FRANKLIN, Tennessee–Samuel Garza, the IRS agent charged on Thursday by the Williamson County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office with two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, is refusing a request to be interviewed by Breitbart News.
Mark Green, the IRS spokesperson responsible for IRS activities in Tennessee, is not responding to multiple phone calls from Breitbart News.
Garza, 36, remains incarcerated in the Williamson County Jail in Franklin, Tennessee after failing to post the $200,000 bond that was set in a bond hearing on Friday.
On Monday, Breitbart News contacted the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and requested an interview with Mr. Garza.
“We went back to his cell and asked him. He said he did not want to do an interview,” a spokesperson for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office tells Breitbart News.
The spokesperson did not offer a comment when Breitbart News asked whether Mr. Garza was represented by counsel.
Garza is scheduled to appear in a Williamson County Court again on Wednesday.
Breitbart News has left repeated messages with IRS spokesperson Mark Green to confirm or deny the public reports contained in a media release issued by the Williamson County’s Sheriff Office on Friday and repeated in numerous press reports that Mr. Garza is, in fact, an IRS agent.
Breitbart News has also asked the IRS, through Green, how long Garza has been employed by the IRS, what his actual title is, what his educational and professional background is, whether a background check was conducted prior to his hiring, and whether the IRS had initiated an investigation to determine whether there may be more alleged female victims of Mr. Garza.
According to NewsChannel5, the CBS Television affiliate in Nashville,”the Criminal Investigation Division and the Office of Inspector General for the IRS have been working with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on the investigation.”
Breitbart News also contacted the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, for comment but has received no response.
Breitbart News specifically asked the union whether it is currently providing, or intends to provide, legal counsel for Mr. Garza.
As Nashville’s WSMV, the local NBC Television affiliate, reported on Friday:
Police arrested 36-year-old Samuel Garza, of Hendersonville, on Thursday. He is being held at the Williamson County Criminal Justice Center on a $200,000 bond.
In a news release, a spokesperson for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said the charges are related to an IRS audit that Garza was performing on a Williamson County business.
According to an arrest report, Garza showed up at the business and made “sexual overtures,” implying the woman would lose the business if she didn’t cooperate.
Police said Garza told the woman to wear a dress the next day. He then fondled her breasts and placed his head in her lap. Officials said when she asked Garza to stop, he refused.
Garza returned again on Thursday. He allegedly placed his hand under her shirt, touched her breasts and again placed his head in her lap.
Police said the woman was fearful, upset and uncomfortable.
Breitbart News will provide additional details as the story develops.
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