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SAN BENITO — Amid a year-long legal battle, a real estate company is accusing City Manager Fred Sandoval, a city planner and an inspector of official oppression for allegedly holding back the completion of San Benito’s first resaca-side commercial development.

Meanwhile, officials are denying the allegations.

“Our residents deserve the truth, and San Benito will not allow our name to be used as a tool for anyone’s smear campaign or personal gain,” Sandoval said in a statement Thursday. “I will not back down in the face of these baseless attacks.”

In a letter to the San Benito Police Department, VARCO Real Estate, a Brownsville-based company, is claiming Sandoval, City Planner Johanna Maldonado and inspector Eddie Olvera are refusing to lift an order that’s stopped completion of the Resaca Village development off Business 77.

In the letter, VARCO’s also requesting the police department investigate Sandoval and two promoters of the city’s music festivals.

In August, city officials called a “stop-work” order after accusing VARCO’s Origo Work’s subcontractor of tapping into a city water line.

“These individuals cited a non-existent ‘ongoing felony criminal investigation’ and irrelevant easement issues for keeping an unlawful stop-work order on our project,” Paul Serafy, an attorney representing VARCO, said in the letter, describing the allegations of official oppression as class A misdemeanors.

“You confirmed during our phone call that no such felony criminal investigation exists,” he wrote to a police detective. “Incident reports show that Mr. Sandoval is using the investigative powers of the San Benito police department to pursue the amount of water used ‘civilly.’ Accordingly, there was no basis for the ‘stop-work’ order other than to harm VARCO Real Estate San Benito LLC and prevent us from finishing our shopping center.”

The complaint alleges Sandoval kept the stop-order in place after VARCO filed a lawsuit against the city.

”Mr. Sandoval only took action on the water issue in December once VARCO Real Estate San Benito LLC sued the city, and he needed an excuse to keep the stop-work order in place,” the letter claims.

“Despite months of requests and attempts to lift the stop-work order and resolve the water issue, Mr. Sandoval directed the building and planning departments to keep it in place,” the letter states. “Unfortunately, our attempts to meet with him and multiple attempts to contact him were ignored.”

VARCO’s request claims officials stopped the company from using its construction permit.

“To be clear, in placing the stop-work order on the Resaca Village construction site and refusing to lift it for four months, Mr. Sandoval, aided by Mr. Olvera and Ms. Maldonado, acted under the color of law to intentionally deny VARCO benefits to which we are entitled — use and access to our construction site, a construction permit for which we paid and the ability to work on our construction site, among other things,” the letter states.

In its letter, VARCO’s also requesting the police department investigate “recent allegations” surrounding Sandoval and two music festival promoters.

“Those allegations appear to be clear cases of abuse of official capacity and misapplication of fiduciary property,” the letter claims, citing Texas Penal Code chapters 39.02 and 32.45.

In response, Sandoval strongly denied the allegations.

“The city of San Benito will not be intimidated by any contractor, including VARCO, or their associates, in its commitment to protecting the best interests of residents and the community,” he said in a news release. “The city of San Benito is calling on VARCO to cease their political games and threats.”

In the city’s statement, Sandoval said officials “demand real discussions.”

“VARCO’s reaction — whether through email or other means — appears to be a response to being held accountable and being told to follow ordinances, policies and procedures that are standard in every city,” he said.

Sandoval argued the company hadn’t filed a formal complaint with the police department.

“An email with false claims is not a police report, and if VARCO truly believes there is grounds for one, they are welcome to file a formal report,” he said.

The statement also refers to a Houston-based former investigative TV reporter’s series of videos criticizing city officials.

“At the same time this email was sent, an out-of-town blogger, coincidentally, posted the same unfounded accusations,” Sandoval said. “The city of San Benito demands to know who is behind these coordinated online attacks, how much money is being funneled into them and why these attacks are happening in the first place. Could it be that they have something to gain from this coordinated smear campaign?”

In the statement, Sandoval claims “the email from VARCO representatives is nothing more than a direct response to the city’s inquiry about how much water their contractors have used without paying for city water.”

Meanwhile, VARCO said it “would be happy” to pay for water the subcontractor used.

“Our citizens pay their water bills responsibly, and we expect contractors to do the same,” Sandoval said. “I will not be threatened or intimidated by these tactics, and I will not allow city staff to be bullied by VARCO or anyone they may have hired to advance their agenda.”

In April 2024, VARCO filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming San Benito’s Economic Development Corporation breached the parties’ contracts surrounding the development of Resaca Village, failing to “honor its obligations” under an agreement extending its construction timeline while claiming its amendments “void” because city commissioners had not approved them.

In response, officials filed a counter suit, claiming VARCO breached its contract when the company failed to comply with the city’s agreements granting extensions on the project’s completion, originally set for 2022.

The post VARCO accuses San Benito city manager of official oppression amid heated dispute appeared first on MyRGV.com.