BAYOU VISTA — Two transient workers arrested on trespassing charges Thursday had criminal backgrounds and were working for and living in the home of the mayor pro tem, police said.
The arrests on misdemeanor charges are the latest clash between Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Janek Jr. and the Bayou Vista Police Department.
Janek said the arrests were a vendetta by Chief Ed Lucas because of successful efforts by Janek and two other council members to “bring fiscal responsibility” to Bayou Vista. That included $30,000 in salary cuts for Lucas and two of his officers.
The chief denied Janek’s accusations and said the arrests were made because a resident pressed charges.
A criminal complaint filed Sunday night with Lucas alleges the two men climbed across the waterfront bulkhead end of a fence at a home in the 700 block of Marlin and “startled” the homeowner, who was fishing on her dock at the time.
The woman told police the two men asked her for a “dime box” of drugs. After being told she didn’t have any drugs, the two men left, the police report states.
The woman’s husband later filed a complaint with the police department.
Janek, who owns a concrete finishing company, said he hired the two workers off the street last week in Galveston and was letting the men live in his Bayou Vista home.
Janek said he hired the men because “they seemed to be needing to get a break” and were “good kids.”
However, according to Galveston police records, Eric Jon Lockwood, 28, and Kyle Davis Smith 24, were not such good boys. The pair spent six days in the county jail last month for criminal trespassing after they were found sleeping in someone’s garage.
Lucas said Lockwood had an extensive criminal background, including arrests for drug possession, shoplifting, assault of a police officer and theft.
Smith also has a theft warrant from Luna County in New Mexico, Lucas said.
Janek said he was unaware of the men’s criminal backgrounds.
“I never talked to them about their criminal backgrounds,” Janek said. “I did talk to them about their personal lives.
“I don’t know if that would have made a difference if I did know.”
He said he wasn’t aware of the men’s criminal histories until a relative did a background check. Even then, he said he wasn’t concerned.
“They worked hard for me,” he said. “These guys are good kids.”
Janek said he told Lockwood and Smith that the two rules of staying at his home were “no drugs and no porn on my computer.”
Janek insisted the arrests were a vendetta.
“We are going to see to it this stops,” Janek said. “(Lucas) has used his office in an inappropriate manner.”
Janek was particularly upset that the arrests came after a Bayou Vista police officer pulled him over Thursday morning near the city offices. The two men were with Janek on the way to a job site.
Lucas said the arrests were made as part of the pullover because he wanted to be able to make use of the automatic video recording device in the patrol car to “ensure everything was aboveboard.”
Lucas said normally he would have given the suspects a stern warning and told them to get out of town.
However, he said the homeowner’s husband insisted on pressing charges and he had then checked into the criminal backgrounds of the two men.
