La Villa school board trustee charged with public intoxication

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS (ValleyCentral) — A member of the La Villa school board was arrested last week after police responded to a bar fight at the Isla Grand Beach Resort on South Padre Island.

Officials from Rio Grande Valley school districts gathered at the Isla Grand on May 17 for a two-day conference organized by the Region One Education Service Center.

At 1:35 a.m. on May 18, though, a bar fight broke out.

La Villa school board Trustee Yesenia Morales. (Photo courtesy of the South Padre Island Police Department.)

The South Padre Island Police Department responded to a “physical disturbance between a male and female subject in the bar area of the hotel,” according to a summary of the incident released under the Texas Public Information Act. “Both subjects had been involved in physical fights and were placed under arrest for public intoxication.”

Officers charged La Villa school board Trustee Yesenia Morales and Andres Roberto Garza, 37, of La Villa with public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor. Morales and Garza share the same address.

The police report doesn’t provide any details about what sparked the fights, the relationship between Morales and Garza, or how officers determined they were intoxicated.

In a text message, Morales said that she was “dealing with a family emergency” and wasn’t available to speak with CBS 4 News.

It’s unclear if Morales attended the conference, which included sessions on school finance, Texas Education Agency investigations and public information requests.

The La Villa Independent School District didn’t respond to a request for comment.