A San Antonio-based foster care nonprofit said TPR’s report about an accused child-rapist remaining on staff eight months after the allegation was made was false. It threatened legal action against former employees who spoke out. But documents and additional former employees call into question what the organization has told the state and the families it serves.
TPR reported three weeks ago that Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services (TFCAS) kept its chief financial officer Gerald “Jerry” Monroe on its staff despite accusations he raped his then 15 year-old great niece, Shawna Rogers.
TPR also documented — in a previous story— allegations against Monroe by his now deceased step daughter Bree Calvey through interviews with the woman’s relatives and friends.
Monroe has denied both allegations, and the child sexual assault case against him was dropped in May due to Rogers’ death in a car accident, according to court records.
“We did not know any of the allegations against the employee as the case was not against any of our families or children,” said Karen Perez, CEO of Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services, in an email to foster families it serves. TPR recently obtained the letter.
Through its lawyers, Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services told TPR that it didn’t wait months to fire Monroe, as TPR reported. Instead, it said, it did not know about the allegations until a day after his arrest. Monroe agreed with the organization's account, according to an affidavit included in the letter.
But according to the Department of Family and Protective services, it is standard operating procedure to notify a foster placement agency when one of their employees is under investigation and if a “Reason To Believe” determination is issued.
Karen Perez told foster families they serve that they were not alerted about the abuse because it didn’t deal with kids in their care, but a DFPS spokesman said that wouldn’t have mattered. DFPS said it does not release RTBs or communications about them, due to privacy laws.
An RTB is when child welfare investigators find enough evidence to determine it was more likely than not abuse took place. Child Protective Services issued an RTB against Monroe in June 2020, according to federal court records.
Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services said they never received a “Reason To Believe” letter.
A former manager at the facility disputes that they didn’t know about the allegations.
“I was told by Karen [Perez] about the allegations before July 2020, said Eric Cartagena, a former manager at Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services.
The nonprofit — that Texas pays $2 million a year to ensure the safety of children placed at dozens of foster homes — told state officials it severed the relationship with Monroe in December 2020.
New documents call into question assertions from Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services to TPR and to state regulators that Monroe actually stopped working at the organization. Multiple former employees of Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services said Monroe was still being consulted by management though not in the office.
Tax documents provided to TPR by Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services list Monroe as the custodian of the nonprofits books and list his home as the organization’s address. These documents are dated November 2021 — a year after Perez told the state he was gone.
Experts TPR consulted say that suggests an ongoing relationship akin to a “key employee.”
And the organization is still paying Monroe. Monroe was paid $76,000 a year in 2021 and through 2022, as part of a severance agreement. It was scheduled to end around January of next year.
The organization tried to rehire him in May of this year, after the case was dismissed due to the death of Monroe’s accuser, according to CEO Karen Perez.
Multiple former employees have said Monroe was still working for the organization long after the termination date. Monroe had always worked remotely and was consulted whenever big decisions needed to be made — especially ones around spending and money.
“I did not ever talk to Jerry. But there were emails that he was cc’d on and he responded to emails,” said one former employee, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of legal threats. The employee worked at the agency in to 2022.
“This is how I see it: It’s Jerry (Monroe) and Nagi’s (Patibandla’s) show and Karen is just there to make their lives comfortable,” the former employees said.
Monroe and Patibandla are the only salaries listed on the tax filings and are the highest paid employees. Patibandla, a New Braunfels businessman, is listed as the organization’s executive director on tax filings. According to the tax documents, for several years Monroe made upwards of $80,000 a year and worked one day a week.
According to state records Monroe and Patibandla have also collaborated on several business endeavors including the now defunct Foster Kids and Families of Texas, and Lookout Investments.
Karen Perez initially declined to speak with TPR about Monroe and hung up on the reporter who asked about its tax filings. TPR pointed out to her that neither she nor her daughter-in-law Sheila Perez were listed on tax returns — despite managing day-to-day operations.
Former employees said Sheila Perez was the nonprofit’s executive director, but tax filings said it was Patibandla.
“Oversights like that in the form 990 filing are sort of classic indicators of a potential problem,” said Marc Owens, a former director of the IRS’ exempt organizations division.
According to tax experts TPR consulted, key employees are required to be listed along with their salaries. One compared these kinds of errors with “listing your dog” as a dependent on personal income filing.
Unusual
The circumstances around Monroe maintaining employment at a foster placement agency for eight months after allegations were made is unusual, according to law enforcement TPR consulted.
“Yes, it’s very unusual. I've prosecuted a foster parent who, the second the allegation came to light with him, all children were removed. His license was pulled. A teacher -- same exact thing. A CPS case worker -- he was terminated that day,” he said.
One foster placement CEO TPR spoke to said it would be impossible for someone to keep their job at her agency under similar circumstances. Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services maintains it never received notification from the state.
Texas Health and Human Services Commission told TPR that it had launched an investigation into Texas Foster Care and Adoption Services, the day TPR’s story ran on the organization.
“Our top priority at HHSC is the health and safety of children in the child care operations we regulate,” said Tiffany Young, assistant press officer at HHSC.
HHSC already investigated the nonprofit over Monroe in 2021, and no penalties were imposed, according to documents given to TPR.
