By Mark Reagan
Brownsville Herald
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A Cameron County Sheriff’s Department employee entered pre-trial diversion Thursday morning after he was charged with tampering with a governmental record with the intent to defraud or harm.
Jose Carlos Garza, 49, a captain with the sheriff’s department, was charged with the state jail felony and waived his indictment, said Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.
Sources confirmed in mid-December 2017 that Garza was suspended from the department then and fired toward the end of the year.
The DA's Office filed charges against Garza, who for four years held the contract to mow the Cameron County Airport, of falsifying his time sheets to say he was working for the county when in reality he was mowing at the airport and making large bales to sell.
(On the picture at right he is taking custody of killer-fugitive Amit Livingston at the Valley Regional Airport in Harlingen from U.S. Marshals.)
Garza held a contract with the county to do the landscaping work at the Cameron County Airport in Bayview and there had been reports that he had been seen operating some of their machinery on county time late in 2017. That contract became worthless when the the Texas Animal Health Commission, or TAHC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture moved the cattle fever-tick quarantine area to include the airport where Garzaa harvested the hay.
Before charges were leveled at Garza, he was seen as a strong contender to make a run for Cameron county sheriff. As part of Garza’s two-year pre-trial diversion include that he will never be allowed to hold a peace officer’s license, the Herald reported.
A Cameron County Sheriff’s Department employee entered pre-trial diversion Thursday morning after he was charged with tampering with a governmental record with the intent to defraud or harm.
Jose Carlos Garza, 49, a captain with the sheriff’s department, was charged with the state jail felony and waived his indictment, said Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.
Sources confirmed in mid-December 2017 that Garza was suspended from the department then and fired toward the end of the year.
The DA's Office filed charges against Garza, who for four years held the contract to mow the Cameron County Airport, of falsifying his time sheets to say he was working for the county when in reality he was mowing at the airport and making large bales to sell.
(On the picture at right he is taking custody of killer-fugitive Amit Livingston at the Valley Regional Airport in Harlingen from U.S. Marshals.)
Garza is also a member of the board of the Emergency Service District #1.
Garza held a contract with the county to do the landscaping work at the Cameron County Airport in Bayview and there had been reports that he had been seen operating some of their machinery on county time late in 2017. That contract became worthless when the the Texas Animal Health Commission, or TAHC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture moved the cattle fever-tick quarantine area to include the airport where Garzaa harvested the hay.
Before charges were leveled at Garza, he was seen as a strong contender to make a run for Cameron county sheriff. As part of Garza’s two-year pre-trial diversion include that he will never be allowed to hold a peace officer’s license, the Herald reported.
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