Giddings Woman Found Guilty of Injury to a Child
Giddings Times & News
• Peggy Hooper Els, 60 of Giddings, was found guilty of injury to a child and sentenced to 60 days confinement in the Lee County Law Enforcement Center on March 23. Els was the former caretaker for a local child with cerebral palsy, employed by the boy’s family for about 10 years. Cameras inside the family’s home caught Els stealing from them and physically abusing and starving the child about four years ago. At that time, the State Board of Nursing was investigating her and she voluntarily surrendered her license. She was also sentenced to five years probation, 250 hours of community service, had to pay a $2,100 fine, and was ordered to stay away from the family affected after pleading guilty to the 3rd-degree felony charge.
The Colorado County Citizen
• Federico Garza, Jr. accepted the position of permanent Police Chief at the March 23 Eagle Lake City Council meeting. After the council unanimously voted to accept the ordinance for the position of Police Chief, City Manager Melissa Landin appointed Garza to the position. Garza has served as interim chief for the department since October 2020. Garza is a long-tenured law enforcement officer, having served as chief deputy of the Webb County Sheriff’s Office until 2019. In March, it was confirmed that an investigation by the Texas Rangers has been opened on the Eagle Lake Police Department at the request of Garza. Garza said he has been and remains in “restructuring and hiring mode,” and says he is optimistic about the direction in which ELPD is headed. However, he acknowledged there is still a way to go. Although he says he was hired as an interim police chief with an intention of only a three-month tenure, Garza says he is now fully committed to seeing this through. “We have a good team in place now, and we want to keep them. We have to have some incentive to offer them. They have to see that they can move up and receive promotions and recognition with the department,” Garza said.
• On April 1 District Judge Bill Old sentenced Kayla Hurd of Eagle Lake to a 20-year prison sentence for the charge of murder. Hurd also received a sentence of 12 months in the county jail for the charge of possession of a controlled substance. The charge comes from an incident on June 16, 2019, where Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an early afternoon crash at Hwy. 90 and FM 102 in Alleyton. The driver of the vehicle advised she had been robbed. Information received at that crash site led to authorities discovering another crash nearby at Taylor St. The vehicle on Taylor St. was on fire and had driven off the roadway into a wooded area. While extinguishing the fire, Columbus volunteer firefighters found the body of a male who was later identified as 27-year-old Joshua Thomas of Columbus. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.
The Brenham Banner-Press
• Ricky Boeker has confirmed his 16-year tenure as Brenham’s fire chief was abruptly ended on April 7. The law firm representing Boeker, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP of Houston, said that Boeker was “unilaterally terminated as fire chief ” by the City of Brenham and City Manager James Fisher, who confirmed that Boeker was released from his position. Boeker said that Fisher was accompanied by a city marshal when he was told to leave. Boeker said while he was not escorted from city property, he was instructed to leave his personal belongings, which would be packed up and sent to him. He said he was told to “leave your keys and ID on the desk and leave.” Fisher also said Boeker was not escorted out, adding that Boeker’s office was “secured so that his personal items could be protected and packed.” Boeker was initially informed on March 15th that the city would pursue early retirement options with him as it moves in a different direction with leadership. Boeker’s law firm says it “will be responding accordingly.”
• A Brenham man is in Washington County custody after authorities accused him of shooting a man following an argument with his brother. Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported shooting event at a home in the 700 block of Christmas Road, off of Hwy 36 N. near Gay Hill, at 5:45 p.m. on April 10. DPS Troopers arrived at the scene first and detained 63-year-old Kent Figgs under suspicion of assault. When deputies arrived, they learned that 57-year-old Christopher Roberts of Houston had allegedly been shot in the leg by Figgs. This came after Figgs had some type of argument with his brother, Karl Figgs. Roberts was treated at the residence by Washington County EMS before being flown to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan, where he was treated and later released. After the investigation, Kent Figgs was arrested and booked into the Washington County Jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The Bastrop Advertiser
• The Bastrop Economic Development Corporation’s chief executive officer, who was fired last month without cause, has withdrawn a whistleblower lawsuit he filed March 24 against the City of Bastrop, Mayor Connie Schroeder, the economic development corporation, and the corporation’s chairwoman, Kathryn Nash. “As a lawyer that has been doing this for 15 years, I know the emotional toll that lawsuits can put on people,” said Cameron Cox, the BEDC’s ousted CEO who also is an attorney. “And at the end of the day, it’s not a ton of money. I have a job as a lawyer and I just want to move on.” In his whistleblower suit, Cox claimed the BEDC’s board began taking adverse action against him and ultimately fired him days after he sent an email to Bastrop City Attorney Alan Bojorquez requesting an opinion on whether it was legal for Schroeder, who also serves on the BEDC’s board, to ask him to endorse a candidate for City Council. “Was it legal for Mayor Schroeder to call me on December 16, 2020 and ask me to endorse Jimmy Crouch for council or mayor, and then preface that statement with (Dock) Jackson running for mayor and that it concerns her because he is pro-Black Lives Matter?” Cox’s Feb. 19 email to Bojorquez states. Schroeder has denied asking Cox to endorse anyone for office. Cox withdrew his suit before the petition was served to any of the named defendants and therefore no written answer to his accusations was provided to the court and there was no discussion between the parties involved.