• Sonny Long •
• Originally published May 29, 2008 at 11:24 p.m., updated May 29, 2008 at 11:24 p.m.

An independent investigator will be brought in to assist the Cuero Police Department’s investigation into who entered the city’s administration building and what they were up to on a recent Sunday morning.

“I am going to meet with an investigator who works on a consulting basis for cities to do employee interviews in situations like this,” said Lt. Chris Hernandez, the police department’s lead investigator. “At this point, until we know more, there’s no need to call in the Texas Rangers. This is the next step.”

The investigation stems from an incident reported by Cuero city secretary Lisa Moravitz. During a special session Wednesday night Hernandez reported the results of his investigation so far to the Cuero City Council.

At about 10:25 a.m. May 18, Moravitz saw two men outside the side door of the city administration building on Main Street. Moravitz was across the street at the fire station “picking up a picture,” she said.

Moravitz reported that the men said they were doing work in an upstairs office and one was holding two wires, according to Hernandez’s report. One of the men went back in the building to the city secretary’s office and there was a ladder underneath an air conditioning vent that “appeared to have been messed with,” Hernandez reported. The lieutenant added that according to Moravitz the man grabbed the ladder and left before she could ask any more questions.

Hernandez said his investigation has revealed that the city’s normal maintenance crew had no work orders or scheduled maintenance for that weekend, nor has anything been paid out for service that weekend.

“It doesn’t appear to be criminal,” said Hernandez, indicating building employees reported nothing missing. “No one had the intention of burglarizing, stealing or taking anything. We have to determine why they were in there. We have to look at employees who may have allowed these people to enter the buildings, who may have granted access or presented keys to these individuals. It’s a breach of security.”

“The actual number of keys is not accounted for,” said Hernandez, noting that there was no sign of forced entry.

Because the investigation now leads to questioning city employees, Hernandez asked the city council for guidance on how to proceed.

“This becomes very sensitive if it indeed comes to an issue with employees former or present,” Hernandez said.

“I don’t think we should be investigating ourselves. We need to have someone come from the outside, that’s what we really need,” said city councilman David Ruiz, who suggested calling in the Texas Rangers or the FBI.

The city secretary has her own ideas about what was going on.

“My computer was tapped before. It had to be something else they were tapping,” she said.

In a recently settled lawsuit against the city, Moravitz claimed that a “device was installed on her computer to monitor her.”

Ruiz said he thought that perhaps something was being removed from her office.

“That’s only speculation at this point,” interjected Mayor Randy Saenz.

The council unanimously approved authorizing Hernandez to seek an outside investigator.

In addition to the city secretary’s office, the administration building houses offices for the mayor, city manager, city inspector, as well as administrative support.

Sonny Long is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. He can be reached at 361-580-6585, by e-mail at slong@vicad.com, or comment on this story at VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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