CWA HEAD WANTS IRS INVESTIGATION OF AGENT CHARGED WITH SEXUAL BATTERY

CWA HEAD WANTS IRS INVESTIGATION OF AGENT CHARGED WITH SEXUAL BATTERY

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...za-640x480.jpgWilliamson County Sheriff's Office

by MICHAEL PATRICK LEAHY10 Sep 20151

The head of Concerned Women for America is calling for an official IRS investigation into the conduct of an IRS agent charged with sexual battery, but the agency appears to be doing little, if anything, to look into the matter.

“As the head of the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization I am once again shocked by the conduct of an IRS employee,” Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America tells Breitbart News.

“It is becoming clear that the IRS has tolerated a culture in which U.S. citizens are demeaned and violated by the state,” Nance adds. “How many other women has this evil man violated?” she asks.

Though Garza has been arrested and remains incarcerated in the Williamson County Jail, he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

“The IRS must launch a full investigation into this incident but also begin to clean up the culture of the agency. The NTEU and other federal employee unions must also be dealt with. American taxpayers and good federal employees are damaged by the union’s protection of terrible employees,” Nance concludes.

Despite numerous requests for comments from Breitbart News, neither the IRS nor the Treasury Inspector General for Tax and Administration [TIGTA] have confirmed that the IRS has initiated an investigation into the allegations against Garza.

The IRS has also not confirmed that Garza is an employee of the IRS, though in its initial media release announcing Garza’s arrest the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office stated“Garza is employed by the United States Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service,” and “[t]he Criminal Investigation Division and the Office of Inspector General for the Internal Revenue Service are working with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on this investigation.”

The National Treasury Employees Union [NTEU] tells Breitbart News that Samuel Garza is not a member of the union.
In an emailed statement, the NTEU tells Breitbart News:

Mr. Garza is not a member of NTEU and NTEU is not representing him. NTEU does not comment on personnel matters. NTEU does not provide representation in criminal matters.

“Approximately 60 percent of IRS frontline employees are NTEU members. Membership in the union is voluntary and NTEU does not represent managers,” a spokesperson for the NTEU tells Breitbart News.

The manager of the Carrington Ridge Apartments, located at 549 E. Main St. in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the address listed as Garza’s residence in the arrest warrant, tells Breitbart News: “I have not spoken with anybody of any authority about anyone who lives here.”

Breitbart News has asked the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to detail what its statement that “the Department of Criminal Investigation and the Office of Inspector General of the Internal Revenue Service are working with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on this investigation,” (emphasis added) actually means.

A spokesperson for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office tells Breitbart News that Garza has no prior arrests in Williamson County and that he was born in El Paso, Texas.

Garza is currently expected to appear next in Williamson County Court on September 17.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...exual-battery/

IRS AGENT CHARGED WITH SEXUAL BATTERY DURING AUDIT

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...za-640x480.jpgWilliamson County Sheriff's Office

by MICHAEL PATRICK LEAHY4 Sep 2015510

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – A 36-year old Internal Revenue Service agent is facing charges of sexual battery by an authority figure.

The Tennessean reports that Samuel Garza, an IRS agent, was arrested by the Williamson County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, “after authorities say he sexually assaulted a woman while he was performing an audit on a Fairview, Tennessee business.”

According to a media release issued by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in Franklin, Tennessee, “Garza is employed by the United States Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service. The charges are related to an IRS audit that Garza was performing on a Williamson County business.”

A report in the Tennessean late Friday provided additional details:

Samuel Garza, 36, of East Main Street in Hendersonville, has been charged with two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure in connection to the reported assault that took place this week, court papers show.

Court papers show that on Wednesday Garza visited the owner of a business on Fairview Boulevard to conduct a tax audit.

“Garza made sexual overtures and implied the business could be lost without cooperation,” an affidavit states.

Garza then reportedly told the victim he would return to the business the next day and instructed her to wear a dress. The affidavit states he then sexually assaulted her despite her “asking him to stop.”

The next day, the victim — in fear of losing her business — wore a dress and met with Garza, who again sexually assaulted her, the affidavit says.

The sheriff’s office would not release the name of the business that was being audited, citing an ongoing investigation.
During a bond hearing in Williamson County Circuit Court on Friday, a judge set Garza’s bail at $200,000. As of early Friday afternoon he had not posted bond, authorities said.

He is due back in court for another hearing on the case Wednesday.

