SAN ANTONIO – The former president of the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association is accused of trying to scare off the highest-ranking woman in the San Antonio Fire Department from applying for the fire chief’s position, according to newly released documents.
Christopher Steele, 57, was arrested Friday in San Marcos on a felony stalking warrant out of Bexar County.
San Antonio Police released a police report and warrant affidavits on Wednesday that showed SAFD Interim Deputy Chief Valerie Frausto was Steele’s alleged victim. The documents also showed that other members of the department command staff got similar messages.
“INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR”
According to the documents, Frausto received texts and emails in March, supposedly from an “independent investigator” hired by someone applying for the fire chief position. The sender said his name was “Frank” and that he had “encountered some concerning allegations,” to which he asked Frausto to respond.
Those claims included that Frausto had used her position as fire marshal to order maximum fines be assessed at an ex-partner’s workplace and that there had been allegations of physical abuse from another former partner.
Frausto later told police she didn’t know what the sender was talking about.
Frausto first received a text message on March 9 telling her to check her email for a message from earlier in the day. In that email, the sender warned that “any information provided and the nature of these allegations will be held in strict confidence and will not be disclosed unless you decide to pursue the Fire Chief position, at which point it may become necessary to further assess these matters.”
Frausto reported the email to the City Attorney’s Office, which sent “Frank” a cease and desist demand on March 13.
The City Attorney’s Office told the sender the city had not retained them to do background checks and that the sender’s email address, which included “goodhire,” implied they worked for the background check company. However, the city’s demand noted that GoodHire had denied any knowledge of “Frank” or his investigation.
On March 16, “Frank” sent Frausto another email demanding a response within 24 hours “outlining your plan of action to address these allegations” and warning that “the clock is ticking.”
Frausto contacted police that night and made a formal report.
On March 22, she received another message from a new email address showing a news release that the sender claimed would go out to national and local news outlets “within the next few weeks.”
On March 27, Frausto received a text message from a new number showing a template for a similar news release.
Frausto told police she felt intimidated and threatened by the messages and that the sender was trying to coerce her into not applying for the fire chief’s position.
San Antonio police traced the phone numbers back to Steele using Google Voice account information, email addresses associated with those accounts, and internet activity information.
MORE MESSAGES
The documents indicate two other members of the SAFD command staff received similar messages from “Frank.” Their messages included allegations they had paid to have union officials followed, been responsible for mental health breakdowns of firefighters, used offensive speech in front of civilian city employees, and committed sexual harassment.
However, the other command staff members are not named in the documents, nor do the messages to them appear in the affidavit for Steele’s arrest.
Police also spoke with another SAFD employee who had received a message from “Frank” asking about allegations of abuse in their relationship with Frausto. That employee, who is not eligible for the chief’s job, told police they didn’t know what the sender was talking about as they had never had a relationship with Frausto.
READ MORE: Former San Antonio firefighters union president arrested on stalking charge
FRAUSTO IS HIGHEST-RANKING FEMALE IN SAFD
Frausto is a 23-year veteran of the SAFD who was appointed as the interim deputy fire chief over administrative services in January. The promotion came after the forced retirement of former SAFD Chief Charles Hood over an investigation into “vulgar” comments he had made prompted a domino effect within the command staff.
The previous deputy chief had been Christopher Monestier, whose appointment as interim fire chief was announced at the same time as Frausto’s.
Frausto’s previous roles with SAFD include city fire marshal, chief of communications, and assistant chief over employee wellness and recruitment.
A SAFD spokesman said Wednesday Frausto did not have any comment, due to the ongoing investigation.
STEELE NEARLY THREE YEARS RETIRED
In his 17 years as SAPFFA president, Steele was known for his willingness to go toe-to-toe with City Hall. Most notably, he led the firefighters in a years-long contract fight that spanned the negotiating table, the courtroom, and the ballot box.
Under Steele, the fire union successfully rallied voters in 2018 to put limits on the city manager’s pay and tenure and to give the union the unilateral power to call for binding arbitration during contract negotiations.
However, that victory soon backfired on firefighters. After the union invoked its new power in 2019, a panel of arbitrators handed down a contract that fell short of what firefighters had hoped and for which the union is still trying to make up ground in its latest negotiations.
Steele retired from SAFD as a battalion chief in August 2021, leaving the union at the same time.
He is free on bond after being booked into the Hays County Jail Friday.
Steele did not immediately respond to a voicemail or text message Wednesday afternoon.
“AS INSANE TO US AS IT IS TO EVERYBODY ELSE”
SAPFFA President Joe Jones told KSAT the union had nothing to do with the incidents for which Steele was arrested.
“This is as insane to us as it is to everybody else. Although it’s not entirely surprising because we’ve seen this behavioral pattern,” Jones said, clarifying that he meant seeing it in previous union officials, as well as previous and current SAFD administrations.
Jones has led the SAPFFA since 2022 and said he hasn’t seen any evidence that Steele has stayed involved behind the scenes on the union side.
The union president wasn’t prepared to say whether he believed Steele truly was behind the messages. However, the use of pseudonyms to “oppress” people within the department was a “well-established behavioral pattern, unfortunately,” he said, though “not with the current union administration.”
Jones also defended Frausto, saying the allegations laid out in the emails “appear to us to be completely false and baseless.”
“We have no reports – zero reports, zero allegations or complaints against Chief Frausto,” he said. “She’s been in the department for 23 years, and she has always been regarded as a good, solid leader.”
However, Jones said he believed the situation has “contaminated” the search for a new chief.
“Just the presence of this recognized and identified behavioral pattern, I think negatively impacts the process,” Jones said. “Because you potentially have candidates that didn’t even submit for the position, who could have been very effective in that role, who didn’t even make themselves candidates because of the risk of this very behavior.”
City spokesman Brian Chasnoff refused to comment on how the alleged messages to Frausto and other command staff members have affected the search for a new fire chief.
Instead, KSAT’s request for comment was kicked to SAPD spokesman Sgt. Washington Moscoso, who said the department couldn’t provide additional comment because of the “active and ongoing investigation.”