Atascosa Veterans Council™ (AVC) was founded on 05/05/2017 by Steve Mueller, Alex Kight and Stephanie Pino. On 07/04/2017, after much debate and discussion amongst the membership, AVC submitted an Application for Post Charter with the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Department of Texas (Texas VFW). However, due to negligence on the part of the Texas VFW leadership, AVC’s Institution into the VFW was not accomplished, but despite this failure, and later confirmed by evidence, the Texas VFW knowingly and intentionally prepared, signed and submitted a fraudulent and erroneous Report of Institution, with the intent to deceive, that falsely conveyed compliance with VFW Chartering prerequisites, to the National VFW. The National VFW, relying on the authenticity and accuracy of this Report of Institution, subsequently issued a fallacious Post Charter to AVC on 12/12/2017.
INSTITUTION
AVC, believing that the Institution was valid and completed in accordance with VFW policy and procedures, adopted and began using the VFW Moniker “Pleasanton VFW Post 12162”. Almost immediately after the presumed VFW Institution and Chartering, AVC leadership began to notice anomalies and inconsistencies associated with compliance with VFW National By-Laws, Manual of Procedures and common business practices on the part of the Texas VFW. Specifically, on multiple occasions and seemingly unfamiliar with standard business administrative processes, the Texas VFW failed to provide authorization to, or assist AVC leadership with, the incorporation of AVC with the Texas Secretary of State.
In early August of 2018, exhausted from attempting to coordinate the incorporation of AVC with the Texas VFW and in preparation of modeling future Posts on the successful and proven strategies utilized by the Pleasanton Post, AVC’s leadership began a legal analysis of formation documents and review of procedures with the intent to develop a common checklist for forming future entities. During this process numerous formation anomalies became evident, leading AVC leadership to suspect that AVC was not instituted properly. The lack of Incorporation, being of the greatest and most immediate concern for the founders, and in order to protect AVC officers from liability, acting without the assistance of the Texas VFW or using any pre-prepared VFW Articles of Incorporation or other VFW related governing documents, AVC’s cofounder Steve Mueller Incorporated AVC with the Texas Secretary of State, subsequently receiving a certificate of formation on 10/23/2018.
AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY
An ongoing, Area of Responsibility dispute between Poteet Memorial Post 6970, Atascosa County Post 4853 and AVC, beginning shortly after AVC’s introduction into the Atascosa County market, concerning the overlap of community Service programs and projects, whereas AVC was more active and visible in the public, began to become tumultuous by September of 2018. Recognizing the business leadership deficiencies of the other Atascosa County Posts, and with the intent to offer a joint approach from which all Post could benefit, AVC proposed the adoption of a mutual area of responsibility agreement. AVC made several attempts to schedule meetings, beginning as early as 11/28/2017, after it became apparent an agreement was needed, to discuss and develop the adoption of a mutual area of responsibility agreement between all Atascosa County Posts, however none of the Posts expressed any interest. As AVC grew in popularity, so did the need. A meeting was finally agreed upon 332 days after AVC’s initial meeting request, but despite AVC’s and Atascosa County Post 4853’s willingness to negotiate and compromise, Poteet Memorial Post 6970 adopted a belligerent posture, with their Post Commander, John E. Shipley, engaging in intimidation and bullying at the 10/26/2018 meeting, behavior that ultimately resulted in no resolution or ratification to any proposals presented towards the adoption of a mutual aera of responsibility agreement between the entities.
On 11/15/2018, shortly after the publication of AVC’s joint Purple Heart Ceremony held at Jourdanton High School, AVC Post Commander Steve Mueller received an email from Poteet Memorial Post 6970 Commander John E. Shipley, who attempted to assert authority over AVC using his District 20 title and “define” AVC’s Geographic area to prevent any future “projects” from taking place outside of Pleasanton. Believing this to simply be an attempt to avoid negotiations, AVC prepared to schedule an additional meeting to discuss a mutual AOR agreement, however before that could be accomplished, AVC Commander Mueller received a certified mail letter from the Texas VFW Commander Ingeborg A. Conley ordering him to “Cease-in-Desist” all fundraising, programs and projects outside of what the Texas VFW Commander Conley now “Defined” as the city limits of Pleasanton, further amplifying the need for AVC leadership to confirm the suspected institution inconsistencies and determine “if” AVC was indeed subordinate to the managerial control of the Texas VFW leadership or subject to the VFW National By-Laws or manual of procedures. Anticipating formal negotiations toward a settlement in the matter, AVC Post Commander Mueller suspended all Post projects, programs and fundraising and on 12/03/2018, called an Emergency Officer Meeting to explore productive dialogue concerning Post issues previously identified and to formulate a coordinated course of action to best achieve conflict resolution. Subsequently, on 12/10/2018, these issues and officer concerns were presented to AVC membership, who after some discussion and debate, authorized AVC leadership to immediately acquire legal representation to assist “in all current and future post Franchise disputes, By-Law issues and Legal matters”.
HOSTILE TAKEOVER
Upon notification, that legal consultants were assisting AVC in reviewing documents, policies and procedures, on 01/02/2019, and believing AVC was preparing to bring a lawsuit against the Texas VFW, the Texas VFW Commander Conley instructed Poteet Memorial Post 6970 Commander John E. Shipley on 01/03/2019, acting in his District 20 capacity, to perform a Section 710 Inspection of AVC. Shipley, allowed by Conley to use any members to assist him, selected Poteet Memorial Post 6970 members, including his Post’s Quartermaster. Shipley and his assistants contacted Mueller and confirmed that AVC had indeed submitted documents to a legal consultant, however Shipley deceptively conveyed to Texas VFW Commander Conley, that AVC was preparing to sue the Texas VFW and Conley herself. In response, on 01/04/2018, Conley, fearful that a lawsuit was imminent, initiated a commonly used VFW protective measure, attempting to seize control of AVC by hostile means, under the guise of a Section 211 Suspension, Conley, fraudulently “Relieved” both Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino from their presumed elected VFW positions, placing her appointed “Administrative Committee”, made up of Poteet Memorial Post 6970 Commander John E. Shipley (acting as the Committee Chairman), Larry L. Sanders and Robert Martinez Jr., in charge of AVC operations, with the intent and objective of rendering any legal representative, employed by AVC, in-conflict, and now under the direct control of her “Administrative Committee”. Therefore, negating the effects of any lawsuit and giving the Texas VFW full control over Post expenditures, thereby preventing any future payments from being utilized for legal purposes.
AVC Leadership, willing to resolve the institution issues, being actively researched by legal consultants, attempted to schedule a meeting for negotiation purposes, but all requests and attempts to resolve any disputes amicably were expeditiously denied by Texas VFW Commander Conley.
Ten days later at AVC’s normal monthly business meeting, held on 01/14/2019, the Texas VFW Administrative Committee aggressively assumed control, and enacted a posture of absolute dominance over AVC, knowing AVC was not a VFW Post. AVC’s Founders, leadership and membership, who attended the meeting with the intent of correcting the institution issues, were instead treated abominably by the Administrative Committee Chairman John E. Shipley, and Conley’s Adjutant Daniel L. West, who both now found themselves in a fictitious position of managerial control of AVC, willfully adopting a stubborn contemptuous narrative and by their own accord creating an hostile environment of intimidation and harassment, purposefully threatening AVC leadership and membership alike to forcibly project their personal requirement for unquestionable submissive compliance for their own self-gratification. West, a political rival of AVC’s Post Commander Mueller, who was actively campaigning against Mueller for the position of Department Quartermaster in the upcoming Texas VFW election at the time, used the opportunity to slander, defame and belittle Mueller in front of the AVC membership, with completely invented untrue accusation in an futile attempt to divide Vietnam era from Desert war era members in a purely politically motivated stunt. In a draconian way, no topics other than what Shipley decided was pertinent was allowed to be discussed and only motions Shipley deemed permissible were entertained by the Administrative Committee Chairman to be valid. Several attempts were made by AVC Founders and AVC legal consultants to inquire into Post concerns or ask By-Law or manual of procedures questions, but were met with quick dismissal, non cooperation or avoidance. This refusal to engage in productive dialogue left AVC with limited options to achieve resolution. After days of discussion among AVC membership, considering the unprofessional attitude and obvious political alliance of Shipley and West, it was decided that termination of the VFW and the VFW Department of Texas was the only option to protect AVC’s community Service programs. Post Commander Mueller was instructed to coordinate this effort and contact Shipley to schedule a Special Meeting for that purpose, but Shipley decisively denied Mueller’s request, further angering AVC membership.