Breitbart News contacted the Internal Revenue Service late Friday to confirm or deny theTennessean’s report and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office media release that Mr. Garza is an IRS agent, but has not received a response.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...-during-audit/

This is but yet another reason to pass the FairTax, to keep the government out of your life, your home, your bank, your business, your personal affairs and yes, your body.

Any time we grant authority to the government to invade all these aspects of our lives, then of course, not only is your liberty at risk but your personal safety as well.

FairTax Act of 2015: HR 25 in the US House of Representatives and S 155 in the US Senate.

IRS Agent Charged With Sexual Battery Free on Bond, Defense Argues It Was ‘Consensual’

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...ap-640x480.jpg

by MICHAEL PATRICK LEAHY22 Dec 20153


FRANKLIN, Tennessee–IRS agent Samuel Garza is free on bail, after Tennessee Circuit Court Judge Joseph Woodruff slashed his bond in half.

Garza is charged with two felony counts of sexual battery against a female business owner he was auditing in Fairview, Tennessee. His bond was initially set at $300,000 before being cut to $150,000 last week. He walked free on Friday.

Judge Woodruff apparently found defense attorney Kyle Mothershead’s motion and oral argument to reduce bond persuasive. The motion argued, in part, that the sexual contact between Garza and the victim during the audit he conducted of her was consensual.

Garza admits to engaging in sexual contact with the alleged victim. She testified at a preliminary hearing in September that Garza told her when he initially met her to conduct the audit of her business “he said he had checked me out on Facebook, and that he said he thought everything would turn out ok.”

In dramatic testimony at that preliminary hearing, captured on video by WSMV television, the alleged victim vehemently rejected defense attorney Kyle Mothershead’s attempts to paint her as an unreliable witness:

Reporter: “The defense attorney questioned the victim as to why she didn’t report the choking part of the incident until after investigators charged Garza with sexual battery. Hear what she had to say about that:”

Victim: “I don’t know why don’t you come and sit in my shoes. Why don’t you have somebody like him come to you or go to your wife and have the veil of an audit come over you and have somebody come in to a place that you considered was safe, and you tell me how you would feel and have somebody touch you and you tell me if you could feel like you could leave and you could remember everything.”

The Williamson County District Attorney’s office opposed the motion to reduce the bond.

“Mr. Garza has acknowledged to the detective in this case that he and [the victim] did have some sexual contact during the audit, but maintains that the contact was consensual and he never threatened or coerced [the victim],” Mothershead told Judge Woodruff in his motion.

One former veteran Tennessee prosecutor tells Breitbart News this “consensual” argument signals the defense will put the victim on trial when the case is heard in late January.

“I’m not shocked about the consent defense,” the former prosecutor tells Breitbart News.

“Realistically, that is the only defense he has. He can’t claim it didn’t happen. I understand he was caught on video and confessed. His options really are limited,” the former prosecutor adds.

“The consent defense does something else too,” the former prosecutor warns.
“It sends a message to the victim that if this case goes to trial it is going to be nasty,” the prosecutor adds.

Judge Woodruff, a graduate of the University of Alabama Law School and former partnerat the prestigious Nashville law firm of Waller, Lansden, Dortch, and Davis, was elected Circuit Court Judge for Hickman, Lewis, Perry, and Williamson Counties in 2014 as a Republican. He is up for re-election in 2022.

Breitbart News is the only news media organization so far to have obtained a copy of the motion to reduce bond, filed on November 20, and the order granting defendant’s motion to reduce bond, which was issued on Thursday, December 17.

As of Monday that order had not been signed as “entered” by Judge Woodruff. The order was signed as “approved for entry” by defense counsel Mothershead, who also signed and certified on Monday that “a true and exact copy of the foregoing has been delivered to the office of the District Attorney General, Williamson County Courthouse.”

According to the motion to reduce bond, Garza is still employed by the IRS, though on suspension.

This news appears to set a new precedent for the IRS. Revenue agents can now keep their jobs even if they admit to engaging in sexual contact with women whose businesses they audit–during the audit itself. They can also keep their jobs if they are charged with two felony counts of sexual battery of a female auditee until they are convicted.

If Mr. Garza is not convicted, or if he settles on lesser charges, he is likely to return to his job with the IRS as a revenue agent.

It is unclear if he would be subject to any constraints if he returns to his position. It appears that he would continue to be able to conduct audits of female taxpayers alone and unsupervised.

“From 2009 to the present, Mr. Garza has worked for the IRS as a revenue agent. He is presently on suspended status with the IRS because of this case,” the motion to reduce bond states.

