Starbucks Fired Sex Offender. Now He’s Suing.
For eight years, Samuel Garza III worked at Starbucks in Clovis without any disciplinary actions. His colleagues respected him, the store named him “Employee of the Month,” and he was even tasked with training new employees, he says in court documents.
When his manager discovered he was a registered sex offender, the company fired him in June 2025. The allegations come in a lawsuit filed by Garza, claiming the company knew of his past and that he was protected by state law.
Garza filed the civil lawsuit Feb. 24 in Fresno County Superior Court. Judge Maria G. Diaz will hold a case management conference on June 23.
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I’m discouraged, as Garza surely is also. To fire him for no employment issue, but only because of a conviction he DID his time for.
I sure hope this leads to other court cases. It’s time to stop giving power to employers to fire someone just because of their offense. I pray he wins.
Can an entire city be transferred to another state? Fresno CA sounds Florida.
FresNO!
It feels as if things are moving backwards with every article I read from FAC. It’s getting so tiresome and frustrating.
That is the way to try and stop this persecution. I hope that the judge isn’t tainted!!!
I couldn’t help but notice that over half the article was about the registrant, his offenses, and his probation terms. None of that changes the presumed substance of the story, going by the headline. I’m guessing the author wanted to paint the registrant in the worst possible light and frankly, didn’t do it very well.
This is my favorite part:
*iOne concern, Thurston wrote, was a failed polygraph in 2018 related to answers about romantic partners and drug use. Garza said he was nervous because he was attracted to the polygraph administrator.
“The fact that he could not maintain a professional distance with the polygraph examiner is a problem,” Thurston wrote.*i
First, all courts know that polygraphs are nonsense. Second, there were apparently no indications that he acted on his attraction to the polygraphist; isn’t that exactly what maintaining professional distance is?
Dustin
I have taken over 15 polygraphs in my life. Some I passed, some I failed. Some I failed when I knew I was being honest, other times I purposely lied to test the system, and I passed. Polygraphs are not accurate do to so many reasons I cannot mention them all. But a few are being nervous that you think you are going to fail, having a heart issue like murmurs or palpitations.
Once time I applied for a high level position in the security sector (way before I had ever gotten into trouble. They said I failed due to cocaine use, but that was a lie as the polygrapher never once mentioned cocaine use, only pot which I agreed I tried once when I was 14.
If you rely your life or freedom on a polygraph, you have another thing coming. Some officers, if they do not like the results, tend to just make something up, which could lead to false convictions. Sad but true. Luckily the very last polygraph I took that would have changed my fate, I was told by my lawyer that I passed with flying colors. I still hate taking them though. What was odd, my probation officer never made me take one during my entire probation. The last one I took and passed was in prison because they tried to pin more charges on me that were false.
Slight correction. Polygraphs are bullshit machines based on pseudo-science. They simply measure a few biometrics that have absolutely nothing to do with honesty. There is nothing in science or medicine that holds that those biometric readings have to match or be within a certain range when honest or deceptive. Beyond that, biometrics will be different not only among individuals, but the same person giving the same answers to the same questions will likely have different readings from one day to the next.