VFW TERMINATION
Shipley, now aware of the membership’s intent, was stalling to allow time for his fellow conspirators to construct a narrative of criminality, using illegally obtained financial records, in the hopes of discrediting Mueller and Pino in the eyes of the AVC membership, thus allowing him and his Poteet Memorial Post 6970 colloquies to gain control of AVC. However, prior to the February monthly business Meeting, held on 02/11/2019, AVC leadership became aware of the Administrative Committee involvement in a conspiracy to commit Bank Fraud, upon the receipt of AVC’s monthly Bank statement now bore the name John E. Shipley instead of AVC’s only duly authorized signatory Steve Mueller. Additional to this revelation, it was also confirmed that the Texas VFW had fraudulently listed AVC’s Federal Employer Identification Number “82-2717893” as a Subordinate Unit on its annual IRS Group Exemption filing letter, without first receiving a signed letter from AVC requesting and authorizing the Texas VFW to do so. Additionally, it was revealed that and immediately passed on to AVC membership, that the Texas VFW Commander Conley had initiated an Article IX Disciplinary Action against AVC Founders Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino, alleging completely erroneous violations, but some of the Charges and Specifications were found to be most egregious, erroneously alleging that Mueller misappropriated $9,751.02 and Pino misappropriated $4,987.57 from AVC. These outlandish erroneous accusations completely outraged the AVC membership, who upon the opening of the February meeting, responded immediately by terminating the VFW and the VFW Department of Texas, returning all VFW regalia, documents and substance to Conley’s Administrative Committee. Post Commander Mueller immediately took control of the meeting, allowing Conley’s Administrative Committee to remain and witness, the reconfiguration of AVC with the elimination of all VFW positions and titles, a new Post election of Officers, resending of the VFW Moniker “Pleasanton VFW Post 12162”, and immediate adoption of AVC’s previous business title of Atascosa Veterans Council. The following day, on 02/12/2019, in response to a follow up letter submitted by AVC leadership to the Texas VFW, Daniel L. West, acting in collaboration with Conley attempted to convey that the motion to terminate the VFW was not Approved by Conley and thus was an “illegal motion”, but AVC leadership disagreed with his comments, concluding that upon the passing of the motion to terminate the VFW and VFW Department of Texas, the entity was officially no longer associated with the VFW, subject to the VFW, or Texas VFW managerial control and subsequently on 03/06/2019, Post Commander Mueller received a Certificate of Amendment with the Texas Secretary of state, thereby amending the incorporation to reflect the name change and disassociation with the Texas VFW. Additionally, AVC also issued a media release, published in the Pleasanton Express Newspaper, that further communicated and publicly announced AVC’s official disaffiliation with the VFW. Coincidently, on that same day, Mueller and Pino were found to be “Guilty” of all Charges and Specifications in the frivolous Disciplinary Action, with Conley issuing Special Order No. 23 & 24, recommending to the National VFW Commander-in-Chief that Mueller and Pino’s membership with the VFW be terminated.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
Expecting to be treated fairly by the Texas VFW, AVC allowed more than thirty days to elapse for Shipley to return access to AVC’s Bank Accounts. However, on 03/18/2019, when Post Commander Mueller attempted to regain access and control of AVC’s accounts, a Security Service Federal Credit Union bank manager denied his request and suggested that Mueller should “contact his commander”, implying that Shipley was the AVC Commander. Frustrated with the situation and now denied access to AVC’s accounts, with Shipley’s continued and completely fraudulent control over AVC’s accounts and believing the listing of AVC as a “Subordinate Unit” with the IRS may have been a premeditated criminal act to affect the Bank Fraud, AVC’s founders Mueller and Pino filed a criminal complaint with the Pleasanton Police Department for False statements to the IRS, Bank Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud by Daniel L. West, John E. Shipley and possibly others. Much to Mueller and Pino’s surprise, upon filing the complaint, it was revealed that the Texas VFW had also filed a criminal complaint six days earlier on 03/13/2019, that named both Mueller and Pino as allegedly Misapplying the fiduciary Property of AVC in the amount of $10,101.05. Mueller and Pino cooperated with Pleasanton Investigators and explained that AVC is no longer associated with the Texas VFW, providing numerous pieces of evidence to that effect. Evidence that substantiated the termination of the VFW and VFW Dept. of Texas and renaming of the Post, but not the dissolution of the corporation itself.
1ST DISCIPLINARY ACTION
Armed with the knowledge that the Texas VFW had decided to file a false police report and suspecting that the allegations made in Special Order No. 18 and 19 were prepared for, and being used to propagate a false criminal narrative with the Pleasanton Police Department, Mueller and Pino requested and received assistance reviewing the alleged charges and Specifications contained in Conley’s Special-Order No. 18 and 19 for By-Law and procedural compliance. Numerous inconsistencies and format errors were discovered and on 04/02/2019, Mueller and Pino appealed Conley’s recommendation to the VFW National Commander-in-Chief to Terminate their membership, asserting negligence and incompetency on the part of Conley and her Texas VFW staff, specific to Section 903 of the VFW National Manual of Procedures and directly related to Mueller and Pino having not received the “Signed Incident Report” or the “Investigative Report” that was used to justify commencement of the Disciplinary Action. On 04/17/2019, the National VFW Commander-in-Chief responded by confirming the Disciplinary Action against Mueller and Pino was indeed “inconsistent” with Section 903(d) of the manual of procedures, subsequently finding the action “was not properly initiated” and declaring the penalty prescribed in Conley’s Special-Order No. 23 and 24 “invalid”, vacating the appeal and remanding the disciplinary action back to the Texas VFW for “proper initiation pursuant to Section 903”.
2ND DISCIPLINARY ACTION
On 04/23/2019, Mueller and Pino received a second and new Article IX Disciplinary Action with the issuance of Conley’s Special-Order No. 27 and 28 dated 04/15/2019. Again, as before, the action did not comply with Section 903 of the VFW National Manual of Procedures, as the action did not include the required attachment of the “Signed Incident Report” and was incorrectly formatted. The new action did, however, include a “Investigative Report” dated 03/20/2019, that now alleged that Mueller and Pino had mutually conspired to misappropriate $10,741.18 of AVC’s monies. Conley’s Special-Order No. 27 to Mueller was similar but not exact to Conley’s previous disciplinary attempt, however unlike Conley’s
Special-Order No. 18, Conley’s Special-Order No. 27 did not allege any financial misconduct on the part of Mueller. Conley’s Special-Order No. 28, however, almost exclusively accused Pino of financial misconduct and of misappropriation of AVC monies totaling $4,987.57. After reviewing the documents and recognizing the blatantly obvious questionable mathematical calculations and procedural inconsistencies, Mueller and Pino immediately requested a hearing. However, on 05/13/2019, twenty days after the hearing request was submitted, and without hearing a response to the request from the Texas VFW, Pino contacted the National VFW to inquire as to how long the Texas VFW had to schedule a Disciplinary Hearing. National VFW Director of Administrative Operations David Prohaska confirmed the VFW policy was fifteen days from the hearing request. However, Prohaska injected that the Texas VFW had requested that National VFW Commander-in-Chief appoint the Disciplinary Hearing Panel. The next day, on 05/14/2019, the National VFW published National Special-Order No. 207 that listed seven panel members, Dan West’s subordinate Andrew F. Camplen as the prosecutor and a hearing date of 05/23/2019. Not having received the “Signed Incident Report” became an issue for Mueller and Pino’s Defense team and on 05/21/2019, Mueller and Pino requested a “Continuance” to have time to obtain the missing documents. The “Continuance” was Denied by the Disciplinary Hearing Panel President Larry Velasquez stating that; “With the hearing set for May 23, 2019 you have had ample time to prepare a defense”. Left with few remaining options and still not having received the “Signed Incident Report”, as required by Section 903 of the Manual of Procedures, on 05/22/2019, Mueller and Pino submitted an “Objection” for the record for the Disciplinary hearing for not receiving the “Signed Incident Report”, that had previously been identified as three signed notarized statements, published by Jeff Rankin, Patricia Hewitt and Douglas Edwards at some point prior to 02/06/2019 and notified the Panel President that neither would be attending the hearing. A hearing was held, and five days later, on 05/28/2019, the Texas VFW published the Disciplinary Hearing Findings that allegedly found both Mueller and Pino Guilty on all charges and Specifications contained in Conley’s Special-Order 27 and 28 and conveyed that the Panel imposed a sentence of Termination of Membership. Section 903(i)(10) VFW National Manual of Procedures requires a copy of the Finding and Sentence (Form DA-4) be mailed to the accused within seven days after the hearing if the accused was not present for the hearing. However, while Pino was mailed and received the Disciplinary Panel Finding and Sentence contained on her Form DA-4, Mueller never received his DA-4, negating Mueller’s ability to appeal the decision in a timely manner. Believing that the Texas VFW was maliciously trying to use the frivolous Disciplinary Action Panel findings to bolster support for their erroneous criminal narrative of Misappropriation of Fiduciary Property and deceptively influence the Pleasanton Police Department criminal investigation into Mueller and Pino, on 06/22/2019, AVC Officer and members prepared, published “Signed Incident Reports” and “Requests for Investigation” into the nefarious actions of the Texas VFW and Conley’s staff, appointed Administrative and Investigative Committees. These forty-nine signed statements were submitted by mail, email and Dropbox link and confirmed received by the National VFW Commander-in-Chief Vincent BJ Lawrence, National VFW Adjutant General Kevin Jones and National VFW Director of Administrative Operations David Prohaska, but no corrective action was initiated by any of the National VFW leadership. Contained within the statements of specific value that substantiated Mueller and Pino’s innocence, was the “signed Incident Reports” from the Post Trustees that without question confirmed that no Misappropriation of property had occurred. These documents were completely ignored by the National VFW leadership. On 06/28/2019, having still not been notified of the Hearing Panel findings and Sentence or having received Form DA-4 (required by Section 903), Mueller received National VFW Special-Order No. 237 via email, that stated that the disciplinary Hearing Panel recommended a “disciplinary action sentence of TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP” and that “there was no timely appeal” made to the National VFW Commander-in-Chief. However, Mueller and Pino had both appealed the Disciplinary Hearing Panel decision, in a certified mail package that alerted the National VFW to the numerous malicious and deliberate By-Laws and manual of procedures violations made by the Texas VFW leadership, Conley’s appointed Administrative and so-called Investigative Committees, listed the complete erroneous nature of the allegations, contained references to the forty-nine signed statements published by the members including all three post trustees and formal requests for corrective actions be taken immediately by the National VFW. These pleadings were again subsequently ignored by the National VFW, who by this time were fully aware of the active malicious criminal prosecution that had been initiated by the Texas VFW against Mueller and Pino in Pleasanton, Texas. Additional follow up emails were submitted and received by the National VFW Leadership requesting assistance and correction of the record but, like before, were subsequently ignored.
