By Juan Montoya
![Image result for baltazar salazar]()
On January 24, the Brownsville Independent School District filed its objection with the Texas Attorney General to our request for information on payments made to the Brownsville-based printing company Grafik Spot over the past five years.
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We filed the request after hearing continuing rumors that it was at the heart of an investigation by federal agencies overseeing the use of funds by Food and Nutrition Services departments by local school districts.
The district's legal counsel said they were taking exception to our information request because those purchases were part of an ongoing investigation (click on graphic at right to enlarge).
But, seemingly contradicting this, general counsel Baltazar Salazar told board trustees during an open meeting that the company was a "vendor in good standing" and approved the district awarding it a contract for printing supplies in 2018.
We had heard, for example, of a purchase made July 14, 2015 that was approved by the BISD board February 3, 2015 of 7,000 red and blue insulated bags with the FNS logo totaling $252,170 that grew moldy in BISD warehouses and had to be thrown away. We have confirmed that with BISD sources.
And these same sources told us of unusually large orders of food tray liners and chicken nugget boxes that were still in boxes after having been delivered to the BISD Palo Alto Service Center by Grafik Spot costing $100,000s three years after their purchase.
USDA investigators were scheduled to meet with department director Silverio Capsitran the morning after he was found with a bullet in his head sitting in his pickup truck in the parking lot of his apartment.
"(We were) scheduled to meet with Mr. Capistran the morning after," said one. "It was the school district who called (us) at 6:30 a.m. to let (us) know what happened."
"The FBI and Texas Rangers eventually took over the whole investigation," they confirmed. "(We) would assume one of them probably has (Capistran's) phone."
Relatives say that the phone contained detailed specifics about the dealings Capistran had within the department and that he kept a ledger of the outside business he was conducting in association with "investors" into the bad barbacoa meat and the cafeteria-oriented purchases with vendors.
Agents looking into the BISD's district's relationship with Valco ( Agrifact Capital, we have now learned, was the assignee for Valco Foods) also uncovered other irregularities in FNS purchases from other vendors, including Brownsville's Grafik Spot.
"(Our) role in the investigation (the USDA's) was solely on the meat product from Valco," said the source. "As the investigation went on (we) quickly realized there was a lot more going on than just meat from Mexico. The meat product was the least of their worries. The evidence was turned over to the FBI."
The district's appeal to the Texas Attorney General's Office said it was taking exception to El Rrun-Rrun's request because the information "Is part of a multi-agency investigation by several law-enforcement offices including the Brownsville Independent School District. The law-enforcement agencies are investigating potential criminal activity."
It cites Texas Government Code Section 552.105 which deals with "Law Enforcement, Corrections and Prosecutorial Information."
"As stated previously, the District's Police Force along with other State and Federal law enforcement agencies are investigating suspected criminal activity. The requested information is part of the criminal investigation. At this time, the investigation remains active by the BISD Police Department and the various law enforcement agencies.
The information made the subject of this request is part of the investigation and we believe are privileged and excepted from disclosure under the section of the Act."
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Well, as we awaited the opinion of the Texas AG, we have been able to acquire a partial list of some of the purchases made to the company. They are eye-opening amounts.
We can only vouch for the purchases for which we have been able to acquire Purchase order number and they are as follow (click on graphic at right to enlarge):
Purchase Order # P248030: Issued July 7, 2015, Food Tray Liners: $319,950
Purchase Order# P248325: Issued July 13, 2015, Insulated Bags: $252,170
Purchase Order# P250037: Issued August 10, 2015, Chicken Nugget Boxes: $366,600
Purchase Order# P251750: Issued Sept. 1, 2015, Chinese Take-Out Boxes: $75,000
Purchase Order # P254304: Issued Sept. 29, 2015, Paper Cups: $147,400
Purchase Order# P257049: Issued October 28,2015, Round "I Believe in BISD" stickers: $101,000
Within the space of four months (July to October 2015), the BISD's FNS under Capistran did $1,2562,120 in business with the company. In fact,as we pointed out above, the department purchased so much that some things (like the insulated bags) grew moldy and had to be thrown away, a $252,170 loss to BISD taxpayers.
And Salazar and the BISD administration insist on saying that nothing is wrong and won't release the information to the public, further clouding the issue by saying that it's because of a criminal investigation and at the same time saying Grafik Spot is a vendor in good standing?
