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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_d9e65356-b155-11e7-8634-7fcc67848f6d.html

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.

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.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Holy guacamole.

 

[Couleurs]

Paging someone with that picture of Josh Freeman, you know the one

 

[sooperkool]

I'm mad they don't know the difference between the meat and the meal.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

How did it take 9 years for them to notice this was happening?
My god, like yeah he was stealing but of all the people that deserve to be fired for this he's like probably number 5 on the list.

 

[TheCochese]

Apparently in Texas you can't pack meat.

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

Satan has a special seat for him in Hell.

 

[RoadHazard]

I thought he had eaten them himself, and was like wut.

 

[TheCthultist]

Holy guacamole.

...Goddammit...

But yeah, gotta keep an eye on those fajita trafficking rings now.

 

[Viewt]

I thought he had eaten them himself, and was like wut.

Haha yeah, as I was reading, I was expecting to see something like "...the suspect admitted that he eats only stolen enchiladas, and has been for the past nine years."

 

[DaytimeWhiskey]

I'll have 6000 chicken fa-jeye-tas please

 

[Hydrophobic]

I saw this news this morning and my mind is still trying to comprehend just how many fajitas works out to $1.2 million.

 

[Princess Viola]

lock him up and throw away the key

dont need criminals like HIM on the streets

 

[sixteen-bit]

Holy guacamole.

lmao

 

[BlackGoku03]

So the higher ups were just signing off on shit willy nilly.

 

[Future Foundation]

"$1.2 million? Pffft. That's breakfast."

 

[Pastry]

I saw this news this morning and my mind is still trying to comprehend just how many fajitas works out to $1.2 million.

and this is at like wholesale prices too

 

[WiiredShawn]

Satan has a special seat for him in Hell.

With that many fajitas, the dude's toilet should suffice.

 

[The_White_Rose]

Paging someone with that picture of Josh Freeman, you know the one

 

[Tagyhag]

How in the hell is he the only one to get fired? How inept is their company that they would allow this for years?

lock him up and throw away the key

dont need criminals like HIM on the streets

I mean, stealing is stealing, and it's not like the dude was handing them out to the needy. He was selling them.

 

[Archaix]

How badly run is a juvenile detention center that somehow misses 800 extra pounds of food a month for a place that has 100 prisoners to feed?

 

[peteykirch]

So, skirt steak on average is 6-8$ a pound.

Let's take the low end of 6$.

This dude stole at least 200,000 POUNDS of meat at retail price.

 

[hydruxo]

Somebody please make a movie about this lmao.

 

[Angry Grimace]

How badly run is a juvenile detention center that somehow misses 800 extra pounds of food a month for a place that has 100 prisoners to feed?

I'm guessing he went out of his way to cover his tracks.

 

[Saganator]

Kind of insane the Account Payables department never caught on.

 

[inner-G]

Watch out - these fajitas are hot

 

[old manatee]

How greedy do you have to be to steal fajitas for 5 years and think "I'll bet I can get away with it for 5 more"

 

[boiled goose]

I'm mad they don't know the difference between the meat and the meal.

Huh? It's basically both..

Particular meat form factor generally served a certain way

 

[Palmer_v1]

Damn fool shoulda given the delivery driver a cut!

 

[Archaix]

I'm guessing he went out of his way to cover his tracks.

But not so far out of the way as to write down the delivery day to make sure he's not at a doctor's appointment? I don't even buy that you can transfer 800 pounds of food from a delivery truck into a personal vehicle without other people seeing and not giving a damn. If it's being paid out of the department's account then SOMEBODY would have had to notice unless there's an extreme amount of negligence in general in the way this place is managed.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

I'm guessing he went out of his way to cover his tracks.

And hopefully his skid marks.

 

[rjinaz]

How greedy do you have to be to steal fajitas for 5 years and think "I'll bet I can get away with it for 5 more"

Yup but that's usually what ends up doing a criminal in. After you get away with a crime enough times, you think you can't be caught. You start to feel comfortable. It's why criminals do things like return to the scene of a crime.

