(After we first posted this, we received a call from a friend vouching for Ernesto Padron, the subject of this article by the blog RawStory. We checked for ourselves and found that the blog story is substantially true. A Southwest Key spokesperson said prosecutorial "dysfunction" prevented his case going through the courts and we tend to believe that. For that reason, the company terminated his employment with them.Unless other facts come to light, we will go with the post. We reprint the story.)
By Travis Gettys
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The nonprofit Southwest Key organization hired a former Border Patrol agent to work with immigrant children despite a previous arrest for child pornography.
Ernesto Padron resigned from the government agency in 2010 after his arrest, but he was hired last year to work at the Casa Padre shelter where boys 10-17 are being held, reported Texas Monthly.
He was arrested in 2008, after an undercover FBI sting, for alleged possession of child pornography, a second-degree felony, according to publicly available criminal court records in Cameron County.
Prosecution of the case stalled under then-district attorney Armando Villalobos, who was indicted on corruption charges in 2010 and was eventually convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Current Cameron County district attorney Luis Saenz reviewed the backlog of cases after taking office in 2013 and found the statute of limitations for Padron’s charges had expired, and the case was dismissed.
A spokeswoman for Southwest Key blames that prosecutorial dysfunction for Pardon’s hiring and access to unaccompanied minors held at Casa Padre.
“In our hiring, extensive background checks are conducted on applicants; however, because Mr. Padron was not convicted of the charges you referenced (or any other disqualifying criminal charges), he was cleared for employment,” said Southwest Key spokeswoman Lizzie Chen. “When we became aware of Mr. Padron’s situation, he was immediately suspended, and he never worked at our shelter again.”
Padron’s arrest was heavily covered by local and national media, and his criminal records remain online, so even a cursory web search of his name should have turned up his background.
Regulators have cited Southwest Key in the past for failing to properly check the backgrounds of other employees at Texas shelters.
For rest of the story, click on link: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/immigrant-child-detention-center-hired-ex-border-patrol-agent-busted-for-child/
By Travis Gettys
RawStory.blog
The nonprofit Southwest Key organization hired a former Border Patrol agent to work with immigrant children despite a previous arrest for child pornography.
Ernesto Padron resigned from the government agency in 2010 after his arrest, but he was hired last year to work at the Casa Padre shelter where boys 10-17 are being held, reported Texas Monthly.
He was arrested in 2008, after an undercover FBI sting, for alleged possession of child pornography, a second-degree felony, according to publicly available criminal court records in Cameron County.
Prosecution of the case stalled under then-district attorney Armando Villalobos, who was indicted on corruption charges in 2010 and was eventually convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Current Cameron County district attorney Luis Saenz reviewed the backlog of cases after taking office in 2013 and found the statute of limitations for Padron’s charges had expired, and the case was dismissed.
A spokeswoman for Southwest Key blames that prosecutorial dysfunction for Pardon’s hiring and access to unaccompanied minors held at Casa Padre.
“In our hiring, extensive background checks are conducted on applicants; however, because Mr. Padron was not convicted of the charges you referenced (or any other disqualifying criminal charges), he was cleared for employment,” said Southwest Key spokeswoman Lizzie Chen. “When we became aware of Mr. Padron’s situation, he was immediately suspended, and he never worked at our shelter again.”
Padron’s arrest was heavily covered by local and national media, and his criminal records remain online, so even a cursory web search of his name should have turned up his background.
Regulators have cited Southwest Key in the past for failing to properly check the backgrounds of other employees at Texas shelters.
For rest of the story, click on link: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/immigrant-child-detention-center-hired-ex-border-patrol-agent-busted-for-child/