Gay dads’ dream of owning a restaurant turned into a nightmare by allegedly corrupt city official

A former Texas city administrator charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars also allegedly waged a campaign of harassment against a gay couple, including filing a false child abuse claim against them.

In January 2020, married couple Gary Garcia and Chad Pritchett opened Atomic Taco in a complex in Aurora, Texas owned by then-city administrator Toni Wheeler. According to The Messenger, Wheeler refused to repair the restaurant’s malfunctioning septic system, which Garcia and Pritchett later discovered was connected to at least four different restaurants, though only intended to service an 800-square-foot home. Garcia alleges that Wheeler later installed septic sprinklers close to Atomic Taco, which he says sprayed raw sewage directly onto the building.

Related:

MAGA couple caught throwing rat in gay-owned restaurant’s property as part of a long war

They’re trying to get their gay neighbors’ restaurant closed by any means possible.

After the couple filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Wheeler used her position in city government to send health inspectors to find deficiencies at Atomic Taco, the Dallas Morning News reported.

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In two civil lawsuits, Garcia and Pritchett also allege that Wheeler and other city employees used anti-gay slurs to refer to them. Garcia told The Messenger that Atomic Taco customers also reported that neighboring businesses warned them not eat at the restaurant because it was owned by “two homos.”

Wheeler is also accused of creating a fictitious persona, “Luis Martinez,” in an effort to shut the couple’s business down. Garcia and Pritchett say they received a letter from “Martinez” informing them that he had purchased the property and was raising their rent from $400 to $6,000 a month and demanding a $10,000 down payment. Garcia said that he called the courier service that delivered the letter and was able to trace it back to an account owned by Wheeler.

And the harassment didn’t stop there. As the Dallas Morning News reported, Wheeler has been charged with filing a false report of child abuse against the couple, claiming that their four-year-old son was being used in “sex trafficking.” The couple, their son, and staff at the boy’s preschool were all interviewed by Child Protective Services. Garcia and Pritchett were cleared of any wrongdoing but say the investigation had lasting effects on their son.

Garcia told The Messenger that when he and his husband contacted city officials about the harassment, “They blew us off.”

Garcia filed an open records request to get more information about the property. At the same time, in 2021, Aurora City Council member Deb Terrell contacted Texas Rangers with concerns that Wheeler was embezzling money. Within weeks, the Aurora City Hall burned down.

According to the Dallas Morning News, an investigation into the fire revealed financial irregularities that linked back to Wheeler. She has been accused of stealing over $767,000 from the town’s accounts and faced criminal charges of embezzlement and money laundering, in addition to the charge of making a false child abuse claim and discrimination against Garcia and Pritchett.

In a statement, a representative for the city of Aurora said that Wheeler’s “misuse of City funds and resources” has resulted in “devastating financial consequences” for the city.

“Toni Wheeler’s actions were deplorable, and we remain hopefully optimistic that Toni Wheeler will be prosecuted for her crimes to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement continued. “We hope and expect the Wise County District Attorney’s Office will hold Toni Wheeler fully accountable for her heinous acts.”

Wheeler has pleaded not guilty.

Meanwhile, Garcia and Pritchett sued the city and Wheeler for sexual orientation discrimination. They settled for $300,000, which will go toward legal fees.