A San Antonio SWAT officer charged after internal affairs discovered he shirked duty to rendezvous at a hotel, yet he faced minimal punishment. Officer Jonathan Reyes, a 12-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department, clocked out for nearly three hours during a shift to meet at a Southeast Side hotel, an internal investigation confirmed. According to KSAT, Reyes served just a five-day suspension for the incident this fall.
Despite the allegations, Reyes maintained his post in the SWAT after Police Chief William McManus defended the punishment and his handling of the situation. McManus, explaining his decision, said, “Reyes has a good record. Good work performance, so that’s taken into account before a contemplated is issued. There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with his job performance, so he was left in his current assignment. Not everybody is going to agree with decisions that are made, but that happened to be my decision based on discussions with command staff and what I thought was most appropriate,” Records obtained during Reyes' divorce proceedings revealed he had booked multiple hotel stays while on duty, spurring public and professional concern over his integrity and credibility in the force.
An affair between Reyes and Officer Tammy Ayala, who was in charge of his physical training hours, had been speculated in anonymous tips to the officer's then-wife. Although Ayala was not disciplined due to insufficient evidence, McManus contended in a statement obtained by KSAT that the allegations that he was charged with were the only ones that could be proven.
McManus also stood his ground against suggestions of leniency or image protection when dealing with misconduct. With embroiling his driver in a 2021 sexual misconduct case previously, McManus asserted, “That case was thoroughly investigated by internal affairs, and the allegations that he was charged with were the only ones that could be proven and that’s why they were the only ones he was charged with,” Alluding to his decision-making, he added, “It’s within the range of what was considered,”
Officer Reyes dodged media during the subsequent divorce proceedings, and his attorney denied summoning the press to their contentious hearing. With a private judge expected to conclude Reyes' divorce trial, the full measure of this off-duty conduct and its impact on policing remains under investigation.