FALSE ARREST & MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
On 06/30/2019, having exhausted all administrative remedies, Legal Representation was obtained. However, prior to any legal action being taken, ten days later on 07/10/2019 both Mueller and Pino, having been notified of an active arrest warrant, voluntarily surrendered to the Atascosa County Sheriff. Subsequently, were acquired from, falsely arrested and transported to Pleasanton by the Pleasanton Police Department, for the sole purpose of taking Facebook propaganda photographs, then transported back to the Atascosa County Sheriff’s office by the Pleasanton Police Department to have official mugshots, fingerprinting and booking completed. Mueller and Pino were unlawfully imprisoned and charged with Texas Penal Code § 32.45 Misapplication of Fiduciary Property by the Pleasanton Police Department based on the deliberate submittal of fabricated, falsified documents, penurious statements and false allegations made by the Texas VFW and specifically after reviewing the falsified and fabricated evidence submitted and contained within the “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide” prepared by Andrew F. Camplen and Daniel L. West at Conley’s instruction. Upon their release from jail on bond, and with the Pleasanton Police Department defamatory publication to the media containing Mueller and Pino’s Facebook propaganda photos going viral, both Mueller and Pino were subjected to public embarrassment, villainization and humiliation in numerous city, state and national media television broadcasts, radio programs, printed publications, digital and multimedia outlets to great harm to their personal and professional reputations.
DEMAND LETTER
On 07/12/2019, Mueller and Pino submitted a legal Demand Letter to the Texas VFW and all individuals involved in and responsible for making the numerous defamatory, Libel and untrue statements, known at the time to have been published concerning Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino. The letter was subsequently ignored by the Texas VFW and the individuals with no retraction ever being published.
VFW 2ND APPEAL FINDING
On 07/17/2019, the National VFW published a response letter to Mueller and Pino’s appeal to Conley’s second disciplinary Action/ Special Order No. 27 and 28. The National VFW, having reviewed all of the documents associated with the disciplinary actions concluded that; “the trial record shows substantial compliance with the rules of our order” referencing Conley’s Special-Order 18 & 19, but not the specific charges or specifications contained in the new Disciplinary action initiated by Conley’s Special Order No. 27 or 28, and thus stating that the appeal was “not timely”.
PLEASANTON POLICE DEPARTMENT OPEN RECORDS REQUEST
Mueller and Pino made numerous attempts to obtain documents submitted by the Texas VFW in connection with the Criminal Investigation being conducted at the Pleasanton Police Department beginning as early as 03/04/2020 and again later, on 06/01/2020 to no avail. However, 394 days after their false arrest and unlawful detention, on 08/14/2020, Mueller and Pino’s criminal case was presented to an 81st Judicial Grand Jury by Assistant District Attorney Adriana Biggs, that found that no probable cause existed to warrant an indictment and subsequently returned a No-Bill decision ending the malicious prosecution. This finding was communicated to Pino and Mueller forty-six days later on 09/29/2020, who both immediately responded by filing Open Records Request to obtain the investigative and prosecutorial case files from both the Pleasanton Police Department and the 81st District Attorney’s office. On 10/07/2019 the Pleasanton Police Department case files were obtained, consisting of around 213 exhibits, with the majority specifically related to a document titled “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide” with attachments, prepared, signed and published by Andrew F. Camplen and Daniel L. West, as ordered by Texas VFW Commander Ingeborg A. Conley and apparently in collaboration with Roy J. Grona, John E. Shipley, Larry L. Sanders, Robert Martinez Jr., Jeff C. Rankin, Patricia S. Hewitt and Douglas P. Edwards. Contained in this report were numerous knowingly and intentionally falsified, fabricated and erroneous official National VFW, Texas VFW, Poteet Memorial Post 6970, Atascosa County VFW Post 4853 documents and AVC publications. Some of these documents were intentionally falsified. Including some AVC publications pertinent to financial records, that had been tampered with resulting in variations of five out of six of AVC’s “Trustees Report of Audit” for financial reporting periods; Fiscal Quarter 1 of 2017, Quarter 2 of 2017, Quarter 3 of 2018, Quarter 4 of 2018 or alternative Quarter 4 of 2018 and Quarter 1 of 2018, that were deliberately and intentionally altered and falsified by the Texas VFW co-conspirators Conley, West and Camplen. Additionally, the actual letter knowingly and intentionally prepared and signed by Daniel L. West, and submitted by his coconspirator John E. Shipley, used on 01/19/2019 in a criminal conspiracy to commit Bank Fraud, by affecting the unlawful removal of Mueller and addition of Shipley to the AVC financial accounts held at Security Service Federal Credit Union. This fraudulent letter ultimately allowed for the unlawful acquisition of AVC’s bank statements contained and used in the report. Together the Bank statements and the modified and altered quarterly Trustee Audit reports were included by the Texas VFW to substantiate and persuade investigators of the validity of a criminal nexus of Misappropriation of fiduciary property charge. To ensure that the Pleasanton Police Department criminal investigators could not question AVC’s Trustees, AVC’s Trustee Report of Audit’s were fabricated with the financial calculations being altered and the trustees signatures being removed, as the Texas VFW was fully aware, upon their submittal, that AVC Trustees did not and would not support the Texas VFW’s completely untrue criminal narrative that Mueller or Pino Misappropriated the fiduciary property of AVC.
