The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission fired its own lead agent last month. His name is Scott O'Neal. He led the probe into a teen sex case in Corpus Christi. TABC fired him on August 18. The agency says he broke its rules. It says he hurt the public's trust.

TABC wrote down the reasons. O'Neal did not tell his bosses about a conflict. He used his own phone for police work. He did not keep good notes. He also gave the defense wrong facts about the evidence.

Here is the conflict. O'Neal had been friends with a DPS boss for 15 years. That boss is Vincent Luciano II. DPS stands for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Luciano tipped O'Neal off back in March 2021. He told O'Neal to look into a bar in Annaville. The bar is called Talbert's Tavern.

But Luciano had his own secret. Court records say he had a sexual and money tie to Amanda Talbert. Talbert owns the bar. She is one of two people charged in the case.

O'Neal later admitted this under oath. He said he knew about the Luciano and Talbert tie. He said he never wrote it down. He said he never told the defense either.

DPS looked into Luciano back in November 2024. It cleared him a month later. Defense lawyers say DPS never even talked to him. They say the tie to Talbert was kept from them for over four years. Luciano retired from DPS in February 2026. DPS says he chose to leave on his own.

The sex case itself goes back to March 2021. Cops say the ring was selling teen girls to men in Corpus Christi. TABC and the Texas Attorney General's Office worked the case together.

Manassian was first arrested in February 2024. Talbert was first arrested that April. Cops held her on a $150,000 bond. The Attorney General's Office later asked anyone with more tips to call its Human Trafficking Tip Line. That email is humantrafficking@oag.texas.gov.

Two people face charges. Amanda Talbert is 46. She has six counts. Two are indecency with a child. Four are counts of moving a person for sex over time. Court records call that continuous trafficking of persons. It can bring 25 years to life in prison.

Noraier George Manassian is 80. He lives in Dripping Springs. He has eight counts. Five are sexual assault of a child. He also faces a sex trafficking charge, an online solicitation charge, and a charge for paying for sex with a minor. Those charges can also mean decades in prison.

Both Talbert and Manassian have pleaded not guilty. The Texas Attorney General's Office is running the case.

Defense lawyer Lisa Greenberg says O'Neal pushed witnesses for years. Court papers claim he made people pick a side. He told them to choose being called a defendant or a victim. He is accused of threatening some with 25 years to life if they would not help him. He also allegedly told one witness he worked for the "Texas State Police." That is not a real police force. He is accused of threatening a witness's own lawyer too.

Defense lawyers tried to serve O'Neal and Luciano with legal papers. They could not find either man. They want O'Neal's personal cell phone. They say he used it during the case and never turned it in.

A judge stepped in this month. Her name is Missy Medary. She sits on the 347th District Court. She placed a short gag order on the case. She said she wants the case decided in court, not in the news. Lawyers can still fight the order at a later hearing.

TABC's own watchdog office has opened a review of O'Neal, a separate internal process apart from the criminal case. No trial date has been set for Talbert or Manassian.

Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise. That applies to Talbert and Manassian, the two people charged in the case.