HOUSTON – A roadside motorist assistance worker caught with hidden cameras shopping for porn while on duty has pleaded guilty to felony charges, Local 2 Investigates reported Monday.
David Richard, 52, of Houston, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to falsifying government documents.
In October 2010, Local 2 Investigates followed him from one X-rated video store to another when he was supposed to be helping stranded motorists on Houston freeways. He spent hours on duty looking at porn while his daily work records reflected he was on the opposite side of town helping drivers that did not exist.
His work records were obtained by Local 2 Investigates, and police said their investigation found that he made up phony license tag numbers to indicate he was working when he was actually ducking into porn shops in southeast Houston and in northwest Houston.
Reached by telephone on Monday, Richard said he had no comment, but when he was confronted by Local 2 Investigates outside his second X-rated video store one afternoon in October 2010, he insisted, "I wasn't trying to trick anybody." He then said that if the story was broadcast, "Well, I'm fired, sir."
When pressed about his second porn-shopping excursion in one day while motorists were stranded on the roadside, he answered, "I understand your point. I know you're right. I don't have any argument."
His sister, Lynette Richard, said Monday that she was not defending what her brother did, but she lashed out at what she called a "double standard" at METRO.
Richard was quickly forced from the job he had held at METRO for 29 years and METRO CEO George Greanias had harsh words, saying, "I am not going to tolerate, METRO is not going to tolerate folks who simply will not get with the program."
Greanias also said, "I have an issue with any employee who doesn't do their job" and he said anyone caught shopping for porn on the job should not be with the agency.
Months later, Greanias himself was suspended by the METRO board after accessing pornography sites on his METRO computer. He admitted to the lapse and said he thought he was using his own computer at the time from his office. He called it "highly embarrassing" and inappropriate.
Lynette Richard said that was unfair, adding, "He just got like a slap on the wrist, don't do that on your computer, no more whatever he was doing and now my brother is out of a job.
"They're watching out for their own, they're making my brother an example and they are just letting the head people just do what they want to do," she said.
Greanias was asked by Local 2 Investigates about that apparent double-standard when he returned to work from his one-week suspension. He said that, unlike Richard, his METRO work was always getting done despite any inappropriate web surfing. He said no one has ever accused him of not getting METRO's work done.
Greanias had no further comment Monday.
The same Motorist Assistance Program (MAP) at METRO got another black-eye just five-months after Richard was caught on hidden camera. Despite all the fallout and Greanias saying workers were now being held accountable, Local 2 Investigates found different MAP workers gathering for hours at the end of each shift to play pool and relax in a METRO facility game room off San Jacinto Street north of downtown. Some gathered and relaxed while rush-hour was still under way.
Two workers were fired in that second episode, but no criminal charges were filed and Greanias once again said that MAP workers were scolded and required to spend those final hours of the shift actually helping motorists on the freeways.
Richard's sister said her brother has never been in trouble in his life and it's been hard for him to try to find another job. She said her family is hoping he receives probation when he is sentenced for his felony guilty plea next month.