BROWNSVILLE — A man accused of stealing $1.2 million in fajitas was sentenced yesterday to 50 years in prison.
The former Cameron County juvenile detention center employee said he started out stealing small amounts of fajitas bought with county funds. But his scheme soon ballooned, spinning out of control.
“I feel horrible. I wish I could take this back. It was selfish,” 53-year-old Gilberto Escamilla said during his sentencing hearing yesterday morning.
“It started small and got bigger and out of control. It got to a point where I couldn’t control it anymore.”
Escamilla pleaded guilty yesterday to theft by a public servant in front of visiting State District Judge J. Manuel Bañales, who sentenced the man to 50 years. The judge dismissed an additional theft charge after the sentencing.
Members of the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations Unit arrested Escamilla last year after a driver from Labatt Food Service in Harlingen called the detention center’s kitchen to let employees know their 800-pound delivery of fajitas arrived. Minor inmates at the Darrel B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center are not served fajitas.
The total value of the fajitas, which were stolen during a nine-year period, was $1,251,578. That figure does not include the brisket, pork chops, sausage and various types of chicken Escamilla also admitted to stealing, court testimony revealed.
Sending a message
Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Peter Gilman asked Bañales to sentence Escamilla to five decades in prison because of the amount of county money stolen, because Escamilla was a public servant and to send a message, while Escamilla’s attorneys asked Bañales to consider probation or at most five years in prison, adding that the man should be given a chance to repay the stolen taxpayer funds.
After the sentencing, Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said he was pleased Bañales followed his office’s recommendation.
“However, the taxpayers still lost over 1.2 million dollars as a result of the defendant’s crime,” Saenz said. “The evidence revealed that the defendant was able to manipulate the purchasing and auditing systems in place to get away with this wrongdoing for years.”
No money left
During the hearing, Escamilla, who frequently cried while testifying on his own behalf, apologized for his actions but said that if he hadn’t been caught he’d probably still be stealing fajitas.
“If for that one day, Aug. 3, that’s when it all came tumbling down, otherwise, you’d still be selling fajitas. Isn’t that right?” Gilman said to Escamilla, who replied, “Yes, sir.”
Escamilla admitted during testimony that he earned about $2,000 per month selling stolen fajitas, which equates to $192,000 during an eight-year period, which is how long his attorneys said the scheme lasted. That is just a fraction of the more than $1.2 million in taxpayer money he used to purchase the meats. None of that money is left, Escamilla told Bañales.
Escamilla testified that he started the Juvenile Food Services Program, which he used to pilfer county tax coffers, in 1995.
Asking for forgiveness
Escamilla’s mother, Petra Escamilla, also testified and asked Bañales to have mercy on her son, whom she described as a good man and father.
However, she expressed that her son’s arrest blindsided her.
“I’m sad and I regret that he did that, you know?” Petra Escamilla testified. “I was surprised, too. I was shocked.”
However, she felt that her son was remorseful.
“He has asked for forgiveness more than a thousand times,” she said.
Before sentencing, Gilman told the judge that in all his years prosecuting theft cases, never has one of this magnitude landed on his desk.
Abusing the system
“I think consideration of probation is a slap in the face,” Gilman said. “I’ve never had a theft case dealing with this amount (of money).”
In handing down his sentence, Bañales told Escamilla he had done great harm to Cameron County.
“You abused the system. You abused those employees there. You abused every taxpayer,” Bañales said.
And while Escamilla’s attorneys argued that their client did not use coercion or manipulation during the commission of his crime, the judge disagreed.
“You found a way to take the county’s money and avoid detection,” Bañales said. “And it seems like you did it expertly. You were a smooth operator.”
The judge also disagreed with Escamilla’s attorneys’ assertion that no violence was committed during the scheme.
“In my opinion, you did violence to every taxpayer of this county and the state,” Bañales said.
After the sentencing, Escamilla only said “I just apologize,” before being granted a brief few moments to say goodbye to his mother and wife before being led away to start serving his 50-year prison sentence.