Whistleblower suit targets UHCL
Ex-sgt. alleges
retaliation for secret investigation
By Ken Fountain
Senior Staff Writer
David Moore, a former sergeant in the UH-Clear
Lake Police Department, has filed suit against the university claiming
he was dismissed in retaliation for investigating and reporting "numerous
wrongdoings" by UHCL Police Chief Michael J. Herbst.
In the lawsuit filed last week in Harris County
Civil Court, Moore says he secretly investigated Herbst and other UHCL
officials over a period of years -- investigations that later led to his
dismissal.
Herbst, who last year lost an election bid for
Galveston County sheriff, was given a one-week suspension in June while
the school investigated allegations that he played a role in the falsification
of physical agility test scores for three police officer candidates in
summer of 1999 and made sexually harassing remarks to a female sergeant.
The suspension, which the lawsuit says occurred
eight months after UHCL verified the test falsification allegations, shortly
followed stories in The Daily Cougar and The Galveston County Daily News.
An investigation last year by UH System Director
of Internal Audit Don Guyton concluded that no crime had been committed
in the test falsification matter.
Sources told The Daily Cougar last summer that
UHCL officials concluded Herbst's comments to Sgt. Debbie Hoffman, made
after she declined the chief's invitation to join him on a trip to visit
his family in New York, did not constitute harassment.
Among the wrongdoings Moore claims he investigated
are:
• Herbst received only one written reprimand for
three sexual harassment complaints, while other employees were dismissed
for the same offenses;
• The chief, who failed the running portion of
his physical test along with Moore and another officer, granted himself
a merit pay raise the failure made him ineligible for while denying Moore
and the other officer the same raise;
• He was allegedly involved in bribing a former
vice president of administration and finance to secure a contract for an
acquaintance;
• Herbst may have used illegal listening devices
and wiretaps in the UHCL police department;
• He may have illegally performed political campaigning
activities while on duty on UHCL property; and
• "Universitywide accounting irregularities and
possible illegal transference of ... parking revenue funds into the police
salary fund" may have occurred.
The lawsuit states Moore "felt it imperative"
to conduct his investigations secretly and that he brought his allegations
to the state auditor's office and the Harris County district attorney's
office.
Shortly afterward, Herbst suspended Moore without
pay in retaliation, according to the suit.
Moore also states he was targeted in an internal
affairs investigation at the hearing at the Webster Police Department for
viewing Herbst's personnel file, which the suit claims was kept in the
office of the vice president for administration and finance against written
policy.
After the hearing, Moore remained on unpaid suspension
until Sept. 14 of last year, when he received a memo stating he was terminated.
The suit also claims Moore met with Herbst, who
refuted the allegations Moore had made but did not give Moore a reason
for his termination.
UHCL Director of Communications Theresa Presswood
told The Daily Cougar that university policy prohibits commenting on litigation.
Herbst did not return phone calls.
