‘That’s just stupid.’ Crime victim’s payment woes among worsening wait in Texas

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Alone, walking through the parking lot of a north Austin grocery store, Terry Reager heard her attacker's running footsteps just before impact.

“The next thing I knew I had been body slammed really hard, and I was flying through the air and then landed down on the pavement,” Reager told KXAN.

The suspect jumped into a waiting white Volvo with Reager’s purse and vanished, according to Reager and police records. Reager’s physical trauma – a jammed wrist and elbow – lingered for weeks. The emotional toll lasted much longer. That night outside Central Market, her attacker took more than her purse. He stripped Reager, then 67 years old, of her sense of safety.

Within months, Reager developed PTSD, anxiety attacks and a malaise that she said pervaded her life and drastically affected her ability to perform her work as a real estate agent.

“I just couldn’t focus,” Reager said. “The first summer after it happened, I kind of ... either stayed in bed curled up in a ball, or just kind of sat there and looked out the window.”

Almost two years after the incident, Reager learned she was eligible for assistance from Texas’ Crime Victims’ Compensation Program. She was hopeful the fund could help her, but the application process started a whole new set of struggles.

The Office of Attorney General Ken Paxton operates the CVC program, which is meant to relieve victims from the financial fallout of violent crimes. The fund provides money for medical bills, lost earnings, therapy, relocation, funerals and more. But for victims like Reager, and many others who have spoken with KXAN, the program’s intent has been undermined in recent years by dysfunction and extended wait times.

After applying for CVC help in January, Reager faced a frustrating labyrinth of application miscues, the droning of phone calls placed on hold and bureaucratic runaround that took months to navigate and drained hours of her time, she said.

KXAN has aired nearly a dozen investigations into the CVC program’s chronic understaffing and extended wait times for assistance. In April, the average victim was waiting 230 days for a first payment, nearly an all-time high, according to data obtained by KXAN through a public record request.

KXAN also discovered flawed reports submitted by the program to lawmakers that make it appear claims are being paid much faster than reality for victims. Representatives on the House Appropriations Committee, like Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, could soon address that issue.

The House Appropriations Committee oversees the CVC program’s budget allocation. Leading up to next year's legislative session, the Committee has been tasked with examining the program’s performance.

Howard also had a hand in helping Reager, who called the representative’s office for assistance when she ran into roadblocks getting her claim processed.

Howard’s office found Reager experienced “significant delays” in her application. The problems Reager experienced trying to get help were “unacceptable and must be addressed,” Howard told KXAN in a statement.

“As a legislator and appropriator, it is deeply concerning and disappointing to know that the Attorney General’s Office has continued to fail to meet the goals of the program,” Howard said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to find solutions ahead of next session.”

To improve the CVC program’s efficiency, Howard’s office said they will be looking at trimming red tape and bureaucratic obstacles that could slow down the application process.

Reager said she was stumped by the hurdles she faced with her claims for chiropractor bills, mental health therapy and lost earnings. She said the CVC worker who processed her claim was helpful, knowledgeable and tried her best, but the program needs help.

Regarding her chiropractor bills, she was told they couldn’t be reimbursement because she didn’t use her insurance. Reager explained her out-of-pocket chiropractor payment is higher if she uses insurance, so paying cash saves money.

She struggled to get her lost earnings reimbursed because she is a self-employed real estate agent, and the CVC system is better equipped to handle hourly, or W2, workers' claims, Reager said.

“It's a bunch of B.S.,” Reager said. “Just stupid. It shows how inadequate the system is.”

With the help of Howard’s office, and after KXAN reached out to the AG’s office about this case, her claims appear to be getting resolved, Reager told KXAN recently.

Reager, “like too many Texans, was forced to wait months to receive any update from the OAG; when she finally heard back, she was met with additional barriers instead of the support she needed,” Howard's office said.

Skewed legislative reports

Paxton’s office has laid the blame for CVC’s past problems largely on “staffing shortages,” which it said have been largely resolved and “normalized,” according to legislative reports obtained by KXAN.

