The one-time head of the San Antonio firefighters’ union allegedly threatened to release sensitive personal information about four fire department staffers if they applied for the city’s vacant fire chief position, arrest records show.
Christopher A. Steele — who served as union president during the organization’s contentious 2018 contract standoff with the city — was arrested late last week on a third-degree felony charge related to those allegations. He was released on $3,000 bond, according to the Express-News.
Steele, 57, who retired from the San Antonio Fire Department in 2021, was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Police launched a blackmail inquiry after a fire department employee told the City Attorney’s Office in early March that a person claiming to be an independent investigator sent an email accusing her of misconduct, including the crime of official oppression, according to an SAPD affidavit.
The message, purportedly coming from a person named Frank, said the allegations would only be aired if she applied for the department’s top position, the affidavit states.
“Rest assured 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 be necessary to further assess these matters,” the email said, according to police paperwork.
The San Antonio Fire Department has been working to fill its top position after Chief William Hood retired in January. Hood left in the wake of an internal investigation into his alleged use of inappropriate language around coworkers.
According the arrest documents, “Frank” sent additional email and text messages to the employee even after city officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to the email address.
As SAPD’s probe unfolded, a detective learned that three other fire department employees received similar messages, according to SAPD documents. A department affidavit states that investigators were able to link the number that originated text messages to those employees back to Steele.
Late last week, a Bexar County judge approved an arrest warrant for Steele along with a search warrant for his San Marcos-area residence.
Under Steele’s leadership, the fire union waged an unconventional and frequently ugly battle with city officials for much of 2018 as the organization sought a new labor contract. During the fight, the union swayed voters to pass a pair of charter amendments that hastened the talks’ move into arbitration and that prompted the departure of then-city manager Sheryl Sculley.
Steele became known for stunts including backing out of a town hall meeting with Mayor Ron Nirenberg at the last minute and holding a press conference during which he wore a fake fire uniform to skirt rules prohibiting him from wearing his real one during political events.
In 1994, while Steele was a San Antonio Fire Department employee, he was indicted by a grand jury for tampering with a Texas ID card with the intent to “harm and defraud” the state, according to court records. That charge was dropped before it came to trial, however.
Steele also faced a 1991 civil suit from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, which accused him of selling financial management plans that made false advertising claims, records indicate. Two years later, “without admitting the truth or falsity of this allegation,” Steele agreed to stop selling financial plans that couldn’t deliver on their promoted benefits, according to documents.
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This article appears in May 1-14, 2024.
