Worker grilled in theft of fajitas.

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has beef with one Juvenile Justice Department employee, alleging he stole $1.2 million worth of fajitas during the past nine years.

The Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department does not serve fajitas.

“If it wasn’t so serious, you’d think it was a Saturday Night Live skit. But this is the real thing,” District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said.

On Aug. 7, Gilberto Escamilla took a day off to go to a medical appointment. A driver from Labatt Food Service in Harlingen — the Juvenile Justice Department’s meat vendor — called the kitchen to inform it of an 800-pound delivery of fajitas.

The woman who answered the phone said the driver was mistaken, and that the kitchen did not serve fajitas. That was when the driver told her he had been delivering fajitas to the Juvenile Justice Department for the past nine years, Saenz said.

“The receiver of the call rushes off to the supervisor and conveys to her the discussion that had been had, and that breaks the case,” Saenz said. “When Mr. Escamilla reports to work the next day, he is confronted with the discussion and he admits he had been stealing fajitas for nine years.”

He was fired Aug. 8 and arrested Aug. 9 after the DA’s Office Special Investigations Unit obtained a search warrant. When officers searched Escaramilla’s house, they found packets of fajitas in his refrigerator.

At the time, the value of the order had been between $2,500 and $30,000, a state jail felony. Escamilla was booked into jail and made bond. But the DA’s Office kept digging.

After gathering documents from Labatt Food Service and the CountyAuditor’s Office, which included invoices, vouchers and purchase orders, the investigations unit concluded that Escaramilla had stolen $1,251,578 worth of fajitas.

“He would literally, on the day he ordered them, deliver them to customers he had already lined up,” Saenz said. “We’ve been able to uncover two of his purchasers, and they are cooperating with the investigation.”

Escamilla was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree theft felony.

All county juvenile justice departments are given a menu by the state. The Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department’s menu mirrors the San BenitoConsolidatedIndependentSchool District’s menu. The county services about 100 detainees each year, Saenz said.

In a statement, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Rose Gomez of the Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department said Escamilla’s actions have led to a review of department policy.

“The Juvenile Justice Department is working closely with the Auditor’s Office to institute procedures, controls and safeguards to avoid a recurrence of this type of situation. The Department expects that wrongdoers will be punished and assures that procedures and protocols have been established,” Gomez said. “The Department will continue to strive to provide necessary and appropriate care, custody and protection of those juveniles in its custody as well as protection of public moneys (sic).”

The investigation showed a “total failure” of the chain of authority, especially since the Juvenile Justice Department had been exceeding its line item budget consistently, Saenz said.

“Up and down the chain of authority, people were signing off on these things,” Saenz said. “It’s upsetting because the auditor gets a detailed invoice where it states the breakdown of what’s delivered, so they should’ve seen it.”

Cameron County Auditor Martha Galarza declined to comment because the investigation was ongoing.

“What do you tell the taxpayers? What do you tell the housewife and the blue collar worker that pay their county taxes, when paying their taxes takes a big bite out of their paycheck? How do you explain that? They’ve got the right to be upset. It is upsetting,” Saenz said.

fgarza@brownsvilleherald.com


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quote:

The investigation showed a “total failure” of the chain of authority, especially since the Juvenile Justice Department had been exceeding its line item budget consistently, Saenz said.

“Up and down the chain of authority, people were signing off on these things,” Saenz said. “It’s upsetting because the auditor gets a detailed invoice where it states the breakdown of what’s delivered, so they should’ve seen it.”

It's not their money. Why would they care?

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

The investigation showed a “total failure” of the chain of authority, especially since the Juvenile Justice Department had been exceeding its line item budget consistently, Saenz said.

“Up and down the chain of authority, people were signing off on these things,” Saenz said. “It’s upsetting because the auditor gets a detailed invoice where it states the breakdown of what’s delivered, so they should’ve seen it.”

It's not their money. Why would they care?

It was their responsibility.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:...It was their responsibility.

Au contraire. It is society's responsibility to keep it's public servants comfortable and happy. Whether public servants actually do anything to earn their pay is not in the equation.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:...It was their responsibility.

Au contraire. It is society's responsibility to keep it's public servants comfortable and happy. Whether public servants actually do anything to earn their pay is not in the equation.

For a second, I thought you were joking, then I saw that you’re from California.

The County Auditor, Commissioners and County Judge have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.

As the GAO said, "Everywhere we look, we see waste and fraud."

quote:

It was their responsibility.

Well now you're getting into technicalities.


