GALVESTON – A former Texas City police officer faces a state district lawsuit accusing him of stealing Christmas money from a dying man two years ago, recent Galveston County District Court records show.
Michael Mabe is suing Linnard Ray Crouch in the Galveston County 405th District Court for what a 9-page complaint asserts was the theft of more than $2,000 in cash from Mabe’s late father, James Mabe, during an emergency call in the 4000 block of Loop 197 in Texas City on Dec. 19, 2016.
The elder Mabe was driving his 2013 Ford F-250 pickup truck when he suffered a heart problem and stopped the vehicle in the lane of traffic, resulting in Crouch taking a call to investigate, court filings dated Dec. 14 explain. The decedent was reported to have carried about $4,500 in cash for Christmas presents for his family.
“In a critical time during which the victim required medical assistance, the suit says, Crouch allegedly “reached into the victim’s front pocket and removed the cash and failed to report or inventory the cash in any manner whatsoever.”
James Mabe was taken to the nearby Mainland Medical Center where he passed away. Court documents further state that the defendant approached the younger Mabe and his mother in the emergency room “with the intent to deceive” regarding the subject funds and other property he “schemed to steal.”
Crouch told James Mabe’s survivors that he “did all he could possibly do” to save the decedent while presenting them with a clear, colorless Ziploc bag containing his purported personal effects, to which the original petition counters is a falsehood.
The suit says that Linda Mabe, the plaintiff’s mother and the victim’s widow, later opened the bag and discovered “several thousands of dollars missing.” According to Michael Mabe, an examination of his father’s truck revealed that an Apple iPod, a key fob for a BMW automobile, and a laptop computer were also missing.
“Due to the defendant’s outrageous behavior, scheme to steal and deceive, and failure of due care to the victim, the plaintiff suffered emotional distress,” the complaint says. “The plaintiff has suffered from feeling on edge, a change in eating habits, lack of sleep, lack of energy, apathy among other symptoms of extreme mental anguish.”
The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office brought a felony theft by a public servant charge against Crouch.
The suit is the second filed against the defendant in response to the theft in question. Linda Mabe sued Crouch in Houston federal court and eventually settled the litigation.
Consequently, Michael Mabe seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is representing himself.
Galveston County 405th District Court Case No. 18-CV-1715