By Juan Montoya
Remember the arrest of Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office employee Claudia Elisa Sanchez back in March 2015 for for tampering with government records at the San Benito tax office?
Sanchez was arrested and booked after her boss Tony Yzaguirre and three others were arrested the January before.
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Her case has been making its way to trial since and was being handled by lead prosecutor Gus Garza, the same prosecutor who handled the official corruption case involving former Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez. Many say Garza was DA Luis V. Saenz's most trusted prosecutor and his right-hand man.
Well, we understand that Sanchez's case is moving forward, but our sources inside the Cameron County District Attorney's Office say it won't be Garza prosecuting it. They say that a difference of opinion on the validity of the charges against Sanchez has led to an irremediable fracture between Garza and his boss.
As they tell it, Garza went to the DA and told him that the he might not be able to get her conviction because he could not prove that it was her – and not the confidential informant working the case – who had signed the government documents in question. There was simply, Garza is said to have told Saenz, nothing there.
"Well, if you don't think you can do it, I'll get somebody else who can," Saenz is reported to have retorted.
The result, they say, is that Garza is now in his last days at the DA's Office which has seen a gaggle of career prosecutors depart as the work place becomes toxic and things get rockier and rockier dealing with the boss.
Nobody will comment on ongoing litigation, of course, but you can count the days that Garza will be seen going up to the third floor of the Cameron County administrative building on your fingers and toes.
Remember the arrest of Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office employee Claudia Elisa Sanchez back in March 2015 for for tampering with government records at the San Benito tax office?
Sanchez was arrested and booked after her boss Tony Yzaguirre and three others were arrested the January before.
Well, we understand that Sanchez's case is moving forward, but our sources inside the Cameron County District Attorney's Office say it won't be Garza prosecuting it. They say that a difference of opinion on the validity of the charges against Sanchez has led to an irremediable fracture between Garza and his boss.
As they tell it, Garza went to the DA and told him that the he might not be able to get her conviction because he could not prove that it was her – and not the confidential informant working the case – who had signed the government documents in question. There was simply, Garza is said to have told Saenz, nothing there.
"Well, if you don't think you can do it, I'll get somebody else who can," Saenz is reported to have retorted.
The result, they say, is that Garza is now in his last days at the DA's Office which has seen a gaggle of career prosecutors depart as the work place becomes toxic and things get rockier and rockier dealing with the boss.
Nobody will comment on ongoing litigation, of course, but you can count the days that Garza will be seen going up to the third floor of the Cameron County administrative building on your fingers and toes.