probable cause to levy charges against Councilman Garcia.
“For abuse of official capacity, we would need to prove his intent to obtain a benefit or intent to defraud or harm another. I don’t think we have enough to prove either,” Ayala texted to Orlando Garcia on June 13, five days after the incident.
Meanwhile, the failure to appear warrant that sparked the entire incident has since been canceled.
Judge Israel Ramon, of the 430th state District Court, issued a recall on the warrant on June 26.
