WASHINGTON — A recent ad by Rep. Monica De La Cruz spotlighted an endorsement from a cop who was reportedly fired from his prior job last year for alleged sexual harassment and stalking of a co-worker, The Post has learned.
The ad featured a man named “Deputy Garcia” from Golliad County, Texas, ripping into her Democratic foe, Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido, as “anti-cop” and accusing him of standing with criminals.
La Cruz’s (R-Texas) campaign insists it was unaware of the cop’s backstory when it shot the ad in June and noted that public reports of the cop’s past behavior didn’t emerge until August.
Photos, work history, and other evidence reviewed by The Post indicate that the cop, Deputy Zachary Garcia, was fired from the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office last year due to accusations that he harassed a female dispatcher who cut things off with him.
While the two were in a relationship, Garcia had allegedly studied the cellphone location she shared with him, would ride past her home while on duty, and would call her repeatedly until she had to shut her phone off, according to records obtained by the Hawk’s Eye in August.
The female dispatcher ended the relationship on Aug. 30, 2025, and Garcia allegedly made some 20 calls to her over a two-day period, according to the report. GPS data revealed a marked patrol unit waited outside her home for over an hour on Aug. 31, 2025. There weren’t any known calls in the area.
Garcia later coped to making the repeated calls, including ones in which he blocked his caller ID, and to waiting outside her residence while in uniform.
An internal investigation also uncovered accusations from a female supervisor who alleged that after assisting him with groceries, he welcomed her inside his apartment. From there, he encouraged her to get closer and sniff his cologne, according to the report. Garcia later denied that accusation.
Wilson County concluded that he committed sexual harassment against both the dispatcher and the supervisor, according to the report. During his time working at Wilson County, Garcia also served as a deputy sheriff at Goliad, where he works now.
Attempts to reach Garcia were unsuccessful.
Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County stood by him.
“Deputy Garcia has been a valued member of the Goliad County Sheriff’s Office since 2018 and has served as a deputy since 2022,” Boyd told The Post. “He is well respected by our staff and local residents.”
“[I]t is unfortunate that partisan activists are smearing a man who risks his life to protect our community at the behest of a corrupt celebrity who endangered it by bringing a child sex predator around children and families,” Boyd added.
“We will not be intimidated, and we fully support Deputy Garcia’s First Amendment right to speak his mind.”
De La Cruz is facing a competitive reelection bid against Pulido, in what the Cook Political Report has described as a toss-up race.
Her campaign had been trying to highlight Pulido’s past social media posts discussing run-ins with law enforcement. In one of those posts, he fumed that “[h]alf of the ones [police officers] have been courteous (even when ticketing me) the others, abusive a—holes.”
In its response to questions about the ad, her campaign pointed to Pulido’s ties to his ex-longtime bandmate Frankie Caballero, who was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in 2014. The Post previously reported on how Pulido toured with Caballero after his four-year prison stint.
“Congresswoman De La Cruz stands with the brave men and women who keep South Texas safe. Everything in that ad is true,” De La Cruz’s campaign manager James Shook told The Post.
“If Bobby Pulido doesn’t like cops calling him out for bringing a serial pedophile around little kids, then he shouldn’t have brought a serial pedophile around little kids.”
National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Christian Martinez similarly told The Post that “Bobby Pulido is a depraved scumbag who calls the law enforcement officers keeping Texans safe ‘abusive assholes.’”
“South Texans see Pulido for what he is: a morally rotten fraud,” Martinez added, accusing him of looking “the other way as his friend molested children.”
Pulido’s team has vehemently disputed those characterizations of events. His campaign manager previously told The Post that “Bobby was never made aware of Caballero’s sex offender registration and would never knowingly associate with anyone with that kind of history.”
“Bobby extends his deepest sympathies and support to all of the victims involved.”
The De La Cruz campaign has also grumbled over a recent ad from Pulido that mentions her ex-husband, Juan Gabriel Hernandez, who was charged in 2022 with assault of a peace officer or judge, and impeding breath or circulation.
Hernandez ultimately pleaded guilty to the assault charge and was hit with five years of community supervision. Pulido’s attack ad cited Hernandez’s accusations against De La Cruz and claimed she had “a restraining order filed against her for child abuse.”
There was a temporary restraining order issued against De La Cruz during the messy divorce fight, which featured a battle for control of her house, but that order ended, and the court never substantiated any of those claims.
