Jeff Jenkins

Introduction

Jeff Jenkins is the former city manager of Wichita Falls, Texas, who left City Hall in September 2026 with a separation package worth nearly $200,000 — and was arrested a month later, on October 21, 2026, on a warrant charging him with stalking, a third-degree felony. The arrest affidavit, obtained by the local nonprofit newsroom Dark Roast Report, describes a year-long pattern of unwanted pursuit of a female city employee: repeated contact she did not reciprocate, deleted messages, covert photographs, and a recorded conversation in which Jenkins discussed a “hidden relationship no one even knew about” and denied being a stalker — repeatedly .

Background Information

Jenkins ran Texas’s twelfth-largest city as its appointed chief administrator until the City of Wichita Falls announced his resignation in September 2026; the departure came with a separation package worth close to $200,000. Shortly after he left, Dark Roast Report obtained an internal city investigation report concerning a city employee referred to as “Jane Doe,” which concluded that the relationship between Doe and Jenkins had become extremely personal and that Doe had become uncomfortable. The formal police complaint in the case was filed October 8, 2026, and Detective Kylar McKinley of the Wichita Falls Police Department built the stalking case on top of it .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged; presumption of innocence. Jenkins faces a stalking charge that has not been tested in court; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to the arrest affidavit, the victim told officers Jenkins had been repeatedly contacting her through various means, and her account overlapped with the city’s internal report on point after point. Both describe a Las Vegas work trip on which Jenkins scheduled his own vacation at the same time and tried to come to her hotel room; a pattern in which he relied on a co-worker to warn him when he would show up at her workplace — so that she could hide in the bathroom; and an incident in which he had her wallet and questioned the validity of her address. The affidavit says the victim showed a detective their Facebook Messenger exchange, where roughly 40 of her received messages had been deleted and replaced with “Jeff deleted a message,” and that Jenkins messaged her far more than she reciprocated .

The affidavit also cites a recording the victim made of a conversation about Jenkins giving her $500 cash for her birthday — an apparent gesture toward how he had been acting — in which Jenkins reportedly said, “If I had a choice in my mind, like one of those hidden relationships no one even knew about,” and “I did maybe notice I kissed you on the cheek,” and stated multiple times that he was not a stalker. Detectives interviewed five witnesses who described similar perspectives on Jenkins’s conduct toward the victim, searched his old city work phone — finding photographs of the victim taken at events and of her and co-workers on the street shot from the city manager’s office window — and found a letter left in his old desk that read in part: “Enjoy being around you, felt more than friendship… I’m not looking to complicate your life, but I’d be open to something.” McKinley concluded that Jenkins harassed the victim for approximately one year and committed stalking, and requested the warrant .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Jenkins was taken into custody without incident on October 21, 2026, roughly a month after the city announced his resignation — a sequence that turned what the city had framed as a voluntary exit into a criminal arrest. Both the Wichita Falls Police Department and the city released statements saying the investigation is ongoing, and the city went further, signaling it may claw back the exit deal: “The City takes its use of taxpayer dollars and its responsibility to the people of Wichita Falls seriously. As part of this commitment, we will review Mr. Jenkins’ Separation Agreement and pursue every appropriate legal remedy available” .

Current Status

Jenkins is charged with stalking, a third-degree felony in Texas, and had been arrested and taken into custody on the warrant as of the latest fetched reporting. The police investigation is ongoing; no plea, defense attorney, or court date appears in the fetched coverage, and the city’s review of his separation agreement is unresolved .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Jenkins walked out of city government with a near-$200,000 package and walked into a felony arrest four weeks later, with his own police department describing a year-long pursuit of an employee who hid in bathrooms to avoid him. The city’s statement that it will review the separation agreement and “pursue every appropriate legal remedy” puts the money — the last artifact of his tenure — in play, and a stalking conviction or even the case’s public record forecloses any future in municipal management. For the victim, the affidavit’s account of deleted messages and covert photos is now evidence in a criminal file rather than a private ordeal .

Sources

• Dark Roast Report, “Details behind former Wichita Falls City Manager’s stalking charge revealed with arrest affidavit,” October 2026 — source