In addition to reviewing the case files obtained concerning the criminal case, a detailed procedural analysis of the Pleasanton Police Department involvement in the criminal investigation was also conducted, that substantiated that no adequate investigation was accomplished by the Pleasanton Police Department to establish Probable Cause and that the Pleasanton Police Department lead investigator, Detective Jordan Haren, prior to his request for arrest warrants for Mueller and Pino, relied solely on the fraudulent “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide”, prepared and submitted by Texas VFW coconspirator Andrew F. Camplen. Giving Camplen professional courtesy, due to Camplen’s law enforcement history, and based on Haren’s assumption that Camplen’s “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide” was the authentic and accurate product of a legitimate Texas VFW investigation, Haren accepted Camplen’s conclusion as true and valid. Detective Jordan Haren failed to conduct a proper investigation, specifically Haren failed to do due diligence in confirming the allegations made in Camplen’s “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide”, by not contacting or interviewing any of the 110 Officers or members of AVC, or specifically and most importantly, contacting and questioning any of AVC’s three, membership elected Trustees, to substantiate Camplen’s allegation of Misappropriation of Fiduciary property. During the interviews of Daniel L. West, Andrew F. Camplen on 05/30/2019 and later John E. Shipley’s interview conducted on 06/03/2019, Haren, while asking proper questions, failed to follow up on response inconsistencies in their testimonies and when presented with an additional alternate “Report of Investigation”, dated 03/20/2019 by West during the 05/30/2019 interview, that clearly conveyed monetary anomalies, failed to ascertain as to the reason for the inconsistencies. Case Records and subsequent witness interviews conducted by Mueller and Pino indicated that Detective Haren never investigated AVC’s criminal complaint of Bank Fraud, nor questioned anyone at Security Service Federal Credit Union and as confirmed in the investigative interviews of Mueller, Pino, Camplen, West and Shipley, had very little, if any, understanding of the case. A subsequent review of the Pleasanton Police Department’s policies, procedures and guidelines and upon receipt of the employee records for Detective Jordan Haren, confirmed non-compliance with acceptable routine investigative practices, Department policies and procedures, that resulted in professional negligence on the part of the Pleasanton Police Department. Evidence acquired during a 07/10/2023 Open Record Request, further substantiated that Detective Jordan Haren, was specifically negligent in his duties as an “investigator”, confirming a history of persisting uncorrected professional deficiencies and negative investigative attributes, as Haren had been the subject of not one, but five formal complaints being filed against him between 04/03/2018 and 09/12/2019 alone, for poor performance as an investigator. Records indicate no subsequent corrective action or remedial training being initiated to rectify these deficiencies as having ever been ordered by Pleasanton Police Department leadership. The city of Pleasanton management was notified of these findings in late 2023, however with that being known, numerous promotions within the Pleasanton Police Department were accomplished, to include Detective Haren being promoted to the new rank of Lieutenant.
81ST DISTRICT ATTORNEY OPEN RECORDS REQUEST
Although the original open records request was filed on 09/29/2020, unlike the Pleasanton Police Department, obtaining the case files from the 81st District Attorney’s office, became problematic, with the District Attorney’s office at first objecting to the case file release, but upon more persuasion stating they would review the request and decide what files within the case file the prosecutor was willing to release, indicating a reluctance in issuing the entire case file to Mueller and Pino. Upon further communication and after Pino conveyed that the Pleasanton Police Department had already released their entire case file, the 81st District Attorney’s office finally released 262 exhibits, contained in a compact Disk in PDF form on 10/29/2020, as well as, copies of the Article IX Disciplinary Action Hearing recorded on 05/23/2019 by the Texas VFW, and all four Pleasanton Police Department interviews of Steve Mueller, Stephanie Pino, Daniel L. West, Andrew F. Camplen and John E. Shipley. Suspecting that the 81st Judicial District attorney office had not released the entire case file, Pino asked if she had received “everything” the district attorney’s office had and specifically; “if the District attorney ever requested any additional information from Andrew F. Camplen, Dan West, or the Dept. of Texas VFW”, to which the District Attorney’s office responded; “I checked the file once more, and yes, you have everything in the District Attorney’s file” and “I have no further information on this case”.
INSURANCE FRAUD
A diligent review of the documents obtained in the open records request substantiated Mueller and Pino’s belief that the Disciplinary Actions were, in fact, being used to generate evidence to support an invented criminal narrative of Misappropriation of Fiduciary property, but surprisingly not for the reasons first thought. Instead for more organized criminal goals. The financial related Charges contained in Conley’s Special-Order No. 18, 19 and 28 were specifically added by the Texas VFW to satisfy an insurance prerequisite. In fact, Andrew F. Camplen and Daniel L. Wests “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide”, was specifically prepared to assert that Mueller and Pino misappropriated $10,101.05 of AVC’s monies, was specifically assembled, packaged and published with the frivolous Disciplinary Actions and attachments, knowingly and deliberately with the intent to satisfy the required prerequisites needed to allow the Texas VFW to file a successful fraudulent Insurance claim against AVC’s Insurance Bond, in a criminal Insurance scam orchestrated by Daniel L. West, Andrew F. Camplen and Ingeborg A. Conley. This motive was overwhelmingly confirmed in the 05/23/2019 Disciplinary Hearing recording, where Camplen and West seemingly proud there falsified police report was so convincing in conveying the erroneous claim of theft to the Pleasanton Police Department, when, at the disciplinary Hearing, Andrew F. Camplen @ 1:09:17 in the recording asked Dan West “Was an Offense report made to the Pleasanton Police Department in regard to the theft of the $10,000 that Pino was responsible for?” West responded, “Um Yes, when the post decided that they wanted to close they removed their obligation. They. As long as the post was still active. All of the items that were recovered would have to have been reported to the post members and then the post members would decide whether or not to pursue criminal charges or not. State Commander always reserves the right to provide disciplinary action against any member if he or she desires. For the post to recover these funds, according to the bond or their quartermaster bond, a police report would have had to have been filed. When they closed, they forfeited their right to file the criminal complaint and pass that on to the Department of Texas. And it was deemed essential that we file the felony criminal complaint with the city of Pleasanton police Department so we can enact reimbursement of that money, donated by citizens for the use of veterans through the Quartermaster Bond.”. And when West was asked by Camplen @ 1:11:19 in the recording; “so the police would have done a thorough investigation to determine if all of the charges in this packet matched the Texas Penal Code statute that I’ve read and if probable cause has been developed, that means that there’s an overwhelming belief that they have done a theft.” Dan West responded, “Yes. My understanding, the police department has interviewed both Stephanie Pino and Steve Mueller. They gave separate statements; I believe those statements were inconsistent with the facts that they had been presented. Um, Myself and several other members will give them sworn testimony next week, which will then be used to necessitate arrest warrants for both Pino and Mueller and that’s important to the Police Detectives in Pleasanton.”. The evidence substantiates that the Texas VFW, acting in a criminal conspiracy, knowingly and intentionally engaged in organized criminal activity, by first submitting False signed statements to the IRS in December of 2018 that fraudulently listed AVC as a “Subordinate Unit” under the Texas VFW’s control, deliberately prepared a signed fabricated and false official VFW document to enact a conspiracy to defraud AVC in a criminal act of Bank Fraud that was subsequently presented to Security Service Federal Credit Union by John E. Shipley, in the in order to obtain access to, and control of, AVC’s financial accounts in January of 2019. That after accomplished confirmed that AVC’s total assets value was $266.35. Obviously, this revelation came as a surprise to the Texas VFW conspirators, as they believed that the city of Pleasanton had donated land at the Pleasanton Municipal Airport to AVC and expected to acquire these assets in the hostile takeover attempt using Section 212 of the VFW National By-Laws. This amount was far less than what the Texas VFW expended monetarily in the suspension process of AVC. The Texas VFW, now left with no options to enact reimbursement for lost expenditures incurred by the Texas VFW during the suspension of AVC, decided to Fabricate, Tamper with, alter and create a package of deceptive evidence, that was submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department in connection with a false police report using Andrew F. Campen’s “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide”, to obtain a case number to justify and trigger a fraudulent insurance payout from AVC’s Insurance Bond for the maximum amount of $10,000.
