SAN BENITO — A police officer is claiming former Police Chief Martin Morales agreed to dismiss her sexual harassment case to protect Police Chief Michael Galvan.
Officer Guadalupe Andrade has requested the city reopen the sexual harassment case she filed against Galvan about two years ago.
That’s when Galvan was the department’s assistant chief.
In a May 31 letter to city commissioners, Andrade wrote the recent disclosure of Galvan’s private recordings show Morales agreed to dismiss her case as “unfounded.”
Earlier this week, commissioners called for an investigation into Galvan’s recordings of private conversations with city officials, including commissioners and police officers.
Nearly 500 recordings were apparently downloaded from a public server at the San Benito Public Library and distributed to individuals.
The recordings apparently focus on conversations whose topics include police officer cases and citizen complaints.
Yesterday, city spokeswoman Martha McClain confirmed City Manager Manuel De La Rosa has received the letter addressed to commissioners, but declined comment as to whether the city would investigate the officer’s claims of a cover up.
Commissioners will review Andrade’s claims, Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez said.
“They are very serious allegations,” Rodriguez said. “You need proof. If the proof is there, we have to look at it. If they did wrong, they have to be held accountable.”
Galvan and Morales, who now serves as a lieutenant in the department’s internal affairs division, did not respond to messages requesting comment.
In her letter, Andrade states her original sexual harassment case claimed Galvan grabbed her buttocks while she reached toward a ceiling.
The letter states Galvan, the assistant chief at the time, claimed he reached out to prevent the officer from falling.
Morales failed to interview witnesses and investigate the case, Andrade states.
“Mr. Galvan did not have a justifiable reason to defile me the way we did,” she writes.
“To make matters worse, Mr. Morales refused to go into greater detail of the sexual harassment incident and within a few days he told me that he was closing the case and gave me a letter stating that my case was unfounded.”
Now, she wrote, Galvan’s recordings reveal an hour-long conversation with Morales in which Morales agrees to “keep it to himself and that no one needs to know” and “this could blow up in our faces and ruin our careers and positions,” according to Andrade’s letter.
In the recording, she wrote, Morales tells Galvan, then assistant police chief, that Morales will “help him out.”
Galvan expresses concern the officer would inform then-Mayor Celeste Sanchez of the sexual harassment claim, Andrade wrote.
At one point in the letter, she wrote: “Galvan responds by telling him, ‘Well, my biggest fear is that (the officer) is going to tell the mayor and she is going to believe her because the mayor does what (the officer) wants.’”
Galvan could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Last week, Galvan said police officers privately record conversations to better support their police cases.
Meanwhile, Galvan said the individual who downloaded the recordings and those in their possession could face felony charges of tampering with evidence.
Galvan also said he would open an internal investigation to determine who downloaded the recordings.
Galvan said he suspected a disgruntled police officer downloaded the recordings in an effort to damage his reputation because he implemented changes in line with police standards.
Last year, Galvan took over as police chief after serving as assistant chief since 2012.
– Recordings were accessed from a public computer server at the San Benito Public Library
– Recordings of conversations with city officials and police officers and citizens
– Recordings apparently involve police officer cases and citizen complaints
