Man steals millions in delicious Fajitas and gets 50 years

[CaptainCrunch]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ng-1-2-n868451

From the weird world of crime

Texas man who plead guilty to stealing more than $1.2 million in fajitas while acting as a public servant has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.Gilberto Escamilla, 53, was employed at the Darrel B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center in San Benito, Texas, until August 2017 — when it was discovered that he had been placing orders for fajitas using county funds and then selling them for his own profit since December 2008, according to Cameron County Court filings.


When sentenced on Friday, Escamilla was also served with the maximum fine of $10,000 on top of the $1,251,578.72 he was ordered to pay back for the cost of the fajitas, officials said.

[TheScorpion]

Meanwhile, Troy Brouwer steals $4.5 million from the Flames per season and we're the ones forced to endure the years.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Meanwhile, Troy Brouwer steals $4.5 million from the Flames per season and we're the ones forced to endure the years.

Meanwhile david Jones got off Scott Free!

[spuzzum]

I know it's Texas but it can't be 50 years? That's beyond insane.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Meanwhile, Troy Brouwer steals $4.5 million from the Flames per season and we're the ones forced to endure the years.

I think the Flames are honouring a valid contract

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by spuzzum

I know it's Texas but it can't be 50 years? That's beyond insane.

embezzlement of state funds?

I can see it in Texas.

[Joborule]

Worth it.

Except he didn't even eat it.

[calf]

Originally Posted by calumniate

David Jones got off Scott Free!

Title of his sex tape

[Erick Estrada]

I mean that's $130k a year for fajitas and it took them 9 years for people doing the book keeping to figure out that something was up? Also how do you sell $1.2 million of fajitas on the side without anyone asking any questions? Pretty bizarre case.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by transplant99

embezzlement of state funds?

I can see it in Texas.

with sentencing in Canada for serious crimes, sometimes I wish they were as harsh here as in the states.

overall, far too often we see in the USA prison time that far exceeds what is fair and just.
this is one of those time.
It is a serious crime, but not 50 years serious.

[Fuzz]

Ya, at $5 a fajita 365 days a year is 71 fajitas a day. Maybe he was selling them to a vendor? Or maybe it is cop math, and it was really only $150 000 in fajitas, not $1.2 mil.

[Oling_Roachinen]

The guy stole over a million from the most disenfranchised people in America under the guise as a public servant. He did it for over nine years. That's a million dollars that could have been spent on counselors, books, teachers, to help those youths. Who knows what destruction he had on society.

Good riddance.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, at $5 a fajita 365 days a year is 71 fajitas a day. Maybe he was selling them to a vendor? Or maybe it is cop math, and it was really only $150 000 in fajitas, not $1.2 mil.

He was getting 800-pound deliveries, yeah he was selling to other vendors. He only got caught because it was shipped on a day that he was at a doctor's appointment and the other people receiving the shipment turned it away because they don't serve fajitas.

Reading up on it more, I didn't realize he was the cook - just assumed he was a higher up in the center. Surprised they gave the cook that much power without any oversight. To the point that he's purchasing 100,000s dollars of Fajita meat and never being questioned why they don't have Fajitas ever...You'd think someone else would check the books or something.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by spuzzum

I know it's Texas but it can't be 50 years? That's beyond insane.

Quoted from the NBC article linked in the first case. It is a first degree felony in Texas and the fact he was a public servant is an aggravating factor on top of it.

Texas State District Judge J. Manuel Banales, who handed down the sentence, dismissed an additional theft charge as part of an earlier plea deal made by Escamilla. Because Escamilla stole more than $200,000 worth of goods, Texas law considers the crime to be a first degree felony and allows for a sentencing of up to 99 years in prison. It also allows for a more severe punishment if the defendant commits a crime while acting as a public servant.

[bizaro86]

I'm not sure about 50 years, but the guy was stealing from the food budget of a juvenile detention center in Texas. My guess is that's a pretty meagre budget as it is, and it's still kids. Probably mostly kids who have had a pretty crappy life.

[dash_pinched]

[sketchyt]

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

with sentencing in Canada for serious crimes, sometimes I wish they were as harsh here as in the states.

overall, far too often we see in the USA prison time that far exceeds what is fair and just.
this is one of those time.
It is a serious crime, but not 50 years serious.

There was a very simple way for him to avoid all of this.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'm not sure about 50 years, but the guy was stealing from the food budget of a juvenile detention center in Texas. My guess is that's a pretty meagre budget as it is, and it's still kids. Probably mostly kids who have had a pretty crappy life.

While I agree its screwed up, pretty much the same thing is perfectly legal in Alabama.

A sheriff in Alabama took home as personal profit more than $750,000 that was budgeted to feed jail inmates — and then purchased a $740,000 beach house, a reporter at The Birmingham News found.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ht-beach-house

(apologies if we talked about that on here, I can't remember)