2ND 81ST DISTRICT ATTORNEY OPEN RECORDS REQUEST
After reviewing the PDF documents obtained from the 81st Judicial District Attorney and comparing the documents obtained from the Pleasanton Police Department, it became increasingly apparent that, at some point after 07/10/2019, that additional Fabricated and Tampered with evidence had been submitted to the District Attorney’s office. An audit of the evidence confirmed that out of the 262 exhibits obtained from the District Attorney, that 57 exhibits, around 22%, were new or had been intentionally Tampered with, revealing alterations and variances in substance, format, signatures and dates. Several of the documents suggested that the initial Article IX Disciplinary Action was not initiated after the submittal of a “Signed Incident Report”, as required by the VFW National By-Laws and Manual of Procedures and implied the existence of additional exhibits. One document confirmed what had been suspected during the second Disciplinary Action, that Mueller and Pino’s “accuser” Daniel L. West had personally selected each member of the Disciplinary Panel, identifying who West wanted as the Panel President and prosecutor for the 05/23/2019 hearing. This revelation corresponds to the audio recording at the beginning of the Disciplinary hearing, where West can be heard instructing, not only, the Panel President what and how to conduct the proceeding and how to rule but also giving instructions directly to the Disciplinary Hearing Panel concerning the interpretation of evidence. Most disturbing, in the recording, Hearing Panel members can be heard reviewing what appears to be AVC’s original and authentic “Trustee Reports of Audit”, with numerous Panel members questioning, that if the money had indeed been misappropriated, why was the Trustees not brought up on Charges as well. Panel Members questioned the signatures of the trustees contained on AVC’s Trustee Report of Audits and specifically if the signatures were valid. With the very presence of signatures being present on the “Trustee Reports of Audit”, viewed by the hearing Panel and heard on the Disciplinary Hearing Recordings, established a strong contrast to the alleged “Trustee Reports of Audit” submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department by the Texas VFW coconspirators Camplen and West on 03/13/2019, confirming the “Trustee Reports of Audit” contained in Camplen and Wests “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide” were undoubtedly false and presented to push a false criminal narrative. Specifically, the anomalies contained in the “Trustee Reports of Audit” presented to the Hearing Panel by Andrew F. Camplen differed from the “Trustee Reports of Audit” presented to the Pleasanton Police Department. The notion that a Post Commander and Quartermaster could secretly misappropriate 87% of AVC’s total Income, with the Hearing Panel members growing suspicious, in disbelief, that so much money could be misallicated without the knowledge of the Post Trustees seemed improbable at best unless the trustees allowed it. Heard in the final minutes of the Disciplinary Hearing recordings, after the hearing process had concluded, is several Panel Members making a formal request directly to Daniel L. West to investigate the Post Trustees, believing they must have been involved.
LAWSUIT
On 08/31/2021, AVC, Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino filed a lawsuit against the National VFW, Texas VFW, Daniel L. West, Ingeborg A. Conley, Jeff C. Rankin, Patricia S. Hewitt and Douglas P. Edwards for Breach of Contract, Abuse of Process, Malicious Prosecution, Defamation, Intentional infliction of emotional distress, Negligent misrepresentation, negligent hiring, Breach of Contract third party beneficiary, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, and Conspiracy. The petition was first amended on 01/20/2022, after further review of the evidence to include the additional defendants Atascosa County Post 4853, Poteet Memorial Post 6970, Andrew F. Camplen, Roy J. Grona and John E. Shipley. In May of 2022, the discovery process began with the receipt of numerous pieces of never-before-seen evidence from the Defense. A preliminary review of this evidence quickly established a much larger and more complex conspiracy, motive and intent of the Texas VFW to not only harm AVC but also target the US Veteran Housing Program and the Atascosa County Veteran Food Bank entities and disturbingly implicated a possible greater involvement on the part of Security Service Federal Credit Union. On 06/17/2022, a second amended petition was filed with the court that added the US Veteran Housing Program, the Atascosa County veteran Food Bank as plaintiffs and the Security Service Federal Credit Union as a Defendant. A third amended petition was filed seven days later on 06/24/2022 to correct small typo errors.
CONSPIRACY TO FABRICATED AND TAMPERED WITH EVIDENCE
With more than five months of investigative effort analyzing and scrutinizing more than 1,800 Defense exhibits, obtained in discovery, that propagated in the interviewing of additional witnesses, where testimony suggested that 81st Assistant District Attorney Adriana Biggs could have been involved to a greater extent beyond her role as criminal prosecutor and may have directly or indirectly influenced the complete case file release after receipt of Mueller and Pino’s 09/29/2020 open records request. A More in-depth Investigation into Biggs commenced. Resulting in additional Interviews being conducted, with several witnesses suggesting that Biggs was assisting the Texas VFW. The possibility of Biggs being employed by the Texas VFW as a paid legal consultant and now the likelihood of conspiratorial involvement in the suppression of evidence that implicated the Texas VFW and several Defendants in both criminal and civil infractions was scandalous development if substantiated and changed the dynamic of the investigation. This development, along with new witness testimony and a settlement being reached with Security Service Federal Credit Union prompted the fourth amended petition on 10/28/2022 and additional open records requests being submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department, City of Pleasanton and 81st Judicial District Attorney’s office that looked closer at personal involvement, employment history, policies, guidelines and procedures. The second open records request submitted to the 81st Judicial District Attorney’s office on 11/13/2022, was very specific, requesting all email communications between Daniel L. West and Adriana Biggs, all Affidavits and any formal request for documents by the 81st Judicial Assistant District Attorney Adriana Biggs to Daniel L. West. Defense discovery evidence suggested that the Texas VFW conspirator Daniel L. West apparently submitted the documents to Adriana Biggs on or about 02/06/2020, sending a jump drive by US mail return receipt requested that contained evidence that Daniel L. West had personally tampered with and altered, conclusively identified by government tracking number 70183090000215017086. In late November of 2022, presented with the fact that Mueller and Pino now know of the existence of the Texas VFW Jump Drive, the 81st Judicial District Attorney had to confirm that indeed additional evidence existed, and that Biggs requested and received it. Subsequently, Mueller and Pino requested that the 81st Judicial District Attorney’s office itemize the documents contained on the Texas VFW jump drive, now known to have been submitted to the 81st District Attorney’s Office, to better identify what evidence had been tampered with by Daniel L. West prior to its submittal to Adriana Biggs. The 81st Judicial District Attorney’s office complied with the request and produced an itemized list. On 01/04/2023 Mueller and Pino took possession of a green jump drive produced by the 81st Judicial District Attorney’s office containing 2,186 exhibits, in which 1,795 exhibits had been identified by the 81st District Attorney’s office to have been contained on Dan Wests jump drive, that was signed for and received by Adriana Biggs on 02/10/2020, and that contained 334 exhibits, clearly tampered with and altered from their original form as compared with the Pleasanton Police Department case file evidence. This was a whopping 1,924 additional pieces of evidence, contained in the District Attorney’s Case file, in addition to the 262 previously received and originally believed to be the entire case file, that was not released to Mueller or Pino with their initial open records request filing on 09/29/2019. Additionally, two loose physical 8 and half by 11 hard copy printouts were also obtained that simply contained John E. Shipleys signature. When asked for the second time by Pino on 01/04/2023, “is what we picked up today the entire case file?” the 81st District Attorney’s office responded, “Apart from the video interviews (which you didn’t want), and the criminal histories (which I can’t release), what you received today is the entire file”. When asked by Pino if anyone else in the district attorney’s office was assigned to the case, the 81st District Attorney’s office confirmed that “Ms. Biggs was the only assistant district attorney assigned to the criminal case”. Pino immediately requested Biggs personnel File and the 81st District attorney employee manuals, policies and procedures, while expanding a more in-depth investigation into Adriana Biggs history as an assistant district attorney, that revealed questionable unethical, unprofessional behavior and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct at the Bexar County District Attorney’s office in 2013, that concluded with her resignation. Pino requested a list of all 81st District Attorney employees that handled the criminal case, with the 81st District Attorney’s office reaffirming their previous position by stating; “the name of the assistant attorney who reviewed the criminal case against you was Adrianna Biggs”. Confirming that Biggs was the only Assistant District Attorney at the 81st District Attorney’s office handling the case or having access to the evidence.
ADRIANA BIGGS CONSPIRATORIAL INVESTIGATION
The investigation into Biggs suggested that Biggs was first employed by the Texas VFW to assist the Texas VFW during a Section 211 Suspension of Harlandale Memorial Post 4815 and Conley’s appointed “Administrative/ Investigative Committee”. Committees, not surprisingly made up of Conley’s favorite coconspirators, Chairman John E. Shipley, Larry L. Sanders and Robert Martinez Jr.
Subsequently, eyewitness testimony later confirmed Biggs assisted and attended at least one Post 4815 Suspension meeting, during the Inspection and suspension period of Post 4815 that began on 12/06/2019, whereas Daniel L. West, John E. Shipley, Larry L. Sanders and Robert Martinez Jr. were present. A careful review of the 710 Inspection Report, published by John E. Shipley on 12/31/2019, and documents obtained from the Texas Lottery Commission, San Antonio Police Department, Bexar County District Attorney’s office and witnesses regarding allegations made in the Shipley’s Post Inspection Report, failed to identify, offer or substantiate any allegation of financial misdealing’s by Torres. However, despite this, Post 4815 Commander Edward C. Torres (a former Triple Crown 2017-2018 Department Commander) and his Post Quartermaster Clark Medina were the subject of a Conley initiated Article IX Disciplinary Action, that ultimately resulted in Torres having been found guilty and punished by Membership Termination, his awards in his name voided, his name removed from all Texas VFW records and his name stricken as have never been a Department Commander at the Texas VFW. However, a closer review of the Disciplinary Process confirms that, like Mueller’s and Pino’s frivolous Article IX Disciplinary Actions, Conley and her Texas VFW staff once again failed to comply with Section 903, as no “Signed Incident Report” or “Investigative Report” was ever submitted or received by Torres, nor is there any record of Torres ever having received properly formatted Charges and Specifications, as required by Section 903 to “initiate” the action. Furthermore, the records reviewed, confirm that no Post 4815 Officer or member, but specifically no Trustee ever submitted a “Signed Incident Report” to Conley or conveyed to Conley’s Administrative committee that they were aware of financial misdealing’s by Torres at Post 4815. However, most disturbing, similar to what occurred with Mueller’s political campaign, was the revelation that Edward C. Torres was also campaigning for Department Quartermaster at the time, a position that was currently held by Daniel L. West.
