APD Top Brass Contacted Former D.A. Staffer for “Anonymous Stories” on José Garza’s Office
D.A. says APD “condone” apparent search for dirt on him
By Austin Sanders, Fri., Feb. 16, 2024
Is the Austin Police Department trying to dig up dirt on District Attorney José Garza ahead of his March primary contest? Garza seems to think so.
In November, APD’s second-in-command contacted a former employee with the D.A.’s Office in what she – and Garza – believed was an attempt to gather compromising information ahead of the election. If that was the intention, it didn’t go to plan.
“I was told by some trusted friends that you may be willing to anonymously share some stories about ur [sic] former workplace,” APD Chief of Staff Jeff Greenwalt wrote via text message, Nov. 28, to Samantha Liedtke, who two weeks prior had departed the Victim Services Division at the D.A.’s Office to pursue a job as a Travis County constable.
Liedtke recalls being perplexed by, but also suspicious of, Greenwalt’s text. Four months earlier, she had filed a lawsuit against the city of Austin alleging workplace discrimination during the two years she spent working as an Austin police officer. “I didn’t think he was contacting me to address the issues I experienced as an officer,” Liedtke told the Chronicle on Feb. 9, “because for the past four years I tried to tell APD what was going on but never got any engagement. My immediate interpretation was he wanted dirt on the D.A.”
After consulting with her attorneys, Rebecca Webber and Holt Lackey, Liedtke decided not to respond. Three weeks later, Greenwalt texted again. “I had some questions about how the DA used to decide on plea deals,” Greenwalt wrote on Dec. 19. This text raised Liedtke’s suspicions further – she was a victim advocate at the D.A.’s Office and would have little insight to share on how prosecutors worked out plea deals.
Liedtke decided to inform her former supervisor at the D.A.’s Office about the texts, who then notified Garza and his First Assistant Trudy Strassburger. Garza relayed his concerns to APD Chief Robin Henderson at a meeting between the two on Jan. 2, according to emails obtained through public information request (PIR).
The next day, Greenwalt planned a phone call with Strassburger to discuss the texts. Strassburger arranged for Norris Mckenzie – chief of investigations at the D.A.’s Office and a former APD lieutenant who worked with Greenwalt for years – to listen in on the phone call.
“[Greenwalt] told [Strassburger] that he had made the mistake of 'trusting’ someone who told him that [Liedtke] wanted to talk to him,” Mckenzie wrote in a Jan. 4 memo about the call, also obtained via PIR, documenting the call. The memo said Strassburger was unconvinced by Greenwalt’s explanation for the texts, and she told Greenwalt she was “disappoint[ed] at his apparent lack of honesty.”
“It is my opinion that Greenwalt was being evasive and not forthcoming,” Mckenzie wrote. “In my opinion and having known Chief Greenwalt for years, I did not feel this conversation was reflective of the high moral character displayed by him in the past and I was disappointed.”
Garza wrote to Henderson on Jan. 4 about the matter, and Henderson responded, “I trust Greenwalt clearly communicated the circumstances to Strassberger [sic],” referencing their phone call. Garza, apparently, was dissatisfied with the chief’s response. On Jan. 19, he wrote that he believed she and other city officials were aware Greenwalt sought “'anonymous stories’ about my office ... that could serve no legitimate work-related purpose,” and that city and APD leadership “condone his conduct ... and are taking no action to stop this behavior.”
Greenwalt responded later that day, offering a new explanation: He aimed to address misinformation surrounding Garza’s policies. “My intent from the beginning was to separate fact from fiction, shut down false rumors, and increase transparency and communication,” Greenwalt wrote in the email, which can be read in full at our DocumentCloud link. He wrote, “We are not actively seeking out information to use against you” and that before this, he had sought out information on Garza-related rumors to dispel misinformation through APD training bulletins. He says he was attempting the same by contacting Liedtke.
Greenwalt wrote: “the text message I sent was in response to someone reaching out to me asking if I would talk to Samantha because she had information she wanted to share about her experience and how victims were being treated.” Liedtke told us she doesn’t know what information Greenwalt could have been referencing – she said she didn’t observe any unethical or concerning practices in her time with the D.A.; rather, the office “operated very transparently. For lack of better words, APD was full of bullshit, but at the D.A.’s Office, there was no bullshit.” She added that her values didn’t align “100%” with all D.A. staff, “but is there anything at the D.A.’s Office that concerns me for the community or for taxpayers? No.”
Liedtke has an idea of who referred Greenwalt to her. When Liedtke worked in Victim Services, a co-worker there would occasionally vent about frustrations with Garza’s administration, she said. After Liedtke left the office, that co-worker asked to give Liedtke’s number to a retired APD officer, who later asked Liedtke if he could connect her with Greenwalt. Liedtke told us she didn’t know why Greenwalt wanted to talk to her, but she agreed to share her contact info because she wanted to learn more. When Greenwalt reached her and Liedtke told her attorneys about it, they advised her not to respond because she was suing Greenwalt’s employer.
When we contacted APD, a spokesperson pointed to Greenwalt’s Jan. 19 email and said, “We believe the matter is resolved.” But in a Feb. 14 email Garza sent to Henderson, the D.A. said Greenwalt’s explanation was “not credible” and “inconsistent” with his prior explanations. “We don’t believe these explanations, and neither should you,” Garza wrote. “It is becoming apparent to me that you either condone Greenwalt’s behavior or are unwilling to hold him accountable for his misconduct.”
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