Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Dori Contreras of the 13th Court of Appeals in Texas regarding a matter of public concern surrounding Richard Galvan.
In his deposition on page 212, Richard Galvan was asked if he had ever been arrested in the past for prostitution. He answered “no”. He was then shown court documents, and an affidavit for Warrant and Arrest by The Crews’s attorney from the District Attorney’s office in Travis County, Texas. After looking at the documents, Richard Galvan once again denied having knowledge of these court or arrest records. His attorney then asked to take a short break to discuss with her client Richard Galvan. After the break, Richard Galvan came back and changed his story, admitted to remembering the events as well as seeing the documents, and mentioned the case had been dismissed. It is amazing what a short break can do to ones memory.
Richard Galvan was also asked whether or not the officer E. Leach (who according to the records was propositioned for oral sex) was a man or a woman. Richard Galvan’s answer was “I don’t recall”. The records indicate that Richard Galvan agreed to engage in sexual conduct for a fee. The affidavit states “Richard Galvan offered and agreed to contact between the mouth of the said Richard Galvan and the genitals of E. Leach for a fee”. It would seem that per the documents, Richard Galvan agreed to perform oral sex on the officer for $15 (Fifteen Dollars). It would also seem that Richard Galvan was the prostitute in this arrest, as he was the one offering and agreeing to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer.
According to the records the charges for prostitution were in fact dismissed, due to the officer/informant being “reassigned and unavailable” for trial. It seems to be another instance of sexual misconduct where Richard Galvan was able to avoid prosecution. Clearly, Richard Galvan has had a long record of sexual deviancies and issues, as well as lying. The documents below are public record directly from the Travis County Courthouse.
Affidavit from Claude Ricks alleging Richard Galvan agreed to contact between the mouth of said Richard Galvan, and the genitals of E. Leach for a fee. Affidavit from Patricia Barrera alleging Richard Galvan agreed to contact between the mouth of said Richard Galvan, and the genitals of E. Leach for a fee.Affidavit for warrant of arrest and detention.Showing Richard Galvan’s signatureShowing the case was dismissed due to the officer being reassigned and unavailable for trial.
The 13th Court of Appeals Opinion written by Chief Justice Dori Contreras was released in October of 2019. Multiple legal websites posted it (which you can find here) and with an easy search on Google you could find it just by typing the names of the parties involved. After a few months they began disappearing from Google Search one by one, until they couldn’t be found. Assuming this was done at the request of The Galvan’s, this website was created to ensure the public has free and easy access to the public information. Over the last month there have been multiple articles (like the one below) posted regarding Richard and Sonia Galvan and their company G5 Internet Services. The Galvan’s have assumingely hired a company for reputation management (which they discussed in their depositions), as well as have seemingly attempted to get the opinion of the court ranking lower on Google and harder to find through a simple search. There are blog posts being released almost daily (all of which say generically the same thing, and written in a way to boost SEO). Clearly, this is an attempt to try and bury the court opinion.
The opinion from the court is that thisWAS and REMAINS a matter of public concern. The public has the right to know about Richard Galvan’s prior sexual misconduct, assault, and he and Sonia Galvan’s attempt to sue the victim into silence, despite how much they would like for it to be hidden by paying for generic articles which seem to be written by themselves (or from writers in Kenya).
Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan appeared to have hired a company for reputation management. Generic article from a paid company hired by Richard and Sonia GalvanAnother Generic paid article “As engaged members of the community, Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan support local, state, and international non-profit organizations. Most recently, they showed support for a battered women’s shelter in Nicaragua. They have served on numerous boards, directed local events, and sponsored many local activities. Sonia Galvan has served as a board member for Pregnancy Testing Center, a local, non-profit center for women that are pregnant. Richard Galvan has served as vice president for the City of Mercedes Economic Development Corporation for six years, FCA, and president for his local country club, and, until the pandemic hit, served on a cohort to build a new joint educational facility with Harlingen ISD and the University of Texas RGV.” Contributor Paul Wafula Paul Wafula is a serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple successful businesses in the field of writing, content marketing, web design and also SEO. Ever since graduating from the University of Nairobi, in Kenya, content marketing and writing has been one thing that Paul has been passionate about and now help’s entrepreneurs and businesses alike get their story heard across the world.
In 2007 and prior to her senior year of high school in Harlingen, TX, Hannah Crews (then Linn) suffered a break up with her high school sweet heart. Her youth pastor Richard Galvan hired her at his office, and began to counsel her. Richard told Hannah that the reason she was heartbroken was because of the physical attachment she had developed with her ex-boyfriend and “that the physical aspect of it caused her to be spiritually connected to her ex-boyfriend’s soul.” Richard explained to Hannah that the way to heal from her break up was through intimacy.
