CITY OF SAN ANTONIO
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Office of Municipal Integrity/EEO

/J I;
Adrrllnistraoo~[A µ

TO:

Martha Sepeda, Acting City Attorney

FROM:

Richard Hernandez, Human Resources

SUBJECT:

Investigation of Hostile Work Environment Complaint Against Dan Corbett and
Allegations of Criminal Misconduct at Animal Care Services

DATE:

June 22, 2015

ALLEGATION:

On May 29, 2015, my office was informed of the following complaint of hostile work
environment submitted by Animal Care Services (ACS) Representative
: On
May 26, 2015,
had an incident with ACS Advisory Board member Dan
Corbett. Mr. Corbett was upset that a particular dog did not have the correct discounted price
displayed on its cage. He requested to speak with a responsible ACS employee. When
attempted to address Mr. Corbett's concerns he yelled at her in front of two
individuals who were accompanying him. She said the altercation with Mr. Corbett made her
feel belittled, uncomfortable and embarrassed because he was intimating that she didn' t care
about the animals at ACS and doing so in front of the individuals who accompanied him. She
said she felt disrespected and humiliated by his treatment of her. She said Mr. Corbett would not
give her a chance to answer his concerns, and that every time she tried to he would talk over her
with a raised voice. She said that he made her feel like he was trying to overpower her.

Note: Prior to initiating this investigation we were informed that Mr. Corbett has repeatedly
alleged criminal misconduct on the part of ACS management, and that he had collected
numerous affidavits from current and former ACS employees that support his allegation. The
City referred the matter to the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD). SAPD contacted Mr.
Corbett about his allegations, but he refused to lodge his complaint with them or turn over any of
the evidence he said he had. ACS and the City Attorney's Office have also made requests for the
details of Mr. Corbett's alleged criminal allegations, but he has continued to refuse to let any
City office investigate his allegations. In addition to investigating the above allegation the City
Attorney's Office asked me, in my capacity as an Office of Municipal Integrity (OMI)
Investigator, to contact Mr. Corbett and see if he would be willing to allow our office to
investigate his concerns.
DETAILS OF INVESTIGATION:

On June 2, 2015, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Investigator Steve Harrison
interviewed
. She told Mr. Harrison that she had never met Mr. Corbett before
her altercation with him on May 26, 2015, and didn' t know what he looked like. She said that
she had previously heard about Mr. Corbett from other ACS employees, who told her that he has
had altercations with other ACS employees and that he, "wants to hurt ACS." She confirmed
all the details noted in the allegation. She said in addition to yelling at her and embarrassing and
humiliating her in public, that his physical stature and tone of voice was very intimidating. She
said she is
·
and found the entire episode extremely stressful. She told Mr.

