By Juan Montoya
A sophisticated scheme involving the switching of bank accounts paid by the Brownsville Public Utility Board to Rene Capistran's Noble Builders has resulted in the theft of $1.3 million in payments for the construction of an addition to the PUB plant next to the Robin Hood main building.
Neither the Cameron County District Attorney's Office nor federal officials would comment on the ongoing investigation but a general outline emerges of the scheme involving switched bank accounts and the drawing of the money from the construction company's account.
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The new Brownsville Public Utility Board’s Administrative Annex Building, designed by ERO Architects, is being built by Noble Builders.
The new building will be located adjacent to the existing Brownsville PUB Administration Building located on Robinhood Drive and is part of a $16,8 million building project started in January 2019.
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An invitation to the blue-ribbon cutting of the new PUB Service Center was mailed to all current and former board members for March 23.
The general outline of the heist involved the surreptitious removal of the Noble Builder's account from the Lone Star National Bank to the Bank of America and then the funneling of $1.3 million.
No one is saying who set up the account there or who at the PUB approved the payments, but they did confirm that the heist took place.
Other sources say that the perpetrators have absconded across the river with the loot and that local and federal authorities have launched a full-scale investigation to identify those responsible for the theft.
Calls to the DA's Office have gone unanswered, but sources there did confirm the ongoing investigation.
A sophisticated scheme involving the switching of bank accounts paid by the Brownsville Public Utility Board to Rene Capistran's Noble Builders has resulted in the theft of $1.3 million in payments for the construction of an addition to the PUB plant next to the Robin Hood main building.
Neither the Cameron County District Attorney's Office nor federal officials would comment on the ongoing investigation but a general outline emerges of the scheme involving switched bank accounts and the drawing of the money from the construction company's account.
The new Brownsville Public Utility Board’s Administrative Annex Building, designed by ERO Architects, is being built by Noble Builders.The new building will be located adjacent to the existing Brownsville PUB Administration Building located on Robinhood Drive and is part of a $16,8 million building project started in January 2019.
An invitation to the blue-ribbon cutting of the new PUB Service Center was mailed to all current and former board members for March 23.The general outline of the heist involved the surreptitious removal of the Noble Builder's account from the Lone Star National Bank to the Bank of America and then the funneling of $1.3 million.
No one is saying who set up the account there or who at the PUB approved the payments, but they did confirm that the heist took place.
Other sources say that the perpetrators have absconded across the river with the loot and that local and federal authorities have launched a full-scale investigation to identify those responsible for the theft.
Calls to the DA's Office have gone unanswered, but sources there did confirm the ongoing investigation.