Fort Worth city council member to spend 2 days in jail after reaching deal on DWI probation
Fort Worth council member Cary Moon must spend two days in jail and wear an ankle monitor for four months after he reached an agreement with prosecutors before a scheduled hearing to revoke his DWI probation.
Moon will report to the Johnson County jail for two days on May 25. The terms of his probation were amended March 11 and the hearing scheduled for Tuesday was canceled, according to court records.
Moon was convicted in June 2021 of driving while intoxicated after his Oct. 17, 2020, arrest in Burleson. He was accused in October 2021 of violating four conditions of his probation.
According to court documents, Moon drank alcohol, failed to submit to urinalysis testing, failed to complete community service and traveled out of state without permission.
Moon disputed the charges in November 2021, writing in a text message that he’d answered each individual allegation and that he looked forward to “disprove the administrative failings” of the court.
However, on Tuesday Moon said the prosecutor offered to drop an effort to revoke his probation if he agreed to the jail time and the ankle monitor.
Moon faced potentially spending the last nine months of his sentence in jail if a judge decided to revoke his probation.
“I’m going to be responsible for my actions, and do what I’m supposed to do,” he said.
Moon’s ignition interlock device recorded high alcohol readings 12 times from June 2 to July 2 and five times from July 21 to Sept. 10, according to court records.
He admitted to having a glass of champagne on his wedding anniversary, and traveling out of state on Aug. 27, 2021, without getting permission, to ferry back 9/11 first responders from New York for an event in Texas honoring the 20th anniversary.
“I didn’t see it as out of town travel. I viewed it as 30 minutes off the ground,” Moon said.
In addition to jail time, Moon will be required to wear an ankle monitor for four months. Moon tampered with his ankle monitor twice in December 2021 and once in January 2022, according to documents filed in Johnson county court in February.
The tampering charge occurred because the ankle monitor meant to check his blood alcohol level couldn’t get an accurate reading, Moon said. He explained the way he wore his socks would sometimes get in the way of the device’s sensors triggering the tampering charge.
“It was not deliberate,” he said.
Video of Moon’s arrest, obtained by the Star-Telegram via open records request, showed him struggling to comply with officer commands and repeatedly failing field sobriety tests.
“Please man, come on man, I was the mayor of Fort Worth,” he said as officers tried to put him in a squad car.
Moon was never the mayor of Fort Worth, but has represented District 4 since 2015. The district runs from Beach Street east to Loop 820 between Interstate 30 and Airport Freeway and into far north Fort Worth, including the Park Glen, Summerfields and Heritage neighborhood developments.
He’s the second longest serving member of the council after Mayor Pro Tem and district five council member Gyna Bivens.
Moon announced Nov. 9, 2021, that he would leave the Fort Worth city council to run in the Republican primary for Texas House District 93. He came in third behind former pastor Nate Schatzline and former Southlake Mayor Laura Hill.
A special election to replace Moon on the city council is May 7.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 4:30 PM.
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