The issue now will be training the staff on complex CVC rules and addressing the “backlogged claims,” Paxton’s office said in its most recent quarterly performance report to the Legislative Budget Board.

“The staffing shortages, which were most acute in FY 2023, depressed days to first payment as fewer payments were made overall. The increase in days to first payment is demonstrative of backlogged claims being worked and successfully resolved,” Paxton’s office said in the report. “It is expected that this metric will remain elevated as backlogged claims continue to be processed and resolved.”

Paxton’s office also asserts that claims were being awarded in an average of 56 days in the second fiscal quarter of the year, according to the most recent quarterly report. For crime victims like Reager – who was in her sixth month of waiting for assistance when she spoke with KXAN – that doesn’t ring true.

“What they are putting me through is very traumatic and there’s never any closure to it,” Reager said. “There’s never a feeling that somebody is advocating for me and moving forward with this.”

In the quarterly reports, Paxton’s office fails to mention that the 56-day average includes thousands of sexual assault examination claims that are processed within days and paid directly to health care providers. Victims are not involved in sexual assault examination claim applications, and they do not receive money for them, according to records obtained by KXAN.

It isn’t clear why Paxton’s office continues to average together sex assault examination claims and victim claims. His office has refused to respond to dozens of calls and emails from KXAN seeking an interview, a comment or to answer questions sent in the past 10 months. KXAN has also printed and dropped questions at the office headquarters, to no avail.

Ahead of the legislative session, House lawmakers will convene to discuss the CVC program’s funding and performance. They could address flawed performance measurements first uncovered by KXAN.

Getting the program running smoothly is no small matter, given the size and complexity of the fund. Last fiscal year the program received more than 25,000 victim applications and paid out over $58 million, which was $17 million short of what was expected and budgeted, according to an annual report.

One former CVC division attorney who spoke with KXAN in 2023, described the $17 million shortfall as a “measurable failure” resulting from the program’s sluggish performance.

The program’s money comes mostly from court revenues collected from offenders, according to program records. Victims are required to use insurance and other forms of collateral before accessing CVC funds.

Reager hopes airing her case publicly will push state officials to notice the program’s problems and take a stronger hand in fixing them.

String of robberies

Austin authorities charged Quinton Gaulding, who was 19 years old at the time, with aggravated robbery in Reager’s attack. The first-degree felony remains pending, and he is suspected in a string of similar robberies that happened within days of Reager’s incident, according to his arrest affidavit.

In a videotaped confession obtained by KXAN, Gaulding admits to multiple purse-snatching robberies in Central Texas, including one at a Target in Austin just one hour after Reager was robbed.

In each case, the same Volvo was recorded at the scene. Gaulding told police his girlfriend was driving the car, and his infant daughter was in the backseat when he robbed Reager, according to the confession.

Three more robberies in Bastrop followed the Austin incidents, according to an arrest affidavit. Gaulding was arrested in Bastrop and charged with aggravated robbery with a firearm. He told police he and his girlfriend had run out of options, according to the confession video.

“We weren’t working, so there’s no way for us to have money, you know,” Gaulding told police. “I was trying to get stuff to support my daughter, you know?”

In total, he said he stole less than $20. Gaulding didn’t respond to our mailed request for comment.

He pleaded guilty in the Bastrop case and received a 23-year prison sentence, which he started serving in 2023. He will be eligible for parole in 2033, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“I feel bad we did that s--- to the ladies, for what? You know? We didn’t get s--- out of it,” Gaulding told police in the video.

Keith Lauerman, Gaulding’s attorney in the pending Austin case, told KXAN “the sides are talking and trying to resolve the case.”

For Reager, it would be some consolation if exposing her case to the public prompts state officials to take a harder line on CVC improvements, she said.

“They can do better. They can do way better,” Reager told KXAN. Paxton’s “office needs to show some compassion and expedite this process.”

Investigative Photojournalist Richie Bowes, Graphic Artist Wendy Gonzalez, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Digital Special Projects Developer Robert Sims and Digital Director Kate Winkle contributed to this report.