Officer Mark Castillo allegedly sent a string of sex-tinged messages to a married woman. Her husband found out and called 911 to complain.

SAEN

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus' personal driver and bodyguard is facing allegations that he sent sex-related text messages to a married woman while on duty. 

Police Officer Mark Castillo, a 23-year veteran of the force, sent some of the messages at times when he was in close proximity to the chief and seemingly on duty, messages reviewed by the Express-News indicate.

The woman’s husband, Arturo Cisneros, said he filed a complaint with the department’s Internal Affairs Unit after learning about the texts.

Cisneros also called 911 to report the affair, and an SAPD supervisor who learned about the messages from that call forwarded the matter to Internal Affairs, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

SAPD spokesman Ricardo Guzman confirmed that the incident —  first reported by KSAT —  is under investigation but declined to comment further.

Castillo has been temporarily reassigned to desk duty but remains on the chief’s security detail, the source familiar with the investigation said.

Castillo did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

'What are you wearing?'

Cisneros, 58, said he found out that his wife was having an affair early on the morning on May 23. He said they were talking about a financial matter, and he used her phone to look for an email he had forwarded her.

When he opened her phone, her text messages were displayed, Cisneros said. The last person who had texted his wife was identified as “Officer Mark Castillo.”

Cisneros said he asked his wife who Castillo was.

“She jumped off the couch, and I ran into the bedroom with her phone,” Cisneros said in a statement he wrote for his attorney and which he shared with the Express-News. “She started banging on the door screaming, ‘Give me my phone!’”

Cisneros said he scrolled through the messages, which dated back a month, and found several that were sexual in nature. 

Some of them appeared to have been sent when Castillo was on duty, including an exchange from Monday, May 20.

On that day, Castillo sent a text expressing a desire to have sex with Cisneros' wife.

“You’re totally going to get me in trouble,” she responded. 

They exchanged a couple more messages, before Castillo wrote: “Think Chief about to walk out.”

The woman said goodbye but invited Castillo to have lunch with her at a restaurant in the Las Palapas chain, where she was dining with friends. 

“Come sit with me…can you sit at the bar in uniform?” the woman asked.

“Let me see if Chief needs me to wait around or he’s going with the Sgt,” Castillo responded, before indicating that he planned to stop by the restaurant. 

“It was great to see your face,” the woman texted him later in the afternoon.

The next day, May 21, the two had a similar exchange.

“What are you wearing?” Castillo asked her. 

“Well… I do have a skirt on but it’s nice and long,” the woman responded.

“Damn, wanted to touch your leg,” Castillo said. 

“You still can. I’m headed over there now,” the woman responded, again referring to Las Palapas.

“I’m still with Chief but he might be done soon,” Castillo responded.

On May 22, the two met in a parking lot near Revolucion Coffee + Juice on Broadway, the text messages indicate. Castillo said by text that he was working that day, but it wasn't clear if he was on duty at the time he met with the woman. 

“Sorry that was so one sided,” the woman texted afterward. “I need you naked.”

“I want that too,” Cisneros responded. “Can’t wait till I can enjoy all of you.” 

“I swear I still feel you touching me,” the woman said. 

“That was just an appetizer honey,” Castillo responded.

911 call leads to arrest

Cisneros said that after reading the texts, he decided to report Castillo to SAPD because “cops aren’t supposed to be doing this.” 

An incident detail report obtained by the Express-News indicates that Cisneros called police regarding an affair his wife was having with “Marcus Theos, the bodyguard to the chief of police.” 

Garbled words are common in incident detail reports because officers and dispatchers are entering notes into the system as a call progresses without pausing to check spellings. 

The official police report makes no mention of Officer Castillo or “Marcus Theos.”

According to that report, Cisneros told officers his wife was having an affair and that when he locked himself in a bedroom to read the text messages, his wife “became hysterical,” hitting herself and banging on the door. 

While the officers were talking to Cisneros, his wife returned home, the report states. Officers said they observed a “large, bruised knot on the right side of her forehead” and a small bruise and a scrape near her left wrist.

The woman told officers that after her husband walked off with her cell phone, she tried to grab it from him — at which point he punched her once in the right eye and once in the forehead, according to the police report.

She said Cisneros also tried to close the door on her left arm when she sought to retrieve her phone, the report states.

The officers asked if they could take photos of her injuries and she refused, the report states. She also refused assistance in obtaining a protective order.

Cisneros was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault causing bodily injury and transported to the Bexar County jail. He was released on bond soon thereafter.

Cisneros and his attorney, Carolyn Wentland, denied that he assaulted his wife, and the wife told KSAT that he did not hit her.

Cisneros and Wentland said they believe he was arrested because the incident involved someone close to the police chief.

“The way this was handled by SAPD is not OK,” Wentland said. “It might have been handled differently had it not involved an employee or someone close to the police chief.”

It's the second time one of McManus' bodyguards has faced allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. 

Officer Robert Gonzales Jr. received oral sex from a then-girlfriend in his pickup while parked near police headquarters in May 2021. Even though the officer admitted to the act, McManus rejected a recommendation from the department’s Advisory Action Board to formally discipline the officer. The panel of officers and civilians reviews allegations of officer misconduct and makes disciplinary recommendations to the chief.

McManus sustained a separate allegation against Gonzales — that while on duty, he drove a city vehicle at speeds up to 120 mph, even though he wasn’t responding to a call or performing any duties that would require driving so fast. 

For that infraction, McManus ordered Gonzales to receive written counseling.

Afterward, Gonzales — who had been with the department for 20 years and was McManus' personal driver for three years — was transferred from the chief’s office to overnight patrol at SAPD’s Central Substation.

McManus has imposed discipline in previous cases of sexual misconduct by police.

Officer Christopher Martinez was suspended indefinitely — which is tantamount to firing —  after he was accused in 2009 of engaging in sexual activity while in uniform in a patrol car at Brooks City Base. Martinez unsuccessfully appealed his firing to an arbitrator. 

Sgt. Sam Esparza was suspended for 30 days after he admitted in 2011 to driving a woman to an after-hours party. On the way, he stopped under a bridge at Guadalupe and Interstate 35, where he and the woman had sex, officials said.

In April 2016, McManus indefinitely suspended two officers who were accused of engaging in sexual relations while on duty.

According to department records, Officers Rebecca Martinez and Eman Fondren disabled the GPS units on their vehicles to conceal on-duty trysts — one in a Home Depot parking lot, the other in a private home. 

In October 2021, McManus handed Officer Juan C. Bruno a 20-day suspension for sending a series of suggestive messages to a woman he met while on-duty.