 Harrison that after the incident another ACS employee informed her that it was Mr. Corbett who
told Mr. Harrison that Mr. Corbett did not use any profanity
was yelling at her.
while raising his voice at her. She also said that she did not believe Mr. Corbett singled her out
or treated her disrespectfully because of a federally protected class, thus ruling out an EEO
Hostile Work Environment complaint.
On June 8, 2015, Steve Harrison and I met with Dan Corbett at a location of his choice. Mr.
Corbett dominated the entire conversation, and cut me off several times when I tried to ask
questions. Mr. Corbett attempted to establish his credibility by showing us several photos (on
his phone) of him and local politicians and officials. He told us that he had absolutely no interest
_
, whom he repeatedly referred to as incompetent. He did admit
in discussing
that he was angry over the fact that the dog in question was not properly tagged with the correct
, but
discounted price, and he admitted that he "raised his voice" when he spoke to
only because she was smirking at him and incompetent. Mr. Corbett then switched the
conversation to what he described as the severe and criminal issues at ACS. He fanned a stack
of documents that he said he obtained from current and former ACS employees which detail
criminal behavior on the part of ACS leadership. He refused to let us see any of the documents
and stated that the City Attorney's Office and SAPD had asked him for evidence of criminal
behavior and that he had refused them because he didn't trust them. He said that he planned to
file his criminal complaint with the FBI and/or the Texas Rangers within the next week or so.
He openly disparaged ACS director Kathy Davis, describing her as a "narcissist" and that she
reminded him of a "Nazi female prison guard." He said that if he was the A CS director he could
make the City ' no-kill' in three days. When it became obvious to me that Mr. Corbett was not
, or turn over any of his evidence, we
going speak further about his incident with
mutually ended our meeting.
Shortly after our meeting with Dan Corbett he sent me three long text messages. He apologized
, and then attempted to recruit me
for cutting me off when I asked him about
to join his team in opposition to the management of ACS. His text messages included the
following statements:
"Richard - I didn't mean to cut you short when you were trying to tell me what
said It wasn't anything personal directed at you. All I did was question an incompetent
ACS employee about how her lack of professionalism can cost the lives of the animals
down there. I "raised" my voice about it and that's the worst I did Kathy Davis has
clearly coached the young lady in what to say so I hope you don't fall for such
crap.
should have been reprimanded for her incompetence instead of being able
to file a ridiculous grievance against me for pointing out how she doesn't do her job
properly. How utterly ridiculous. "
"Kathy Davis was the same exact employee in Dallas where she was "before" LA where
she was petitioned to be replaced in 2010 for having "zero" No-Kill knowledge. But we
hired her here at J40K a year and in my opinion is the worst shelter manager in the
nation. We should have been No-Kill three years ago in my opinion. Richard - ifyou are
truly a dog-lover and care about these homeless animals, then join us and help us. Every
dog's life should matter. These animals were put on this earth to be man's best
friend All they ask for is a loving home and someone to care about them. In return, they
give us a lifetime oflove & loyalty ".

"Ifyou are ever willing to take the time, let me know ifI can give you a personal tour of
ACS this month and show you how terrible the facility is run and how incompetent Kathy
2

 Davis and Heber Lefgren are in how they do their jobs. "
"ACS is supposed to provide animal "care" services but Kathy & Heber have us
providing what amounts to animal "control/euthanasia" services. Get on the right side of
this, Richard, and join us. You'll be aligning with a lot of good people and some of the
biggest names in the community from "both" political parties. Let's work together and
get more dogs saved & adopted Don't let Kathy & Heber manipulate you too like
they've done so many others. We're the only voice these animals have."

I obtained email correspondence between Dan Corbett, Kathy Davis and Heber Lefgren. Those
emails contain the following statements from Mr. Corbett:
"But everyone is following my lead and allowing me to make the decisions. And, that
includes current & former City Councilmen, State Representatives, Senators, former
Mayors, District Court Judges, and law enforcement. I'm pretty sure that you and Heber
and Vincent Medley know I'm not exaggerating either. But the situation is that I have
purposely stayed away from Sculley all these months due to the fact that I know full well
that ifI take everyone's advice and see her about this, I'll have no alternative but to hand
over copies of all the statements and complaints I have. Once I do that, she'll be legally
forced to take action. That will lead to a political shit-storm [emphasis mine] ensuing,
people losing their jobs, and a media frenzy. If I go the route being advised to me which
is to take everything to her, there's no turning back because once the genie is out of the
bottle I can't put him back. "
"All I want is for you, Heber, and Vincent Medley (who I have never met) to work toward
replacing the current atmosphere at ACS of "Control & Euthanasia" with one of actual
"Animal Care." If we can accomplish this together then everyone will keep their jobs, no
shit-storm [emphasis mine} will ensue, and we will all work together as a single
cooperative unit over the years. "
"I'm hoping that the narcissistic attitudes [emphasis mine] I've experienced from ACS
will be put aside so that we can all concentrate on working together for reform and
saving more dogs. "
"So stop being delusional [emphasis mine] and think that ACS is something it's not."
"The City of San Antonio and our taxpayers are paying you a lot of money to provide
animal "care" services - not animal "control/euthanasia" services. So don't you think it's
time to start doing the job you were hired to do? "
"The death camp [emphasis mine] needs to become a haven for dogs and a focus needs
to be on finding homes for all these poor animals. Not euthanizing them. "

