A Fredericksburg city finance official who resigned was arrested Thursday on a first-degree felony charge accusing him of possessing or using 50 or more items of other people's identifying information. Tyler Hooper, who had served as the city's Assistant Director of Finance since November 2025, was arrested, and bail was set at $100,000.
Hooper stepped down from his Fredericksburg post on September 9, 2026, according to Sean Doerre, the city's communications director and public information officer, who confirmed that “assistant finance director Tyler Hooper resigned his employment with the city on Wednesday, Sept. 9.” Hooper was arrested by officers with the Fredericksburg Police Department, according to the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post. The City of Fredericksburg has said it will not comment on former employees.
When Hooper was hired for the assistant finance director role, the city said he would oversee utility billing operations and support budgeting, financial reporting, and capital planning alongside Finance Director Krista Wareham, according to the City of Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg is a city in Texas, and Gillespie County is the relevant county.
A Career Built Across Texas City Finance Departments
Before landing in Fredericksburg, Hooper spent about a year as Finance Director for the City of Dalhart, from November 2024 to November 2025, where he managed the city's annual budget, municipal investments, payroll operations, and utility billing, according to The Dalhart Texan. Those two administrative roles gave him broad access to municipal financial systems and personal records in successive Texas cities.
His path into finance administration followed more than a decade in municipal technology. Hooper worked for the City of Pampa for over 12 years, starting at age 19, in information technology and risk management positions, a background the Dalhart paper's earlier profile also noted. He also earned a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in finance from Grand Canyon University in October 2025, per the city's announcement, after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management in January 2024, according to The Dalhart Texan.
The Felony Charge and What It Alleges
Hooper was arrested on a charge of fraudulent use or possession of identifying information involving 50 or more items. Under Texas Penal Code § 32.51, the classification scales directly with the number of items involved: fewer than five items is a state jail felony, 10 to 49 items is a second-degree felony, and 50 or more items is a first-degree felony, according to legal analysis from Dunham & Jones. A conviction could carry a fine of up to $10,000 and a prison sentence ranging from five to 99 years or life.
Texas Penal Code 32.51 defines identifying information broadly, covering items such as a name and date of birth, a Social Security number or other government-issued identification number, a unique electronic identification number, address, routing code, or financial institution account number, telecommunication identifying information or an access device, and unique biometric data such as a fingerprint, voice print, retina image, or iris image. Under the statute, a person commits the offense by obtaining, possessing, transferring, or using another person's identifying information without consent and with intent to harm or defraud, and the law separately criminalizes doing the same with the identifying information of a child younger than 18 or of a deceased person without legal authorization.
Separate Provisions Could Affect Sentencing
Texas law also allows judges to order restitution for victims' lost income and other expenses tied to the offense, according to legal code publisher FindLaw. Separately, Texas Penal Code § 32.51(c-1) contains enhancement provisions that may increase punishment in certain situations, including some offenses against elderly victims, according to the Law Offices of Tim Powers.
Hooper is related to Donny Hooper, the assistant city manager of Amarillo, who has 29 years of city government experience. The Pampa News reported that Tyler Hooper received two years of deferred-adjudication community supervision for unlawful interaction or electronic communications disclosure. Whether the identifying information at the center of the current felony charge involved city records, private individuals, or both has not been detailed publicly, and no audit of Dalhart's or Fredericksburg's municipal accounts has been reported.
