A former longtime employee of the Tarrant Appraisal District has been arrested after he allegedly took an inappropriate picture of a woman under a table during a tax protest hearing.
Michael Ray Zavatson, 61, of Arlington, was arrested Friday morning on a charge of improper photography and bonded out of the Tarrant County Jail 24 hours later, according to jail records.
The woman, a visitor to the appraisal office, filed a police report on the July 11 incident.
Zavatson resigned two days later.
“As of the end of business today, July 13, 2018, please consider this my resignation,” Zavatson wrote. “Please contact me about the paperwork needing to be filled out for retirement."
Zavatson had been under suspension since the alleged incident and his supervisors had intended on firing him when he resigned, according to TAD documents.
His supervisors confronted him about what happened the same day, according to an unsigned “note to file” included in his personnel records.
“Mike was told of the allegation and asked if there was any truth to the claim that he had taken photos or video during his time in the (hearing) room,” the note said. “He indicated there ‘might be some truth’ and that he would ‘not deny’ that he had but also volunteered that he had immediately deleted any photos.”
TAD employees inspected the phone and did not find any inappropriate photos, the memo said.
The appraisal district initially resisted releasing some of the records to NBC 5 but the Texas Attorney General ruled the information was public.
A Fort Worth police report was filed by the woman and her supervisor on July 16.
In an interview with detectives, Zavatson confessed that he took photos up the woman's skirt believing "something might be seen," according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
A detective asked, "Like panties?"
"Well, yeah," he answered, according to the affidavit.
Zavatson was hired in 1981 as a senior draftsman.
He ultimately became a residential valuation analyst and made $76,939 a year, according to TAD records.
TAD executive director and chief appraiser Jeff Law said he just learned of the arrest.
"We are not aware of any other incidents like this and I do not have any indication that he may have taken any inappropriate photos of other women in our office," Law said in an email.
Zavatson’s attorney Jerry Loftin did not return a phone call.
The Tarrant Appraisal District sets property values and is separate from the Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector.