Subsequent to my initiating this investigation I became aware of other possible incidents
between Dan Corbett and the following ACS staff members: Frank Carrizales, Amy Collins and
Elizabeth Kalmykov.
On June 9, 2015, Steve Harrison interviewed ACS Shelter Supervisor Frank Carrizales. He told
Mr. Harrison that he has seen Mr. Corbett in his facility on seven or eight different occasions.
He said that he has not had any problems with Mr. Corbett, but is aware some of his employees
don't care for Mr. Corbett's abrupt and dismissive attitude. He told Mr. Harrison that he has
3

 heard that Mr. Corbett has been soliciting statements from ACS employees, but that he hasn't
provided one and doesn't know of anyone who has.
On June 9, 2015, Steve Harrison interviewed Animal Care Specialist Amy Collins. She said Dan
Corbett has been through her work area 10 times in the past six months. She described him as a
grumpy individual who returns her friendly greetings with grunts and rolled eyes. She told Mr.
Harrison that on one occasion when Mr. Corbett was escorting two unknown individuals through
her work area she heard Mr. Corbett say, "This is like Auschwitz in here." Ms. Collins told Mr.
Harrison that she was deeply offended by the statement. In her opinion Mr. Corbett gives off the
impression that anyone who works at ACS is part of the problem. She told Mr. Harrison that Mr.
Corbett makes negative comments about ACS on Facebook. She ended the interview by saying
that she now makes every effort to avoid Mr. Corbett when he is in the area.
On June 9, 2015, Steve Harrison interviewed ACS Operations Manager Elizabeth Kalmykov.
She told Mr. Harrison that a few months ago she was giving a tour to Dan Corbett and other
visitors when he began to question her about some mislabeled cages and that when she attempted
to respond to his concerns he told her she was, "full of shit." Mr. Corbett subsequently denied
using that phrase, and said he used the phrase "full of crap" instead. One of Mr. Corbett's guests
also subsequently documented in an email that Mr. Corbett used the phrase "a load of crap."
CONCLUSION:

My investigation did not find evidence that supports a claim of hostile work environment based
on a federally protected category, but I did find evidence of a pattern of behavior on the part of
Dan Corbett that is disruptive, disrespectful, discourteous and not in keeping with his position as
an ACS Advisory Board member or the standards of conduct expected of someone in public
service. The inappropriate behaviors of Mr. Corbett include:
• Interactions with ACS employees that left them feeling intimidated, belittled, insulted
and disrespected.
• Referring to ACS Director Kathy Davis as a Nazi prison guard, a narcissist and
incompetent.
• Comparing ACS to Auschwitz.
• Referring to ACS management as delusional.
• Referring to ACS as a death camp.
• Asking me in a text message to join his side in his battle against ACS, and not allow
myself to be manipulated by Kathy Davis and Heber Lefgren.
• Referring to Kathy Davis as "the worst shelter manager in the nation."
• Withholding evidence of suspected criminal behavior at ACS for months without
referring it to law enforcement, but not hesitating to wave that ' evidence' (affidavits) in
the face of anyone, including me.
Mr. Corbett's ad hominem remarks, adversarial approach and the publishing of malicious
personal attacks against ACS employees are not in keeping with his role on the ACS Advisory
Board. Mr. Corbett's conduct is in violation of City Code and ACS Bylaws both of which
stipulate that Board members shall have access to ACS facilities for "observational purposes
only." The City Code and Bylaws do not authorize a single Board member to engage in
unilateral investigation and/or interrogation of ACS personnel, operations or programs.

4