Only in Texas
Not long ago, I was reading about a case in North Dakota about a man arrested at an ice hockey arena for DWI—while driving the Zamboni. As it turns…
December 18, 2018 at 09:00 AM
5 minute read
Not long ago, I was reading about a case in North Dakota about a man arrested at an ice hockey arena for DWI—while driving the Zamboni. As it turns out, that's actually happened multiple times in some of our more frigid states and in Canada. But as I chuckled to myself thinking “Never in Texas,” I realized—with a bit of Texas pride—that there are plenty of encounters with the justice system that are unique to the Lone Star State, or that happened in a quintessentially Texan way.
Take our version of a high-stakes heist, for example. I'm not talking about money or diamonds—you can save that for an “Ocean's Eleven” movie. I'm talking about something that is just as precious to Texans, and far tastier: fajitas. In 2017, an employee of the Cameron County juvenile justice department, Gilberto Escamilla, was arrested on felony charges of first-degree theft for allegedly stealing $1.2 million worth of fajitas. According to District Attorney Luis Saenz, Escaramilla had been placing orders for fajita meat (ranging between $25,000 and $30,000 at a time) over the course of nine years with a local food service vendor and then turning around and selling the fajitas to other buyers. The spicy scheme unraveled when Escaramilla took a medical day off and the Harlingen-based food service company called the juvenile justice department to notify it about the impending delivery of 800 pounds of fajitas, only to learn that the department didn't serve fajitas. An audit later revealed that $1,251,578 worth of fajitas had been misappropriated over the years. Pass the guacamole and sour cream, please.
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