HOUSTON — The Texas 14th Court of Appeals ruled that a former real estate agent's license was improperly revoked after he pled guilty to felony theft of government property.
Justice Margaret "Meg" Poissant authored the opinion. She was joined by Justices Tracy Christopher and Meagan Hassan.
The court affirmed the judgment of the trial court, which reversed a revocation by the Texas Real Estate Commission, according to the March 3 opinion.
Josef Adam Riekers was a federal government employee and special agent and firearms instructor with the Department of Health and Human Services in Dallas.
During his employment, he mixed up his personal ammunition with his work ammunition and ended up trading some of the work ammunition for different calibers. Later, he informed his employer of the ammo becoming co-mingled and federal charges were brought against him, according to the opinion.
Riekers pleaded guilty via a plea agreement and was sentenced to three years probation, 500 hours of community services and a $100 assessment. The Texas Real Estate Commission then sought to revoke his real estate license, citing that his criminal conviction supported the revocation.
An administrative law judge found that having a criminal conviction supported revocation, but that Riekers had also presented a substantial amount of evidence that would support a lesser penalty, according to the opinion.
When the commission met on Feb. 13, 2017, it voted to adopt the administrative law judge's findings with modifications. Riekers petitioned for a rehearing but was denied. He then sought a temporary restraining order to stay the revocation, which was also denied.
Riekers then filed a petition for judicial review on April 18, 2017, and the trial court reversed and vacated the final order of revocation. The commission then appealed to the appeals court.
The appeals court found that when the commission modified the administrative law judge's proposal for decision, its modifications were not supported by evidence and that in doing so, it abused its discretion.
Texas 14th Court of Appeals case number: 14-18-00287-CV