VFW JUMP DRIVE
On 08/06/2023, Pino submitted another Open Records Request to the 81st District Attorney office to obtain emails specific to exchanges between Texas VFW staff members, Pleasanton Police Department and the 81st District Attorney’s office, that resulted in substantiating that Biggs first made contact and engaged with Daniel L. West on 01/03/2020. With Biggs submitting a Business Records Affidavit to Daniel L. West on 01/09/2020. The evidence confirms that in response to Biggs request, West prepared “thousands of pages” of documents pertinent to Biggs business records request, with West stating in an email @ 4:42 PM on 02/06/2020 that; “The digital files are on the way”. In this same email, West solicited legal advice from Biggs concerning what he identified as a “similar issue” referring to the Suspension of Post 4815 and investigation into Edward C. Torres. On 08/17/2020 @ 11:19 AM Biggs conveyed her willingness to professionally assist the Texas VFW to West and stated she could schedule a time to discuss his case “anytime this week”. The email evidence confirmed that a zoom meeting subsequently took place between Adriana Biggs and Daniel L. West on 08/19/2020 @ 2:00 PM, while Biggs was on-duty and simultaneously performing her Assistant District Attorney function and while utilizing 81st Judicial District Attorney owned property for her own personal business meeting with Texas VFW associates for her own personal financial benefit.
The evidence received from the 11/13/2022 open records request confirmed that there was a deliberate effort on the 81st District Attorneys part to interfere with, intentionally restrict access to, and possession of, Tampered with evidence contained specifically on a Texas VFW Jump Drive, that was prepared and submitted by Daniel L. West on 02/06/2020 and received by Adriana Biggs on or about 02/10/2020 in a formal response for Business Records in connection with the Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino Criminal Prosecution. Amongst the evidence withheld by the 81st District Attorney’s office is numerous and clearly Falsified, Fabricated and Tampered with Evidence consisting of alternate versions of “Investigative Reports” and several Disciplinary Action Form DA-2’s (Charges and Specifications) that contain fraudulent and erroneous dates and signatures that conflict with, or are different than, the original reports first submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department on or about 03/13/2019 and relied upon to justify probable cause. Furthermore, the withheld exhibits also included Special Orders that have been altered with signatures removed. Mueller’s missing DA-4 (Findings and Sentenced), never submitted to or received by Mueller that confirmed Mueller was found Guilty a day before the disciplinary hearing commenced on 05/22/2019, but substantiated that Mueller was never sentenced to “Membership Termination”. The originally restricted exhibits also contained all of AVC’s original and true official copies of the Post Trustee Audits Reports that bear all five of the required signatures making them authentic, that were undoubtedly falsified by Camplen and West and submitted as attachments to their “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide”, to the Pleasanton Police Department to promote their false narrative of theft. Additionally, the evidence contained a Fabricated “Signed Incident Report”, “Appointment Letter” and new “Investigative Report”, created specifically to justify the initiation of Conley’s second Article IX Disciplinary Action attempt with the publication of Special-Order No. 27 and 28 in April of 2019. Intentionally backdated to appear to have been accomplished prior to the National VFW Commander-in-Chief’s appeal decision of 04/17/2019 concerning Conley’s first failed attempt to discipline Mueller and Pino. Most revealing of all, was a conspiratorial email exchange dated 11/30/2018, the proves Ingeborg A. Conley, Daniel L. West, Roy J. Grona and John E. Shipley collaborated to knowingly and intentionally prepare, sign and submit deliberately fabricated and falsified official VFW documents in a conspiracy to bring an erroneous and frivolous Article IX Disciplinary Action against Steve Mueller, that apparently was centered around the misuse of signed notarized statements, solicited by and submitted to Shipley by Jeff C. Rankin, Patricia S. Hewitt and Douglas P. Edwards under the guise of being used in and for the ongoing area of responsibility negotiations, and unbeknown to the authors, without their authorization, becoming the “Signed Incident Reports” that provided the justification and basis for the fraudulent Disciplinary Action against Mueller. The loose John E. Shipley signature obtained was later confirmed to have been affixed to numerous falsified documents, but specifically to John E. Shipley’s original “Investigative Report”, prepared during the actual 11/30/2018 email exchange with Roy J. Grona. This document was submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department by Camplen on 03/13/2019 in its original unsigned, none letterhead form, but later evolved, with the help of Daniel L. West’s criminal fabrication skills, into a more official looking signed statement, now transplanted on Texas VFW letterhead and with Shipley’s signature affixed, that matched precisely with the blank Shipley signatures retrieved from the 81st District Attorney’s office, raising questions, as to when the completed tampered with and altered evidence, was finally assembled together and by whom, into its current form. On 08/27/2024, with Adriana Biggs filing a motion to quash a subpoena to testify concerning these facts, Adriana Biggs employment, as a paid legal consultant for the Texas VFW was confirmed to be fact.
2ND CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
On 09/15/2023, AVC, Mueller and Pino filed criminal complaints with the Pleasanton Police Department reflected in Case No. 2023007043, the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office reflected in Call No. 312245, the Jourdanton Police Department reflected in Case No. 23JPD2233, and Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division (Texas Rangers) reflected in 09-15-2023-20:33. Meeting with and discussing the investigative findings.
SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE
The 81st District Attorneys position, when confronted by Mueller and Pino in September of 2024 as to why the files were not released with the first 09/29/2020 open records request, was said to have been the product of the non-inclusion of Daniel L. West’s Jump Drive into the digital case file, having to be obtained from a physical file within the office, implying that the exhibits contained on the jump drive had never been part of the digital file or accessible during the original open records request. However, this explanation does not align with the evidence as contained in the original open records request, whereas 262 digital exhibits were released, and amongst those, 138 exhibits, or 53%, are specific to, and only contained on, the Texas VFW’s jump drive received and signed for by Adriana Biggs on 02/10/2020. Suggesting there was an intentional effort, on the part of the 81st District Attorney’s office, to be selective as to what files were released in connection with the Mueller and Pino’s original open records request of 09/29/2020 and/or reveal that someone at the 81st District Attorney’s office deliberately removed or deleted 1,924 digital exhibits from the 81st District Attorneys digital case file, that subsequently prevented their accessibility and availability during the original open records request release.
CONCLUSION
In Conclusion, the Texas VFW and specifically, Larry L. Sanders, John E. Shipley, Daniel L. West and Roy Grona knew AVC was never “instituted” into the VFW, as prescribed, and in compliance with Section 201 of the National VFW By-Laws and Manual of Procedures prior to Conley appointing Grona or West as her State Adjutants, or Shipley and Sanders as her Administrative Committee members, or the false and fabricated publications of;
1. Conley’s 11/15/2018 “Cease and Desist” Letter,
2. Conley’s (backdated) 11/16/2018 Directive to Shipley to Investigate Mueller,
3. Shipley’s 11/30/2018 “Investigative Report” concerning Mueller,
4. Grona’s 12/03/2018 Request for meeting minutes,
5. Conley’s 12/06/2018 Directive to Grona to verify Shipleys findings,
6. Shipley’s 01/03/2019 Statement to Conley,
7. Conley’s 01/03/2019 710 Inspection Directive to Shipley,
8. Conley’s 01/04/2019 Special Order 12 that allegedly “relieved” Pino,
9. Conley’s 01/04/2019 Special Order 13 that allegedly “relieved” Mueller,
10. Conley’s 01/04/2019 Special Order 14 Suspension/ Administrative Committee appointment, that appointed both Shipley and Sanders as committee members and Member Letter,
11. Shipley’s 01/04/2019 Statement to Conley,
12. Shipley’s 01/08/2019 Statement to Conley,
13. Shipley’s 01/14/2019 Post Meeting Minutes,
14. West’s 01/17/2019 Bank Fraud Letter to SSFCU,
15. Shipley’s 02/11/2019 Post Meeting Minutes,
16. Conley’s 02/11/2019 initiation of the 1st Article IX Disciplinary Action with Special Order No. 18 against Mueller with Grona listed as an accuser and alleging theft of $9,751.02,
17. Conley’s 02/11/2019 initiation of the 1st Article IX Disciplinary Action with Special Order No. 19 against Pino with Grona listed as an accuser and alleging theft of $4,987.57,
18. Conley’s 02/19/2019 Letter to National VFW Commander-in-Chief,
19. Conley’s 03/07/2019 Special Order 23 to Mueller,
20. Conley’s 03/07/2019 Special Order 24 to Pino,
21. West & Camplen’s 03/13/2019 “Texas VFW Investigative Report/ Prosecution Guide” submitted for and used in the Criminal Complaint with the Pleasanton Police Department alleging theft of $10,101.05 as part of an Insurance Fraud scheme,
22. West and Camplen’s (backdated) 03/20/2019 “Report of Investigation” second alternative Investigative Report submission to the Pleasanton Police Department alleging theft of $10,741.18,