Someone's lying.
On January 24, the Brownsville Independent School District filed its objection with the Texas Attorney General to our request for information on payments made to the Brownsville-based printing company Grafik Spot over the past five years.
We filed the request after hearing continuing rumors that it was at the heart of an investigation by federal agencies overseeing the use of funds by Food and Nutrition Services departments by local school districts.The district's legal counsel said they were taking exception to our information request because those purchases were part of an ongoing investigation (click on graphic at right to enlarge).
But, seemingly contradicting this, general counsel Baltazar Salazar told board trustees during an open meeting that the company was a "vendor in good standing" and approved the district awarding it a contract for printing supplies in 2018.
We had heard, for example, of a purchase made July 14, 2015 that was approved by the BISD board February 3, 2015 of 7,000 red and blue insulated bags with the FNS logo totaling $252,170 that grew moldy in BISD warehouses and had to be thrown away. We have confirmed that with BISD sources.
And these same sources told us of unusually large orders of food tray liners and chicken nugget boxes that were still in boxes after having been delivered to the BISD Palo Alto Service Center by Grafik Spot costing $100,000s three years after their purchase.
USDA investigators were scheduled to meet with department director Silverio Capsitran the morning after he was found with a bullet in his head sitting in his pickup truck in the parking lot of his apartment.
"(We were) scheduled to meet with Mr. Capistran the morning after," said one. "It was the school district who called (us) at 6:30 a.m. to let (us) know what happened."
"The FBI and Texas Rangers eventually took over the whole investigation," they confirmed. "(We) would assume one of them probably has (Capistran's) phone."
Relatives say that the phone contained detailed specifics about the dealings Capistran had within the department and that he kept a ledger of the outside business he was conducting in association with "investors" into the bad barbacoa meat and the cafeteria-oriented purchases with vendors.
Agents looking into the BISD's district's relationship with Valco ( Agrifact Capital, we have now learned, was the assignee for Valco Foods) also uncovered other irregularities in FNS purchases from other vendors, including Brownsville's Grafik Spot.
"(Our) role in the investigation (the USDA's) was solely on the meat product from Valco," said the source. "As the investigation went on (we) quickly realized there was a lot more going on than just meat from Mexico. The meat product was the least of their worries. The evidence was turned over to the FBI."
The district's appeal to the Texas Attorney General's Office said it was taking exception to El Rrun-Rrun's request because the information "Is part of a multi-agency investigation by several law-enforcement offices including the Brownsville Independent School District. The law-enforcement agencies are investigating potential criminal activity."
It cites Texas Government Code Section 552.105 which deals with "Law Enforcement, Corrections and Prosecutorial Information."
"As stated previously, the District's Police Force along with other State and Federal law enforcement agencies are investigating suspected criminal activity. The requested information is part of the criminal investigation. At this time, the investigation remains active by the BISD Police Department and the various law enforcement agencies.
The information made the subject of this request is part of the investigation and we believe are privileged and excepted from disclosure under the section of the Act."
Well, as we awaited the opinion of the Texas AG, we have been able to acquire a partial list of some of the purchases made to the company. They are eye-opening amounts.We can only vouch for the purchases for which we have been able to acquire Purchase order number and they are as follow (click on graphic at right to enlarge):
Purchase Order # P248030: Issued July 7, 2015, Food Tray Liners: $319,950
Purchase Order# P248325: Issued July 13, 2015, Insulated Bags: $252,170
Purchase Order# P250037: Issued August 10, 2015, Chicken Nugget Boxes: $366,600
Purchase Order# P251750: Issued Sept. 1, 2015, Chinese Take-Out Boxes: $75,000
Purchase Order # P254304: Issued Sept. 29, 2015, Paper Cups: $147,400
Purchase Order# P257049: Issued October 28,2015, Round "I Believe in BISD" stickers: $101,000
Within the space of four months (July to October 2015), the BISD's FNS under Capistran did $1,2562,120 in business with the company. In fact,as we pointed out above, the department purchased so much that some things (like the insulated bags) grew moldy and had to be thrown away, a $252,170 loss to BISD taxpayers.
And Salazar and the BISD administration insist on saying that nothing is wrong and won't release the information to the public, further clouding the issue by saying that it's because of a criminal investigation and at the same time saying Grafik Spot is a vendor in good standing?
Someone's lying.