According to Hannah:
Richard would then bait me with his questions, asking, ‘so what do you think you need to do to move on from this pain?’ Richard made me think I needed to respond with ‘having sex,’ since he had just explained that sex brought healing. He then shook his head yes and told me that he would ‘help me out with this.’ Richard again told me that completing this physical act of sex would heal me spiritually, since the two (physical intimacy and spirituality) were tied together. He also convinced me that since I trusted him as my mentor, it was safest to go about it this way (having sex with him instead of someone else).
Nothing happened that day physically between us. It still took many more conversations to convince me that having sex with him (Richard) would help me heal. I even asked him during a later conversation, “But that means you would be taking my virginity,” of which he got angry with me, stepped close to my face, and said sternly, “No, I am not taking your virginity, you are giving it to me, because you are entrusting me to help you heal.” Since I had deep love and admiration for his wife Sonia, I would also ask him how it was okay to do this since he was married. He convinced me, over and over, that this act was a strictly physical action for a spiritual healing for me and me alone. But he also told me that she would never know about this, so I didn’t have to worry about this hurting her.
Finally, after weeks and weeks of conversation and manipulation and coercion and convincing in Mr. Galvan’s office, at the beginning of volleyball season before school started in August of 2007, I agreed to meet Richard at the La Quinta hotel in Mercedes, TX. Richard was fearful of being discovered that day, and even thought a car across the street was a hired investigator that was possibly watching us. We went upstairs, I agreed to sexual acts, and lost my virginity that day. Afterwards, I had to go to school and travel with my team to play in the first volleyball tournament of the pre-season. I was still 17 years old. And that was the first and last time I agreed to do anything physical with Richard Galvan for the rest of my life.
Hannah’s mother found out and confronted Richard. Richard then went to Hannah’s parents house and admitted what had happened to Hannah’s mother.
In October 2018, Hannah told her husband Blaine the details of the events that occurred. After learning of Richard Galvan’s identity, Blaine became very upset and obtained Sonia Galvan’s cell phone number and texted her. Richard called him back almost immediately. Blaine was concerned that Richard may “still be associating himself with youth and placing himself in a position to take advantage of other young women under his authority.” According to Blaine, during his conversation with Richard, Richard acknowledged that the events Blaine recounted about Richard’s sexual relationship with Hannah were true. Blaine told Richard and Sonia Galvan that he was concerned about Richard being around young women and that people needed the information about his interactions with Hannah to determine whether Richard should be around their daughters.
Blaine then called Calvary Christian School (where Richard and Sonia Galvan’s children attended, and Richard Galvan had coached the girls basketball team) and The Living-Way Family Church in Brownsville, TX (where the Galvan’s attended church). Blaine attempted numerous times to reach Pastors Bill Moore and Anne Moore and inform them of Richard’s past sexual misconduct with teenagers, especially since Richard and Sonia’s daughter was in the youth group there. Bill Moore and Anne Moore refused to speak about the matter to the Crews’s or the Crews’s attorney, and instead allowed their executive assistant Melissa Barerra-Sosa to sign a sworn affidavit attempting to assist the Galvan’s by stating “Blaine went from cordial to upset” after she told him the pastors wouldn’t speak to him. Since Richard was on the board for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in South Texas, he also reached out to them as well as the National FCA.
In or around November 2018, Richard and Sonia Galvan (The Galvan’s) filed a lawsuit against the Crews’s for Defamation Per Se, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Public Disclosure of Private Facts, and Civil Assault. The Crews’s filed a Motion to Dismiss via the Texas Anti-Slapp Statute on the grounds of freedom of speech in regards to a matters of public concern in which the trial court denied. They immediately appealed the decision and took it before the 13th Court of Appeals in Texas in which the Memorandum Opinion written by Chief Justice Dori Contreras reversed the judgement of the trial court, dismissing the Defamation per se cause of action. The Galvan’s have since nonsuited all of their remaining causes of action against the Crews’s.
On June 9th, 2020 the Crews’s were awarded mandatory fees and sanctions. Click here for more information. The Crews’s have filed a counter-suit for Malicious Prosecution and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. That claim is still pending jury trial set for February 2022.
A photo of Richard Galvan preaching to high school aged children during an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) event. Though he and Sonia Galvan claim in their depositions neither of them held any kind of leadership role over young people.One of the biggest concerns for Blaine Crews was that Richard Galvan was associating himself with young girls in a position of authority- like this photo above which shows him coaching a girls basketball team. Blaine (a father of a daughter himself), could not allow the previous admitted behavior of Richard Galvan to go unrecognized. It is the sole reason he contacted the schools, churches, and FCA organizations. The parents of girls just like the ones above have the right to know about Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan. The girls faces have been blacked out to protect their identity. Taken from The Valley Morning Star showing Richard Galvan involved with the HCISD (Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District). The opinion from the 13th Court of Appeals in Texas believes the public has the right to know about Richard Galvan’s sexual misconduct, as it pertains to a matter of public concern.
