SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Police Department declined to issue discipline to an officer accused of placing an Apple AirTag in his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
The decision to not discipline Officer Ausencio Mata came in late April, after the case went before Chief William McManus’ Complaint and Administrative Review Board.
“It came down to a ‘he said she said,’ and his side of the story was that I agreed for the device to be in my car,” Mata’s ex-girlfriend, who asked that KSAT call her “Marie,” said.
When asked if she had any prior conversations with Mata about allowing him to track her with the device, Marie told KSAT “absolutely not.”
Mata, a 32-year veteran of SAPD, is assigned to the department’s EAGLE helicopter unit.
AirTag found in front passenger seat of Marie’s vehicle
Marie, who is an Android user, said she had no idea how long she was being tracked with the AirTag when her son’s iPhone got a notification last year.
“My son woke me up one night at two o’clock in the morning to tell me he got an alert on his cell phone, that we were being tracked with a tracking device,” Marie said.
Using her son’s phone, Marie located the AirTag in the back pocket of the front passenger seat of her vehicle.
An SAPD incident report filed by Marie in the early morning hours of June 25, 2024, states it was unknown who the device belonged to.
Marie’s son was eventually able to pull up the registration information for the device, which listed Mata’s phone number under “owner.”
“I don’t know how long I was being tracked. I don’t know when he put it in there,” said Marie. She said she felt “very violated” by the incident.
Marie told KSAT she did not report the incident to SAPD internal affairs (IA), but that she was contacted by investigators from the unit months later.
Along with pictures of the AirTag and its registration information, Marie provided KSAT photos of her Jeep in a Southeast Side parking lot and of her parents’ home she said Mata took while in an SAPD EAGLE helicopter.
“He would fly over and make sure I was where I said I was,” Marie said. “Just really mixed emotions in that somebody could track me like that so easily. Find me and track me wherever I’m at. And send me pictures.”
Sources told KSAT that investigators were unaware of the photos taken from the police helicopter while conducting their probe of Mata.
Mata confirms former relationship, said he had permission to put AirTag in ex’s vehicle
When reached by telephone, Mata confirmed to KSAT that he previously had a relationship with the woman.
However, he said that the photos taken from EAGLE were not sent in a threatening manner and that she had asked Mata to place the AirTag in her vehicle.
“She wants to get me in trouble because I chose not to continue the relationship,” said Mata. He later informed KSAT that he had been told by superiors he could not speak with KSAT.
Mata referred KSAT Investigates’ additional questions to the department’s public information office. The office declined to comment since the internal affairs investigation did not result in formal discipline.
KSAT could not find a record that Mata was investigated for unlawful installation of a tracking device.
Marie said investigation caused her to lose contract job with the City of San Antonio
Marie said she was let go from her position as a contract employee for city of San Antonio senior services during the investigation into Mata.
She said someone contacted her employer and said she was sending personal emails during work hours.
Neither Marie nor KSAT is aware of who reached out to her employer.
A spokeswoman for the city’s Human Resources Department told KSAT the city did not have a record of the woman or her separation date because she was a contract employee.
In a separate story, an SAPD officer was suspended 45 days last year after throwing a woman down and pinning her to the ground in the driveway of his New Braunfels home, discipline records state.
That woman, who is a former SAPD dispatcher, told KSAT her relationship with Officer John Sylvester had fractured last year, in part, because the officer had placed an Apple AirTag tracking device in the vehicle the couple shared.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.