An employee for the Ellis County city of Maypearl has sued the city, its police department and the former police chief, alleging wide-ranging and systemic corruption and mismanagement in the small town.
In the lawsuit and an interview with The News, Maypearl court clerk Teresa Aguilar also said she faced retaliation and intimidation for speaking up with her concerns about city operations and records-keeping. She said her problems culminated in then-Police Chief James Novian backing her against a wall, towering over her and screaming in her face.
“I swore he was going to hit me,” Aguilar said. Novian never did.
Novian did not respond to attempts to contact him, including a message sent to his Facebook account and a note left at his Johnson County home. Other city officials, including the city attorney, mayor and every city council member either declined to comment or did not respond to requests seeking a response to Aguilar’s accusations.
Camille Avant, a lawyer representing Aguilar, said her client “just went to work as a low-level city clerk making $14 an hour and walked into a situation where she’s been retaliated against on a daily basis, to the extent where an armed officer is lunging at her in the workplace.”
The purpose of the lawsuit is two-fold, Avant said: the first is getting relief for someone who has allegedly endured months of harassment after blowing the whistle on improper city practices.
The second? “Hoping that other individuals like Teresa who are...
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