 

[opticalmace]

What I don't get is how this wasn't caught after a couple weeks. Who was paying for fajitas and not receiving them? 9 years is an insane amount of time.

 

[The Ummah]

"But......we don't serve fajitas..."

*dramatic music*

*shifty eyes*

He should've hooked the delivery driver up with SOMETHING over the years. Major mistake. Why am I trying to think like a criminal smh...

 

[Mammoth Jones]

It being food doesn't negate the theft.

I hope they make him pay it back.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I'm guessing he went out of his way to cover his tracks.

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.”

Someone in the audit/finance/accounting chain should have dug into the higher costs and been able to tie them back at some point. Either he was a master at hiding the costs, or everyone in the chain just didn't do their jobs. Maybe both!

 

[mrpoopy]

"But......we don't serve fajitas..."

*dramatic music*

*shifty eyes*

 

[TheGameshark]

holy shit

 

[Kevtones]

Authorities find $1.2 million worth of fajitas in Josh Freeman's basement @AdamSchefter

.

 

[pokeystaples]

Damn! This was a nice little hustle. I applaud him for keeping it going for so long.

 

[Stencil]

I don't think I understand the article. So, the thief took a day off and the place he delivered to asked for fajitas... hang on...

edit: Okay, so the receiver of the fajita meat is this Escamilla guy. He took a day off and someone filling in took the call that Escamilla normally dealt with about fajita meat arriving.

Wtf was Escamilla doing with the meat?! Did he own his own restaurant? Where did he store the stolen meat where it wasn't found and never went bad?!

 

[Stinkles]

I was saddened to discover that when you see Fajitas sizzling as the waiter walked them past you, that it's actually just water sizzling, that they add at the last second to the cast iron, to make it sizzle for purely aesthetic reasons.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Damn! This was a nice little hustle. I applaud him for keeping it going for so long.

But like for real you take a day off for a doctors' appointment and you don't schedule it for a day where you aren't scheduled to steal fucking 30$ grand worth of fajitas?? lol

Like did it become so normal he forgot he was pulling a heist 2 times a month? Amazing.

 

[ZOONAMI]

"But......we don't serve fajitas..."

*dramatic music*

*shifty eyes*

He should've hooked the delivery driver up with SOMETHING over the years. Major mistake. Why am I trying to think like a criminal smh...

Yep, definitely should have had the delivery driver in on the scheme and given him a cut. Like dude only call me about the fajitas and if anyone is ever weird just be like oh I had he wrong address and bail ASAP.

 

[PandaShake]

Like that Amazon couple who scammed for years, investing that illicit profit could help him live a financially easier life, but 9 years, he’s just gonna keep doing it till caught.

 

[StarCreator]

I don't think I understand the article. So, the thief took a day off and the place he delivered to asked for fajitas... hang on...

The man works for the kids jail and was essentially buying fajitas by the truckload with taxpayer money, just to sell them for a profit. The scam worked for nearly a decade because he was personally there to receive the delivery and reroute it out of the jail, and this only fell apart because he took a sick day and apparently forgot to cancel the fraudulent delivery.

 

[Acorn]

Meh I was hoping to be wow'd by the guy eating that much and living but he just sold them.

 

[Poor GRIMES]

Ok but the real question is who is buying all them prison fajitas on a regular basis

 

[pokeystaples]

But like for real you take a day off for a doctors' appointment and you don't schedule it for a day where you aren't scheduled to steal fucking 30$ grand worth of fajitas?? lol

Like did it become so normal he forgot he was pulling a heist 2 times a month? Amazing.

I wonder if he had to reschedule the appointment or something. Ain't no way you totally forget you have that much illegal scratch coming in. Especially if it's part of your monthly routine.

 

[shandy706]

Great....now I'm hungry