Charles Soechting rushed to the San Marcos Airport after he says police called in April saying the back door of his airplane hangar was open.
In a federal suit — filed in Austin in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas — Soechting, a defense attorney and former state trooper, and his friend Edward F. Romano are claiming San Marcos police lied in a report saying Soechting granted them permission to enter their hangar and conduct an illegal search of the building.
The documents names the city of San Marcos, Police Chief Chase Stapp, assistant chief Bob Klett, and officers Wade Parham, Don Lee and Lee Harris.
Soechting and Romano say police searched their hangar without permission as retaliation because they have criticized San Marcos police’s behavior for over 10 years. Days before the search, the lawsuit explains, Soechting had told Stapp that actions against one of his clients were illegal.
In the suit, the men also claim a retired police officer had accused Romano of being a drug dealer.
Police had been at the hangar since about 4 p.m. and allegedly had asked the airport’s personnel for an access key to enter, the suit says. Officers waited until all employees left the building, broke into the hangar and called Soechting about 9:20 p.m. telling him about the hangar’s door, the lawsuit says.
According to the suit, Officer Harris asked for permission to search the hangar but Soechting declined. But police still searched the building, the lawsuit says.
Soechting and Romano explain in the lawsuit they did not grant police consent because the privacy of tax, business records and confidental client files they store at the hangar would have been compromised.
“It’s a very safe location, or at least it was before the police got there,” Soechting said. “There’s never been a moment of time where we didn’t feel our papers were safe out there. We’ve re-keyed the locks so they (police) can’t pick them.”
The men allege a K-9 unit incident report proves police illegally conducted the search.
The police report states that “detective Harris remained on the telephone with Mr. Soecthing and described our movements inside the hangar — to allow Mr. Soechting the ability to withdraw consent at any given moment,” according to the lawsuit.
But phone records prove it’s false, the lawsuit says.
In addition to the search, the men are claiming that police stopped the cars Romano and his private pilot were driving without a reason after they left the airport that same afternoon.
Soechting and Romano seek a permanent injuction to stop future police searches without a warrant or consent, damages and attorney fees.
The city of San Marcos did not respond to a request of comment Friday.
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