CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A Nueces County judge has temporarily barred Eric Tunchez from multiple Corpus Christi rental properties tied to the estate of the late Robert Michael Peters.
Judge Mark Woerner granted the temporary restraining order Tuesday after attorneys for Amy Becker — the court-appointed administrator of the Peters estate — argued Tunchez had continued collecting rent and inserting himself into the properties despite a prior court order excluding him from the case.
"In that order, did it exclude Mr. Tunchez from the case?" an attorney asked Becker during testimony. "Yes it did," Becker replied. She told the court Tunchez had not stopped. "He is still renting out these properties. He is still collecting money."
Woerner warned Becker she could pursue contempt charges if Tunchez violates the order. "If in the meantime you experience Mr. Tunchez violating this temporary restraining order, you can file for a show cause and basically request that he be held in contempt," the judge said.
Tunchez is the founder of a social media news site, the Corpus Christi Cronica.
After the hearing, Becker expressed concern for renters who had been placed in the properties. "I feel sad for them, I really do. I've talked to two of them — I've talked to Jocelyn and Alyssa, and I feel sad that they got mixed up in all of this," she said.
One of those tenants, Alyssa Cantu, appeared in police body camera footage KRIS 6 aired Monday during an eviction on South Brownlee Avenue in February. Cantu says the eviction has followed her. "The whole eviction — I cannot get my own place with the whole situation. He brought it to court like if it was legal. And it was illegal because he don't even own the property," she said.
Another former tenant, Jocelyn Davis, said the ordeal cost her family dearly. "It tore my family apart," Davis said. "It's heartbreaking."
KRIS 6 first reported on Davis in 2024, when Tunchez placed her in a home on the 3600 block of Chestnut Street — one of the properties tied to the Peters trust. In that case, Judge Timothy McCoy ruled that Tunchez had no legal standing and no title to the property.
Tunchez did not appear in court while the hearing was in session. He arrived afterward, and when KRIS 6 asked about tenants who say they felt misled, he briefly defended his conduct before walking away.
"The court entered a temporary restraining order, which I fully comply with while I pursue all the legal remedies to this case. I have acted in good faith to maintain the properties," Tunchez said.
As he entered an elevator and reporters continued to question him, Tunchez repeated: "You pay your rent."
Court records show Becker holds exclusive legal authority to manage and collect rent from the nine Corpus Christi properties tied to the Peters estate, including the South Brownlee Avenue address where the February eviction took place. A Nueces County judge previously ruled that Tunchez has no legal relationship to the decedent and no authority to act on behalf of the estate.
Tunchez has invoked adverse possession — a legal doctrine sometimes called squatters' rights — as the basis for his claimed authority over the properties. Local real estate attorney Arnold Gonzalez said that argument faces significant legal obstacles. "Squatters really have no real property rights in Texas," Gonzalez said, adding that adverse possession does not grant immediate or automatic rights.
A separate Chestnut Street property connected to Tunchez also caught fire Sunday, which investigators are now investigating as arson. Tunchez was arrested at the scene on an outstanding warrant and told officers the address was his residence.
A future hearing will determine whether the court order barring Tunchez from the properties becomes permanent.
Read more 6 Investigates reporting here.