We recently had a local tax increase to support an ambulance district. They cried that they hadn't had one in many years and were barely scraping by. The voters passed it.

They decided to spend some of that money on new ambulances. Great. Exactly what it was supposed to do. I get a copy of one of their purchase agreements, and couldn't help but notice that they were paying window sticker price for the truck.

No negotiations. They simply asked how much their new toys would cost, were given a number, and had the funds to write a check.

When it comes to our government, spending is one of the largest problems.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

The investigation showed a “total failure” of the chain of authority, especially since the Juvenile Justice Department had been exceeding its line item budget consistently, Saenz said.

“Up and down the chain of authority, people were signing off on these things,” Saenz said. “It’s upsetting because the auditor gets a detailed invoice where it states the breakdown of what’s delivered, so they should’ve seen it.”

It's not their money. Why would they care?

It was their responsibility.

There's that word again. There is no relationship between 'government' and 'responsibility' any longer.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
As the GAO said, "Everywhere we look, we see waste and fraud."

Of course they do! It's government for god's sake!

You can say it's a wrap, but the cops found ain't the whole enchilada yet. He bean stealing for a long time. More news tamale.

quote:

Originally posted by JJexp:

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:...It was their responsibility.

Au contraire. It is society's responsibility to keep it's public servants comfortable and happy. Whether public servants actually do anything to earn their pay is not in the equation.

For a second, I thought you were joking, then I saw that you’re from California.

Yes I am, hopefully that will change next year.

And as I read this thread, I am almost on the floor in laughter. Maybe gallows humor, because irresponsible gov't spending may well be the tsunami (or hurricane if you wish) that collapses our economy.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
You can say it's a wrap, but the cops found ain't the whole enchilada yet. He bean stealing for a long time. More news tamale.

You are terrible.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by JJexp:

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:...It was their responsibility.

Au contraire. It is society's responsibility to keep it's public servants comfortable and happy. Whether public servants actually do anything to earn their pay is not in the equation.

For a second, I thought you were joking, then I saw that you’re from California.

Yes I am, hopefully that will change next year.

And as I read this thread, I am almost on the floor in laughter. Maybe gallows humor, because irresponsible gov't spending may well be the tsunami (or hurricane if you wish) that collapses our economy.

Practically all government spending is irresponsible.

Those fajitas, nachos bro.

Lots of questions. What was his position? Did he intercept the meat at the detention center and then carry boxes out to his car? No one ever saw him? Does the head of juv det not responsible for signing off on line item list of purchases? Some det cntrs ask com court for a waiver so they don't have to go through the purchasing dept which reduces scrutiny of their purchases. Auditor failed to have adequate controls in place to verify material recd. not uncommon unfortunently.

My former county sprays mosquito control chemicals from the air. Years ago, Mosquito control director stole chemicals and sold them. He sprayed county with chems diluted with water. Went on for years apparrently. He went to prison. People will always figure out a way to steal if they want to. Govts need to have strict controls.

Citizen complain about gov procurement laws being too cumbersome. My reply is that if elected officials, dept heads and employees were honest, the rules wouldn't be so strict and involved. Govt procurement rules are modeled after the "Model Procurement Code for Governments" published by the American Bar Association. The codes are a guide only and each gov entitity modifies according to needs, law and lobbyist influence. The code does not specify in detail how to set up checks and balances. Procurement procedures may be specific but if no one is enforcing or auditing them and if inventotory procedures are lax, then people will abuse the system.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
You can say it's a wrap, but the cops found ain't the whole enchilada yet. He bean stealing for a long time. More news tamale.

You are terrible.

That's chili.

I do think we can huevos goodbye to the dough.

If government employees with responsibility for the conduct of those they supervised lost their jobs or faced criminal charges in appropriate facts, this might be a lot less common.

It’s the job of everyone in the purchasing chain to verify what they are approving is legit.

Handling money is simple but it requires diligence.

Dude had been pilfering 130k+ Per year of stolen goods and nobody noticed for 9 years ?!
130k tax free is like what 175k pretax ? Plus his cushy government job ? Does he still get to keep his pension ?

quote:

Originally posted by maxdog:....Citizen complain about gov procurement laws being too cumbersome. My reply is that if elected officials, dept heads and employees were honest, the rules wouldn't be so strict and involved....

Procurement procedures may be specific but if no one is enforcing or auditing them and if inventory procedures are lax, then people will abuse the system.

Maybe there's a clue in there. Maybe some assigned to monitor/audit/enforce gov't spending are themselves dishonest.