MAGNOLIA, Texas – For the first time, Magnolia City Secretary Christian Gable is speaking out, sharing what she says she endured at the hands of the man sworn to lead her city.
KPRC 2 first reported Mayor Matthew Dantzer was indicted on charges of aggravated assault on a pregnant woman and official oppression following a Texas Rangers investigation. He was arrested this week on a Tarrant County warrant. Dantzer denies all allegations.
Gable sat down with KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel, alongside former Human Resources Director Kristy Powell.
“I feel like I’ve taken every step that I possibly could without speaking out into the public,” Gable said. “I’ve been pretty obedient in the instructions given to me by leadership, but I haven’t received the same respect in return. So, I’ve gotten to a point where whatever it takes to bring awareness to the situation, I’m over it. That’s really all it comes down to.”
A pattern of harassment
Gable says she has known Dantzer for about 10 years. He was her parents’ next-door neighbor when she moved back home after losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Dantzer was a city council member and offered her a job at the city.
She said what began as a neighborly relationship quickly became something else.
“Once I started actually working at City Hall, his level of communication was very different from the average person,” Gable said. “He’s the kind of guy that could take the most casual sentence and warp it into something perverted. People kind of brush it off as if it’s normal. So, as I started to work there, it just became more and more inappropriate.”
Gable says Dantzer repeatedly made sexualized comments at work, including referring to her as his “sexitary” when introducing her to visitors at City Hall.
“Mostly embarrassed,” Gable said of how it made her feel. “I feel like if I would have called him out on being inappropriate, I would’ve been fired that day for embarrassing him.”
Powell said Dantzer also made inappropriate comments about her in front of others.
“He came in and made a comment about my chest,” Powell said.
What happened in Fort Worth
During a work conference in Fort Worth in October, Gable says the harassment escalated into physical assault.
After a dinner hosted by a city contractor, Dantzer offered to walk Gable back to the hotel. She agreed, texting her boyfriend to alert him because, she says, she already knew Dantzer’s behavior could become inappropriate.
“I knew it would come if I allowed it,” she said.
About halfway through the walk, Gable says Dantzer commented on her loose pants she wore because she was five months pregnant. She said Dantzer reached over to pull her pants down.
“There were people walking, there were people driving cars by, cameras surrounding us, and he is comfortable trying to strip my pants from my body out in the open,” Gable said.
As they neared the hotel’s valet entrance, Gable said she felt relief, believing the ordeal was almost over.
“I thought I was done for the night,” she said.
She was wrong.
“He turns and he pulls me back into the pillar that’s separating the valet from the side of the hotel, uses his hand to grab me by the throat and pin me against this pillar,” Gable said. “Unconsensually. It caught me totally off guard.”
When asked what was going through her mind in that moment, Gable said simply, “Complete shock.”
Gable said the Texas Rangers later showed her surveillance footage from that night and says what she saw was worse than she remembered.
“To watch that back, it is crystal clear,” she said. “You can see it all over that it was not what I had expected.”
She also discovered something in the footage she had not known about in the moment.
“There’s footage inside the hotel as well, and you can see his attempt to trip me from behind that I wasn’t quite aware of,” Gable said. “I was five months pregnant. If he would have and I would have landed on the baby in my belly, that’s a whole other level of problems.”
Despite what she describes as a terrifying experience, Gable says she did not report the incident immediately.
“I have bills to pay. I have a job to keep. I’ve been a single mom most of my life. The priority is my family and the security of them,” she said. “This is behavior that I’ve put up with for so long. I had no intention to report it until I was encouraged by our former HR director.”
The final straw came when Gable returned to City Hall. She was working at her desk when Dantzer entered her office quietly and slammed both hands on her desk, hovering over her.
“He backs up and starts laughing and starts a normal conversation as if nothing had just happened,” Gable said. “It was an intimidation thing for sure.”
The city’s investigation — and what came of it
Powell said she immediately encouraged Gable to report the Fort Worth incident and took the information to the former City Administrator Chris Whittaker the following morning.
“My initial reaction was she needs to document this. We have to bring it forward,” Powell said.
The city hired a third-party attorney to investigate. The investigation was closed without action against Dantzer, described as inconclusive, according to Gable and Powell’s attorney.
“They told us no action taken, nothing was done,” Powell said. “I have no idea why because I’m not privy to that information.”
Gable says she was not even officially told the investigation had closed, she found out weeks later from the city attorney.
“I feel like I wasn’t being heard. I don’t know what else I could say, what else I could do. They claim that my complaint was all word of mouth. What makes his rebuttal any more than just word of mouth?” Gable said. “I have concrete evidence that was clearly reviewed by higher authority.”
Gable and Powell’s attorney confirmed the city and their third party attorney never requested or looked at the surveillance video from the hotel that showed the alleged assault, but the Texas Rangers did.
Two federal lawsuits
After both women came forward, they say the retaliation was swift.
Powell says she was ostracized, excluded from meetings, called a bully by Dantzer and told by the court administrator that “no one wants you here anyway.”
“Retaliation happened,” Powell said. “My health plummeted, the stress was just too much.”
Powell says Dantzer also sent text messages to coworkers instructing them not to trust her, effectively undermining her role as HR Director.
“Going to work every day was literal hell inside those walls,” Powell said. “I feel like nothing has changed for the employees at the City of Magnolia.”
The breaking point came when Powell felt she had no choice but to resign.
“I was met with no resolve. I was told, just take the high road, Kristy, just deal with it because you’re HR,” she said. “I realized I just wasn’t built for that.”
Powell says she filed a federal lawsuit because right and wrong demand accountability.
“That place needs to be turned inside out,” Powell said. “I would like the stuff that’s done in the dark to come to light.”
Gable also filed a federal lawsuit against Dantzer and the city, alleging failure to investigate and retaliation. She says even after his indictment, the city denied her request to work remotely until Dantzer’s term ends in May. Gable said the city told her that because nothing had happened to her since she filed her complaint, there was no justification.
“None of his privileges have been taken from him,” Gable said. “He could come in today if he wanted to, now that he’s bonded out. So returning to work is just not an option. How can I ensure my safety when nothing has been implemented to protect me?”
Dantzer was booked into the Tarrant County jail but he made his $15,000 bond. His attorney sent the following statement, denying the allegations.
“We on behalf of Matthew Dantzer categorically deny the allegations. Mr. Dantzer maintains his innocence and looks forward to the opportunity to defend himself in the appropriate legal process. Mr. Dantzer remains dedicated to faithfully serving the citizens of the City of Magnolia. We respectfully ask for privacy and patience as this matter proceeds. No further comments will be made at this time out of respect for the ongoing investigation and all parties involved.” -Douglas W. Atkinson & Associates, P.L.
The city attorney, Leonard Schneider said he will not be commenting on the case amid the Texas Rangers investigation. The Magnolia City Council is holding a special meeting on Monday, April 20th. Mayor Pro-Tem Jack Huitt has called for Dantzer’s resignation and said the council will discuss his charges during closed executive session.
KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel will have more on this story tonight at 10.