Defense counsel Mothershead argued that “in all of his employment venues, Mr. Garza has had a consistent, reliable work history. His supervisors have consistently found him to be trustworthy and dependable.”

While this argument may have been persuasive to the judge in the bond reduction hearing, it could come back to haunt Garza at trial.

It gives Williamson County prosecutors an opportunity to call in Garza’s supervisors at the IRS, and review each and every audit he has conducted since his employment began there in 2009.

If another similar case was reported, and not acted on by his supervisors, it will reflect poorly on them and serve to further diminish public trust in an agency that is already publicly reviled in many quarters.

But the IRS appears to hold out the prospects of a return to full time employment status to Garza.

“The IRS has suspended Mr. Garza’s job, but is awaiting the outcome of these charges before making a final decision as to whether or not to terminate his employment,” the motion argued.

“Mr. Garza’s case has been in the news, and he has suffereded reputational damage because of it. If Mr. Garza prevails at trial, he will have cleared his name and will be able to return to work and rebuild his life,” Mothershead argued.

Presumably, Mr. Mothershead does not consider Garza’s admission of engaging in “consensual” sexual contact with a woman he was auditing in his position of authority as an IRS agent an act which besmirches his name.

But while engaged in what he claims was “consensual” sexual conduct with the alleged victim, Garza was in a position of authority over her, granted him by the federal government. Even engaging in “consensual” sexual contact with a woman under his authority is an abuse of that authority and a reason for employment termination in a world where laws are applied to federal employees in the same way they are applied to employees of private companies.

The strategy of putting the victim on trial is one that appears to be working so far for Garza.

“In adult sexual assault trials, most of the time there are one of two defenses offered,” the former prosecutor tells Breitbart News.

“The first is identification. That is, the victim picked out the wrong person. Those cases are not as hard on victims because the defense is not arguing an assault didn’t happen; only that the victim is blaming the wrong person,” the former prosecutor says.

“Consent is much different because the defense is calling the victim a liar and it does get messy,” the prosecutor adds.

“Back before the days of rape shield statutes (for prior sexual activity), lawyers would call those the ‘she’s a slut’ defense. A lot of women did not want to go through that,” the former prosecutor observes.

The motion to reduce bond asserted that the “bond setting for this case is presently $500,000.” That number is $200,000 higher than the $300,000 bond that had been previously reported.

It also provided new information about Garza’s personal background.

“Mr. Garza married his wife in 2011. The children are not Mr. Garza’s biological children and were born in 2004 and 2007, before Mr. Garza and his wife married. However, their biological father lives in Mexico, and Mr. Garza treats the children as his own,” the motion to reduce bond states.

The motion did not offer any information on the immigration or citizenship status of Garza’s wife or step children.

It did offer information on Garza’s citizenship status.

“Mr. Garza was born in Texas, but has resided in the middle Tennessee area since 2008,” the motion stated.
Judge Woodruff’s order granting Garza’s motion to reduce bond included several additional bond conditions:

1. Defendant is subject to GPS monitoring.
2. Defendant must obtain and maintain full-time employment
3. Defendant must comply with the terms of the Order of Protection filed by [the victim] against Defendant in Williamson County, Tennessee General Sessions Court.
4. Defendant may not have any contact whatsoever, direct or indirect, with the alleged victim in this case.
5. Defendant may not enter the geographic boundaries of Fairview, Tennessee.
6. Should Defendant post bond, Defendant’s bonding company is responsible for ensuring Defendant’s continued compliance with the special conditions detailed herein.

The former Tennessee prosecutor tells Breitbart News Garza and his attorney know exactly what they are doing, and their success in persuading Judge Woodruff to grant the motion to reduce bond against the objections of the Williamson County District Attorney’s office further proves that point.

“No one but the defendant and his lawyer know whether he really wants to go through with a trial on this or if this is a gambit to get a better plea offer,” the former prosecutor says.

“Now that he is out of jail, he is not interested in a speedy resolution to this. Sometimes when cases like this drag on the victim just becomes discouraged or frustrated and will tell the prosecutor just to make it go away.”

“While he is out on bail, time is his friend,” the former prosecutor concludes.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/22/tennessee-judge-reduced-bond-of-irs-agent-charged-with-sexual-battery-after-defense-argued-it-was-consensual/

Quote:

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She testified at a preliminary hearing in September that Garza told her when he initially met her to conduct the audit of her business “he said he had checked me out on Facebook, and that he said he thought everything would turn out ok.”

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Too bad the State Department can't check the social media of foreign fiancees from Muslim countries.