23. West’s 04/12/2019 newly created (backdated) Signed Incident Report.
24. Conley’s 04/12/2019 newly created (backdated) Directive to Camplen to Investigate Mueller and Pino.
25. Camplen’s 04/15/2019 newly created (backdated) “Report of Investigation”, that was later altered, modified and backdated again to reflect a 03/20/2019 publication date and submitted to the Pleasanton Police Department alleging theft of $10,741.18.
26. Conley’s 04/23/2019 initiation of the (backdated) 2nd Article IX Disciplinary Action with Special Order 27 against Mueller with West listed as an accuser that did not allege any theft,
27. Conley’s 04/23/2019 initiation of the (backdated) 2nd Article IX Disciplinary Action with Special Order 28 against Pino with West listed as an accuser and alleging theft of $4,987.57,
28. Conley’s 05/22/2019 DA-4 Finding and Sentence for Mueller,
29. Conley’s 05/23/2019 Article IX Disciplinary Action Recordings 1, 2, 3 & 4,
30. Conley’s 05/23/2019 DA-4 Finding and Sentence for Pino,
31. Conley’s 05/23/2019 DA-5 Record of Disciplinary Action for Mueller,
32. Conley’s 05/23/2019 DA-5 Record of Disciplinary Action for Pino,
33. And all subsequent National VFW publications in response to these Texas VFW documents.
The evidence and subsequent depositions overwhelming substantiates that Roy J. Grona, John E. Shipley and Larry L. Sanders undoubtedly knew AVC was never “instituted” into the VFW, specifically:
Roy J. Grona became fully aware AVC was an illegitimate Post and not officially affiliated with the VFW, after he was presented a written “Report of Institution”, prepared by Larry L. Sanders at Edward C. Torres direction on or about 09/11/2017, that he knew had been deliberately falsified to erroneously convey that “26” members were present for the institution and that the institution took place on “09/02/2017” by “Edward C. Torres” acting as the “Instituting Officer”, but still intentionally prepared, signed and submitted a fraudulent typed re-creation of Sander’s written erroneous Report of Institution to the National VFW with the intent to deceive. This act resulted in a fallacious “Post Charter” being approved and issued on 12/12/2017 by the National VFW. Texas VFW Adjutant & Quartermaster Roy Grona, knowing AVC was illegitimate, not instituted and not affiliated with the VFW and that no election of officers was valid, did not list AVC on its 2018-2019 Department Roster publication as a VFW Post, nor assist AVC with any incorporation attempts despite numerous requests being made by AVC.
Daniel L. West, fully aware AVC was an illegitimate Post and not officially affiliated with the VFW, after being assigned by Roy J. Grona to review, prepare and submit
Post formation documents.
John E. Shipley, fully aware AVC was an illegitimate Post and not officially affiliated with the VFW, after; 1) Being advised by then District 20 Commander Jose Duran that the Institution and Election of officers was not completed as prescribed in the VFW National By-Laws or Manual of Procedures on 09/04/2017 in an email sent to Edward C. Torres, John E. Shipley, Larry L. Sanders and others. 2) Witnessing for himself on 09/11/2017 that the “institution” meeting, presided over by Edward C. Torres, with Torres acting as the Instituting Officer, and his assistant Larry L. Sanders, did not comply with Section 201 of the VFW National By-Laws or Manual of Procedures as “25” charter members were not present for the institution, and 3) after being appointed the Post Mentor after the 09/11/2017 Institution attempt, by then District 20 Commander Jose Duran, chose not to attend any Post meetings, assist, advise, train or represent the Post in any way whatsoever.
Larry L. Sanders, fully aware AVC was an illegitimate Post as having; 1) been appointed by Edward C. Torres to first “Institute” AVC on 09/02/2017 as the original “Instituting Officer”, assisted by District 20 Trustee John P. Clark, obviously unfamiliar with National VFW policy and procedures and specifically Section 201, failed to perform a proper “Institution” and subsequent Post “election” of Officers with there being only “9” members present. 2) been advised by then District 20 Commander Jose Duran, two days later after Sanders’s botched “Institution” meeting, on 09/04/2017 in an email sent to Edward C. Torres, John E. Shipley, Larry L. Sanders and others that confirmed By-Law and procedural inconsistencies, 3) on 09/11/2017, when Larry Sanders assisted Edward C. Torres in “Instituting” AVC with only “16” charter members present and subsequently preparing and submitting a fraudulent “Report of Institution” to Roy J. Grona thereafter.
Roy J. Grona, John E. Shipley and Larry L. Sanders armed with the knowledge that AVC, identified by Federal Employer Identification number “82-2717893”, was not a VFW post, and occupying positions of authority, could have, but didn’t, advise, or elected not to convey these facts to Ingeborg A. Conley or the National VFW leadership, more likely than not in fear of Disciplinary repercussions for conspiring to falsify official VFW documents, specifically AVC’s “Report of Institution”, or acted intentionally with Conley and West knowing these facts with the intent to purposely harm Mueller and Pino. Either way deliberately and intentionally allowed for the misrepresentation of managerial control of AVC by the Texas VFW to escalate starting on 11/15/2018 into acts of organized criminal activity that resulted in defamation, slander with untrue statements being published in numerous fabricated and falsified VFW documents in order to advance a narrative of impropriety for the sole purpose of impugning Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino’s personal and professional success and publicly destroying their reputations and credibility. These collaborative, conspiratorial and negligent actions are not only unbecoming of a VFW Officer or Member, violate the VFW National By-Laws and Manual of Procedures but were, in this case, allowed to evolve into criminal acts by the National VFW. These Unprofessional and nefarious actions exhibited by National and Texas VFW leadership ultimately resulted in Steve Mueller and Stephanie Pino’s false arrest, unlawful detention, malicious prosecution, public defamation, humiliation and the destruction of not one, but three non-profit business entities managed by Mueller and Pino: Atascosa Veterans Council, US Veteran Housing Program and the Atascosa County Veteran Food Bank to the determent and disadvantage of Atascosa County veterans.
