Citizen Complaint Filed with TDLR Against City of Garland Code Compliance Officers and Management - Evidence of Misconduct, Wrongdoing, 4th Amendment and Ethics Violations

The City of Garland Code Compliance officers are required to be licensed in order to conduct code enforcement. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations, the department that regulates code compliance licensing, for a person to conduct code enforcement, they must hold a valid Code Compliance Officer or Officer In-Training certificate. No exceptions.
That requirement is just one of many that the Garland Code Compliance department knowingly and willingly ignores. They do so knowing that they will not be held accountable.

They enforce  municipal code but, they do not abide by the rules and laws by the State of Texas that are in place for their professional conduct and ethics. In other words, Garland Code Compliance personnel conducts their business unethically as well as illegally. They violate the rights of residents in Garland by conducting inspections that are not allowed unless there was a complaint filed. When the resident whose rights to privacy are violated by the officer standing on the back of their truck to look over an 8ft privacy fence, submits a request to see a copy of the complaint, the code compliance department fabricates a complaint while claiming the resident does not have the legal right to know the identity of the complainant...even if the matter goes to court.  They have no problem with illegally making a false complaint when they have the legal support of the municipal court to cover their wrongdoing.

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That is exactly what happened to me in June of 2017.
In my case, the inspector was not a code compliance officer or officer in-training. He had been working as a code compliance inspector since 2015... Without a license. The code compliance department, its director and managers knowingly allowed him to do that.

My response to Haq's warnings was to place signs in my back yard for Haq to see. One of them said, "Code Compliance looks over 8ft privacy fences without a warrant" and "Invasion of right to privacy." I am sure they pissed him off as he mentioned them in an email to his supervisor that I obtained via a public information request.
On July 6, 2017 I went to court with pictures of the yard taken hours before and Senior Assistant City Attorney, Kurt Banowsky determined that "significant work has been put in to make the property compliant and all of the then-five citations were dismissed.

On July 14, 2017, two code enforcement officers, Cheryl Reno and Nick Moss appeared at my door with a search and abatement warrant. I told Reno that the tickets were dismissed but, she claimed this was a separate action. I will document the details of the event in another post. After the warrant was executed, I requested more documents from the code compliance department and the court clerk. What I found was, Haq had filed a affidavit in support of probable cause to request the warrant. Several of his claims were easily proven to be false. He lied to the court.
The court.... Yes, the court. I appeared in front of the clerk of the Garland Municipal Court to request a copy of the Return on Warrant (an itemized list of items removed from my property, signed by a code officer and submitted to the court for the judge to review and then filed) and the warrant itself. The clerk informed me that there was no record of either the warrant or the return on warrant filed with the court. The warrant was not authorized by the judge and it was a phony made by a vindictive code inspector (Haq did not get his license until July 28, 2017).

A labor lien was filed against my property for $550 for the warrant fee's.
All five of the dismissed tickets were "re-issued" and two new tickets were issued based on two violations discovered during their illegal search. I had seven total tickets against me and the fines could total up to $14,000 if I was found guilty.

I met with several attorney's in hopes of having one of them represent me at trial but, the least expensive retainer was $2,500 and I could not afford that. I proceeded to trial in February of 2018 as a Pro Se defendant.

The next post will cover the details and results of the trial. An sneak peek of the trial is.... I had zero chance to win if I did not have a lawyer. A trial by jury was held in February of 2018 and I was found guilty on all seven citations. The jury decided to make the fines minimal but, each ticket had court fees added to the fine and in the end, I was ordered to pay over $1,400 in fines.

I consulted with an attorney to look into appealing the case but, I would have had to pay a lawyer a $3,000 retainer plus additional costs to appeal. It made no sense to pay $3,000+ to appeal $1,400 in fines. I had only one other option available to me for attempting to see that the people with Garland code compliance may be held accountable for their misconduct and wrong doing.... File a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

In July of 2018, I submitted a 19-page complaint along with 55 exhibits of documents as proof of evidence to the TDLR. I received a letter from the legal intake department of the TDLR that informed me that they reviewed my complaint and evidence in the matter. They have turned the documents over to an investigator who has opened a full investigation into Dawood Haq of the Garland code compliance department.

My best guess is the lions share of the blame will go against Dawood Haq while the others within the department will get a minimal slap on the wrist and told to run their departments better.
Stay tuned for more....