Media group sues City

Resaca Village (San Benito News/Ray Quiroga)

By ARABELLA SERRATA
editor@sbnewspaper.com

The Houston-based investigative media firm, Dolcefino Communications, Dolcefino Media, and Wayne Dolcefino have filed a lawsuit against the City of San Benito, San Benito Economic Development Corporation [EDC], and former EDC member Jose Morales, claiming that the government entities and Morales are not complying with open records requests submitted by the media group.

According to the lawsuit, on Aug. 12, 2024, Dolcefino Media requested “original detailed phone records for City of San Benito EDC Board Member Jose L. Morales, on any device which City of San Benito EDC business is conducting, redacted to exclude personal phone calls and any other information made confidential under state law…”

According to the suit, the EDC attempted to gain permission from the Office of the Attorney General to withhold said information, but it was determined that the phone records must be released. The suit outlines Morales as a “temporary custodian” of the records; and, thus, is being sued, “in his capacity as custodian of the information.”

The suit indicates that another request was made on Dec. 3, 2024, by Dolcefino Media to the City and EDC for a copy of the feasibility study regarding the San Benito Fairgrounds, all emails sent and received by any of the members of the San Benito EDC regarding the fairgrounds since Jan. 1, 2024, and documents detailing the income and expenditures by the City and the EDC relating to the South Texas Music Festival that occurred on Sept. 23, 2023. Additionally, Dolcefino Media requested documents detailing income and expenses by the City and the EDC regarding the March 22, 2024 Hog Waddle Concert and the Aug. 9, 2024 ResacaFest Concert, along with the current balance of all funds in all San Benito EDC accounts.

The deadline for these documents to be sent to the media company was Dec. 17, 2024. According to the suit, representatives for the City reached out to officials at Dolcefino Media and notified them that they would be requesting an extension to Jan. 6, 2025, by 5 p.m. The financial information regarding the South Texas Music Festival, Hog Waddle Concert, and ResacaFest Concert was given on Jan. 17, 2025. Information regarding the emails on the Fairgrounds and EDC accounts has not been provided.

On Dec. 3, 2024, Dolcefino Media requested PDF copies of phone records from any device that City or EDC business was conducted on by City Manager Fred Sandoval since June 12, 2024.

Documents indicate that the City produced the email documents on Jan. 22 and 24, 2025, and the phone records on Jan. 23, 2025, but that no text message records have been shared.

On Jan. 14, 2025, Dolcefino Media requested invoices or receipts for several expenses from the San Benito EDC reports. Legal counsel for the City sent an estimated cost for the records.

Dolcefino Media paid for the records on Jan. 31, 2025, and the lawsuit notes that the requested items were due on Feb. 14, 2025. On March 5, 2025, the City’s legal counsel notified Dolcefino Media that they were locating the documents and would send another response on March 19, 2025.

Dolcefino Media also published a press release accompanying the lawsuit. “Enough is enough… We are asking the court to finally force this rogue government to release public records, requested as part of an ongoing corruption investigation in the Rio Grande Valley city,” stated the release.

“San Benito taxpayers are now going to have to spend money because he (City Manager Fred Sandoval) has illegally withheld records from us,” said Wayne Dolcefino of Dolcefino Media, in a video clip uploaded to the internet. “We don’t want to file lawsuits. We want cooperation with the law.”

“The commission needs to step up and say, ‘Enough of this!’ You shouldn’t have to hire lawyers to fight public information requests. That’s a waste of money,” Dolcefino told his audience in the video segment. “The City has failed to comply with the state’s public information laws from the very first day we stepped into City Hall.”

On Tuesday, former EDC board member and a past subject of Dolcefino Media’s video segments, Jose Morales told the NEWS that he was tired of remaining silent on what he described as Dolcefino Media’s attacks on his character, adding that the information the media group is requesting (text messages and phone records) don’t exist because he has long switched devices a few times over, further explaining that he has personally called the phone company to obtain those records and was told by the phone company that those records are not saved by them, again adding that when he’s switched to new phones, those messages and call logs did not transfer over to the new devices.

The City and its supporters have long criticized the Houston-based media group, which arrived on the scene last spring reporting on the City’s controversial dealings with VARCO and the Resaca Village, as shilling for a yet-to-be divulged entity or entities.

While admitting that his firm has been paid to investigate San Benito, Wayne Dolcefino has not named his benefactor relating to his work in the Resaca City.

The NEWS attempted to contact the City of San Benito and several City officials about the lawsuit, but did not receive a response as of time of this publication.