While disrespectful and embarrassing for VFW members to acknowledge, these behaviors are not all that uncommon within the VFW organization itself and vary in degree from one post to another or one district or department to another, but uniformly remain unchecked, unregulated with leadership negligence being at a premium at all levels of the VFW, but specifically centered around, and most greatly expressed in intensity, at the Department and National levels with the inclusion, collection and employment of unskilled, inexperienced, un-proficient, negligent staff in even the most basic business administrative practices, that more commonly than not are found to consists of convicted criminals that operate carelessly for their own personal gain, self-gratification and monetary benefit at the expense of their fellow members. With The Department of Texas being a prime example of this, the Texas VFW has adopted the unsustainable business philosophy of deception and self-cannibalism to conceal the organizations mismanagement, poor earning potential and delinquent administrative ability from the membership, by routinely and regularly exacerbating false membership strengths and capabilities in publications and weaponizing the VFW National By-laws and Manual of Procedures to enforce political agendas, Specifically, Sections 220, 902, 903, 710, 211 and Section 212 to eliminate political rivals and/or seize control of, shut down, and eliminate targeted posts, that can offer the Texas VFW the greatest monetary return upon liquidation of Post assets, that the Texas VFW can then reflect as “income” in their annual financial reports. With numerous examples of this occurring between 2015-2018 with the sell-off of the real property assets or acquisition of monies included Posts: 797, 1890, 2412, 2512, 2773, 2786, 3216, 4009, 4477, 5401, 5601, 6113, 6972, 7471, 7768, 7875, 8200, 8246, 8557, 8625, 8780, 8920, 8953, 9171,10426 and 12117, but this continued activity is most reflective in the criminal attempt to acquire the real property assets of Polk County VFW Post 8568 in Livingston, Texas by proxy in 08/02/2022, with the Post membership successfully defended its property by lawsuit protecting post assets. With the absorption of these Posts, deactivated by the Texas VFW, their real property is sold, investments and money assets are obtained and reflected as profitable income in Texas VFW financial reports, misleadingly conveying to Texas VFW membership a sense of financial success. This clandestine strategy, in the absence of any sustainable solutions, concealed from the general membership has allowed the VFW to survive for the moment. For the VFW and especially the Texas VFW, deception is its greatest attribute, but maintaining the illusion of importance in the veteran community requires the VFW to target and attack any veteran that could expose these truths or threatens the VFW’s perceived strengths, resources or capabilities in the eyes of the public, within or outside of the organization, as was the case with VeteranwithASign in 2024. These business inadequacies are blatantly evident and obvious to any seasoned business professional and stand testament to why the VFW organization is failing, primarily caused by the VFW’s lack of qualified and competent professional business leadership. This uncorrected component, allowed to manifest for years, simply fuels the organizations continued slide to what is now possibly an inevitable insolvency business outcome, with the incumbent leadership core resorting to any means necessary to preserve their positions, power and control, by identifying and attacking any recognized accomplished competent business professional members, politically and in the case of Mueller, also criminally, in order to prevent them from exercising their skills to effect correction of the management deficiencies. This manifestation of tribal narcissistic behavior has only worsened the decline in membership recruitment or retention and has directly resulted in the adverse, negative and toxic, uninviting atmosphere found in the VFW that has been cultivated over decades by acceptance and non-corrected, that now threatens the continued existence of the VFW and discourages younger combat veterans from joining. This is increasingly apparent when analyzing the symptoms of failure at the Texas VFW, with more than 87% of its total membership, being over the age of 75 and dying at an alarming and accelerated rate, the organization has become increasingly desperate to find ways to increase new membership applications, and thus the very revenue it depends on to maintain its relevancy, that the National VFW has begun opening VFW Posts in State Prisons, relaxing its high standards and now distinctively recruiting convicted pedophiles, child rapists and murderers, that are serving extensive prison terms, into the VFW, despite Section 902’s of the VFW National By-Laws specific prohibitions of such members inclusion. A solution, not surprisingly, proudly inspired by, and supported by, the now current National VFW Adjutant General Daniel L. West, a convicted criminal himself, being identified by law enforcement by SID No. 07407086, earning his promotions within the VFW by engaging in stolen valor, wearing valor awards and medals he never earned and specializing in Fabricating and Tampering with Documents, as well as Wests protege and current Texas VFW Quartermaster Ben Lowrance, also known by law enforcement by SID No. 13165907. This ignorance on the part of the VFW membership to fail to screen leadership candidates for even the most basic background, education, experience and qualifications has overwhelmingly created a dilettantish leadership environment that has emerged and grown over the years as a refuge for criminals, fuck-ups and retards. These Con men, once occupying these leadership positions, use the knowledge of each other’s criminal convictions as leverage against each other to maintain order and protect one another and their unfettered access to the monetary opportunities that being in these positions garner for themselves. For the Texas VFW, this revolves around access, control and management of the Adjutant and Quartermaster positions and any members outside of their network, that chooses to run for the elected position of VFW Department of Texas Quartermaster are subsequently attacked. This was the case for Mueller’s campaign when he ran for the position for the 2019-2020 administrative year against Grona, and then West, after Grona retired. Subsequently this was the similar case with others that came after Mueller, such as Past State Commander Edward C. Torres, who ran for the position for the 2020-2021 administrative year against Daniel L. West, and Past District 20 Commander Bill Smith who ran against West’s apprentice and convicted Felon, Ben Laurence, for the 2021-2022 administrative year. As with Mueller, both Torres and Smith were attacked having frivolous Article IX Disciplinary actions being brought against them by the ruling political faction that ultimately resulted, like Mueller, in them being defamed, removed and/or resulted in unsubstantiated and untrue allegations of criminal misconduct from the Texas VFW. This predictable response became more common with West’s employment as Department Adjutant, as West articulated during the 05/23/2019 Disciplinary Hearing when he stated, “State Commander always reserves the right to provide disciplinary action against any member if he or she desires” and stating at the 01/14/2019 AVC Hostile Takeover meeting that; “ok, ya! You got removed! Again, if you don’t follow the rules of the General. How long do you think you are going to stay as commander? You’re not!”. With West seemingly believing that the position of State Commander holds the rank of “General” that can remove or discipline anyone they desire at any time without following the VFW National By-Laws or Manual of Procedures is a clear indicator of how things are conducted at the Texas VFW. This distorted interpretation and illusory view of VFW titles, when considering the limited intellectual and institutionalized psychological health aspects of many of these officers further encourages a militaristic tone, where the National VFW By-Laws and Manual of Procedures are vaguely understood by these members due to their limited reading comprehension, or completely ignored, forcing them to fall back on and rely exclusively on military terminology and their former rank or position inspired demeanors. This misinterpretation and use of military titles such as “Commander”, more often than not, only conveys a false sense of authority to these individuals, who most likely never served as a commissioned officer in the military or developed any required leadership attributes or skills consistent with a commissioned officer rank but interpret the title literally and assume that they “command” rather than lead. This assumption and approach to non-profit business situations, when challenged or confronted with opposing views and opinions, being solidified within the VFW as normal behavior, often results unfavorably quickly turning personal with the one holding the leadership position feeling embarrassed and require to take action to protect his fragile ego or in response to his personal insecurities is evident even today. A recent example of this behavior makes this one of the most problematic aspects for the VFW to solve, after reviewing the recent frivolous Disciplinary action of Gilbert Rodriguez on 04/17/2024, initiated by then Texas VFW Commander Larry L. Sanders, which as similar with Mueller’s, Pino’s, or Torres’s Disciplinary actions, seemed to be inspired solely on Sanders dislike of, or being politically antagonistic on Sanders part, as the action lacked compliance with Section 903 due to procedural inconsistencies as no “Signed Incident Report”, “Investigative Report”, or actual investigation was ever conducted, in addition to the Disciplinary Action documents being published and incorrectly formatted, as required by the VFW National By-Laws and Manual of Procedures. When questioned in Deposition, Sander’s lack of understanding of, or intentional ignorance of the differences of a “Inspection” and “Investigation” seemed to confirm his action against Rodriguez was generated from a purely personal dislike of Rodriguez or being politically motivated. These unfortunate accused VFW members, have view options for success, if they decide to fight these erroneous charges, they have to do so in front of a hearing panel appointed by the initiating Commander, who brought the action against them, or if they publicly voice complaints or protest the erroneous allegations before or after such hearings, are quickly branded a “disgruntle member” and disavowed by the VFW, establishing them as an example and warning to other VFW members and reaffirming dominance by the “Commander” to maintain order to preserve the political status quo.
What occurred in Pleasanton in 2019, was the accumulation of these “petty jealousies and trivial personalities” manifesting themselves from a perceived bruised ego, insecure self-reflection of business management incompetency and inability to maintain an image of assumed authority coming together in full force and magnitude, with John E. Shipley, representing the interest of Poteet Memorial Post 6970 and overwhelmed by AVC’s successes and desperate to stifle and tarnish Mueller’s leadership presence and popularity in Atascosa County, resorted to requesting assistance from his Texas VFW political allies in a last ditch effort to avoid having to enter into a mutual agreement with Atascosa County Post 4853 and AVC, that would ultimately define Poteet Memorial Post 6970’s area of responsibilities. Shipley chose to join forces with Conley and her political faction, knowing they were also desperate to stop Mueller’s campaign for Department Quartermaster. This new partnership was seen as opportunistic by Conley, Grona and West, as they had been searching for a way to preserve the Quartermaster position for West. Thus a conspiracy and collaboration of mutual benefit between Shipley, Conley, West and Grona, using the combined resources of Poteet Memorial Post 6970 and the Texas VFW was formed, and once initiated on 11/15/2018 and over the next two years of collaborative effort to stay ahead of Mueller’s persistent nuisance of exposing their nefarious activities, quickly snowballed out of control requiring the fabrication of numerous VFW documents to bolster and support their false invented narratives, to enable, not one, but two frivolous Disciplinary actions, and a malicious criminal prosecution, resulting from their botched insurance fraud scam and other ongoing organized criminal activities initiated and sustained by the Texas VFW and ultimately requiring involvement and cooperation by the National VFW to finally bring conclusion to, and resulting in, Mueller and Pino’s membership termination from the VFW.
