Lawsuit: Cedar Park ignored police officer's prior sexual assaults

A woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Cedar Park, claiming a "culture of indifference" led a police officer to sexually assault her after he had committed other assaults.

Officer Keco Motton was charged in May 2023 with the sexual assault of the woman who filed the lawsuit but killed himself a few days later. The American-Statesman does not identify sexual assault victims.

Before the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, the woman's lawyers demanded $5 million from the city to settle it, according to a letter sent by the Smith & Vinson law firm to the city on April 14.

The city on Monday released a video with an official saying Cedar Park was not going to settle the case.

"Because these lawyers (for the victim) are blaming someone other than the one who committed this horrible crime, the city will defend itself against this improper lawsuit," spokeswoman Fran Irwin said in the video. "We want to be clear this criminal is fully to blame for this crime. The lawyers (for the victim) have not threatened to sue the criminal or his estate but instead they demand that city taxpayers pay them."

The lawsuit does not mention the amount of damages the victim is seeking. One of her lawyers, Brad Vinson, said in an email that "the city's failure of leadership is disgraceful."

"There is overwhelming evidence that Officer Keco Motton was a predator who repeatedly used his badge to sexually assault women," Vinson wrote. "Our client was one of many women who were violated over many years by Officer Motton, a mental health officer who targeted marginalized women."

"The city knew for years, turned a blind eye," Vinson said, "and now has the audacity to blame the victims."

Irwin said that as soon as the victim reported the incident to police, they began an investigation and called in the Texas Rangers to help. The Rangers arrested Motton the next day.

"We take all allegations of sexual assault extremely seriously and make every effort toward seeking justice and accountability," Irwin said in the video.

The lawsuit claims the Cedar Park Police Department and the Texas Rangers investigated numerous complaints made by females against Motton. The investigation took place after Motton was charged on May 5, 2023.

"In the investigation interviews, Officer Motton admitted to committing the sexual assault of plaintiff and previously of other females over a period of years," the lawsuit said.

It said Police Chief Mike Harmon and the city knew Motton had committed previous sexual assaults because they were conducting an internal affairs investigation of him before the victim who filed the lawsuit was assaulted. The lawsuit does not say when the internal affairs investigation happened.

When asked to comment Thursday to the allegation that police and the city were involved in an internal investigation of Motton before the March 4, 2023, assault, city spokesman Daniel Sousa said, "we have no additional information to share at this time."

One of the previous victims filed a complaint with police that Motton had sexually assaulted her in February 2022, the lawsuit said. She said Motton came to her house after a dog bit someone, the document said. It said Motton grabbed her between her legs. Police told her they were going to investigate her complaint, but she never got another response from them, according to the lawsuit.

Three other women complained on a "Yelp" website about the Cedar Park Police Department that their complaints to the department about being sexually assaulted were ignored, the lawsuit said. One of the complainants said Motton had sexually assaulted her in 2018 or 2019 after he showed up for a domestic disturbance, the lawsuit said.

Motton was part of the mental health unit at the Police Department but standard operating procedures that provided for a supervisor were not put into place until December 2023, "implicating Motton was unsupervised at the time he assaulted plaintiff and others," the lawsuit said.

Standard procedure requires an officer to wear a body camera. Motton claimed his camera malfunctioned, "which is further evidence of the lack of supervision and enforcement of standards by the Chief of Police," according to the lawsuit.

The victim who filed the lawsuit made a public information request to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement for the investigation files of the incident involving her, the document said. The lawsuit doesn't say when she made the request. It said the commission denied her request on March 20, saying the case was still open.

"Upon further inquiry, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement refuses to give any reason why the case is still open and pending implicating the only reason is the ad hoc policy of cultural indifference arising from police departments being predominantly male," the lawsuit states.

The woman who filed the lawsuit had called police for help because her husband had taken away her phone and her money, the lawsuit said. It said Motton made arrangements to meet her at a community park to return items, which had been seized. He was not assigned to investigate a prior domestic violence allegation that the woman had made against her husband, the lawsuit said.

When Motton and the victim met at the park, Motton stood outside her car and asked her to take photos with her cell phone of injuries she had on her thighs, the lawsuit said. It said she pulled down her pants and Motton then touched her genitals, according to the document.Motton then told the woman to go to the business where she worked and went inside with her and demanded she go to the bathroom so he could check the bruises on her back, the lawsuit said. In the bathroom, Motton put his hands on her hips, turned her and placed his hand on her buttocks, the document said.

He then asked the woman if the cameras he saw on the way in worked and when she said yes, he left, according to the lawsuit. It said the victim believed if the cameras were not there she would have been raped.