{"id":465451,"date":"2025-12-23T00:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T00:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465451\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T00:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T00:22:13","slug":"employees-say-bexar-county-veterans-agency-in-turmoil-after-director-put-on-leave-deputy-director-forced-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465451\/","title":{"rendered":"Employees say Bexar County veterans agency in turmoil after director put on leave, deputy director forced out"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 Last week, a half-dozen employees with the Bexar County Military and Veteran Services Department (MVSD) stood before commissioners and publicly vouched for its embattled leadership. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe come here today a little bit in the blind,\u201d said George Westfahl, an MVSD veterans service officer and retired member of the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

Westfahl spoke on behalf of other staff members who also signed up to speak at the commissioners\u2019 court meeting, but yielded their time to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ve been some allegations. Some might consider them malicious or false, against unsuspecting and undeserving people among our leadership. A witch hunt instigated by some ambitious people,\u201d said Westfahl.<\/p>\n

KSAT Investigates<\/p>\n

Hard-hitting journalism from the KSAT Investigates team delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

The county agency assists veterans, service members and their families by providing benefits counseling, claims assistance, peer support groups and connections to local, state and federal resources.<\/p>\n

MVSD has suffered significant turnover in leadership over the past six weeks, according to records compiled by KSAT Investigates.<\/p>\n

Its deputy director, Nancy Taguacta, retired at the end of October, after she was given a letter of proposed termination by MVSD Director Keith Wilson.<\/p>\n

A months-long investigation by the Bexar County Ombudsman substantiated multiple misconduct allegations against Taguacta, concluding her behavior more likely than not violated county policy, state law, and federal employment protections.<\/p>\n

The findings, detailed in a 34-page investigative report obtained by KSAT Investigates, document a pattern of conduct that included targeting employees based on service-connected disabilities, disclosing protected medical information without authorization and creating what investigators described as hostility, isolation and intimidation in the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour actions have caused significant harm to the work environment,\u201d said Wilson, summarizing the lengthy investigation in an Oct. 30 notice of proposed termination.<\/p>\n

Taguacta resigned her position that same day in a handwritten note.<\/p>\n

Nancy Taguacta resigned her position as deputy director Oct. 30 and formally retired from Bexar County a day later. (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Her last day on payroll for the county was Oct. 31, records show.<\/p>\n

Taguacta had been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 16 while the ombudsman investigated her workplace behavior.<\/p>\n

After KSAT Investigates requested an interview with Wilson about the county\u2019s investigation of Taguacta, officials acknowledged that Wilson had also been placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeith Wilson has been placed on paid administrative leave as of December 10, 2025. There will be no further comment as this is a personnel matter,\u201d a written statement attributed to Bexar County Deputy County Manager Thomas Guevara states.<\/p>\n

Officials have not provided any details about the latest personnel move within MVSD.<\/p>\n

Reached by phone, Wilson told KSAT that he is in the dark about why he was placed on leave and that he has only been told the leave is for 30 days, with the possibility of that timeframe being extended.<\/p>\n

He said Guevara is overseeing the main pieces of the department along with a \u201ccapable\u201d group of managers.<\/p>\n

Investigation laid out reasons to terminate Taguacta<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s investigation claims that in May, Taguacta began referring to an MVSD employee as a \u201cticking time bomb\u201d and openly discussed his medical diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Taguacta, according to the investigation, admitted to openly discussing another employee\u2019s disabilities \u201cwidely in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, after a staffer complained about privacy partitions being removed from around her desk, Taguacta told her the concerns \u201cwere all in her head\u201d and that she did not believe the employee, according to the investigation.<\/p>\n

The employee was \u201cextremely triggered by these comments, and experienced an intense emotional reaction, which led to a state of crisis,\u201d the investigation states.<\/p>\n

The investigation stated the incident \u201cescalated into a suicidal crisis,\u201d requiring law enforcement to intervene to ensure the employee\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWitnesses reported that Ms. Taguacta\u2019s manipulations and retaliation had caused their heavier drinking, broken marriages, and increased need for mental health treatment. Many of the witnesses interviewed stated that they had called the VA Crisis Line due to workplace stressors caused by Ms. Taguacta,\u201d the investigation states.<\/p>\n

Another employee revealed to the investigator that \u201cMs. Taguacta\u2019s behavior had caused him to cry on his couch many nights,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

The investigation summary states the ombudsman received five statements from MVSD employees in late October supporting Taguacta, but that the statements \u201cwere notably similar in phrasing and content, suggesting possible coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if taken as accurate, these statements do not disprove the allegations under review,\u201d the ombudsman concluded.<\/p>\n

Reached for comment via telephone, Taguacta told KSAT, \u201cMy lawyer would tell me not to make comments but a lot of things are incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked specifically if she bullied employees, discussed their private medical information publicly and caused them to go into crisis, Taguacta responded, \u201cI don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A separate 2023 investigation of Taguacta found that she made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature about a coworker and failed to safeguard donations received by the agency for veterans.<\/p>\n

Taguacta provided the investigator a log of donations she presented as preexisting, but metadata later showed it was created after Taguacta had been interviewed as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

The ombudsman recommended that an audit be conducted on the agency, as well as discrimination and sexual harassment training be given to all MVSD staff, records show.<\/p>\n

The ombudsman also recommended that additional supervisor training on sexual harassment should be completed by Taguacta within 30 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no knowledge of that whatsoever,\u201d said Taguacta, when asked about the 2023 investigation. <\/p>\n

She referred additional questions from KSAT to her attorney, who did not respond to a phone call seeking comment for this story.<\/p>\n

That same year, an MVSD employee recorded several conversations of her and Taguacta discussing issues in the workplace.<\/p>\n

The employee is heard telling Taguacta she feels targeted and isolated in the office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to get an ombudsman in here, because I honestly have nothing else to say. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s getting better. There\u2019s a lot of tension,\u201d the employee says on the recording.<\/p>\n

In a second conversation recorded the next day, Taguacta is heard arguing with the employee about timesheets and leaving the employee\u2019s door open.<\/p>\n

A third conversation recorded the following day includes audio of Taguacta terminating the employee and telling her she had no recourse for appeal, because the staffer had worked for MVSD for less than six months.<\/p>\n

The former employee shared the recordings with KSAT on the condition that her name not be used in connection to their release.<\/p>\n

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Last week, a half-dozen employees with the Bexar County Military and Veteran Services Department (MVSD)…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":465452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[211820,51,136289,31872,211821,50,7202,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-465451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-bexar-county-military-and-veteran-services-department","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-keith-wilson","11":"tag-ksat-investigates","12":"tag-nancy-taguacta","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115766030782398788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}