"Wow, so now 4 candidates that share the same qualifications orange jumpsuits. (His uncle Jerry) Mchale claims Frankie’s opponents don't have his qualifications. Well, you are sure right Mchale. Denise Garza and Jaime Diez have never been arrested. Four of the candidates have no business running for BISD. Carlos still has a pending case, Erasmo on probation, Frankie a stalker and sexual harasser, and Viro with a warrant out for his arrest."Commenter
But he's not out of the monte yet. He is still awaiting trial on felony theft which charges him with one count of theft by a public servant and one count of misapplication of fiduciary property for allegedly stealing money from the Firefighters union. On at least one occasion he is said to have paid the filing fee for fellow BISD trustee Minerva Peña's bid to run for a justice of the peace office.
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The new board elected Nov. 3 would not be sitting with Dr. Sylvia Atkinson, who chose not to run for reelection. Atkinson is under indictment facing eight federal counts of conspiracy, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, and violation of state bribery laws in an indictment handed down in December after an FBI investigation.
Atkinson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, she faces a sentence of up to 45 years and a fine that could total $2 million, in addition to any assets subject to forfeiture, according to the indictment.
Elizondo faces board member Eddie Garcia, the retired Brownsville police officer appointed after Castro resigned in the aftermath of his arrest on the DWI.![]()
Castro filed for the Position 5 seat currently represented by Laura Perez Reyes, who did not seek re-election. Castro’s opponent is Daniella Lopez Valdez, daughter of Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez.
All the members of the current board except for Phil Cowen and Garcia have been subpoenaed as witnesses in Atkinson's federal bribery trial.
And then, of course, we have board counsel Baltazar Salazar who failed to expunge his record (that word again) of three felony convictions for theft but was hired by the BISD board nonetheless.
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2013/13-12-00771-cv.html
And the plot, as in a melodramatic soap opera, thickens.
By Juan Montoya
Just how true is the comment above sent to us in response to the post on Brownsville Independent School District Place 2 candidate Viro Cardenas that was published here?
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As far as we can determine from the pubic record, Jaime Diez has never been arrested and charged with a crime and neither has Denise Garza.
We have posted that the record indicates that there is an enforcement action pending against Cardenas in family court and that unless he can come up with some serious money by the time of the hearing on October 23 to pay off a good chunk of the $53,000 in arrears, he might have to do some time in the county slammer. That is 11 days before the November 3 BISD election.
But he's not the only one in this year's perp-laden slate for the BISD.
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Frankie Joe Olivo, running for Place 2, is Castro's nephew and blogger Jerry McHale's nephew by marriage. Olivo, court administrator for 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez was charged in 2018 with stalking and sexual harassment. The victim was a married woman and a mom.
At the time, Olivo controlled the administration of a district court, a position of the highest sobriety and responsibility. Officer arrested him in court and hauled him off for booking following the issuance of the indictment by a grand jury.
He was given pre-trial diversion where the state agrees to remove the defendant from the ordinary channels of prosecution so that he may complete certain conditions. Once the defendant meets the conditions, either the prosecutor or the court will dismiss the charges.
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Former Brownsville Fire Department Chief Carlos Elizondo had theft charges filed against him in 2002 after he stole a $1,500 wheelchair which were dismissed after he paid restitution. His lawyer was court-appointed Armando Villalobos before he himself was nailed for corruption and sent to the pokey. The case was before 404th District Judge Abel Limas, who is also serving time for judicial corruption.
Elizondo was found not guilty Sept. 18, 2019 of computer security breach of the Brownsville Fire Department emergency reporting system. The following October District Judge Benjamin Euresti of the 107th state District Court granted Elizondo's motion for an expunction from the record of all the offenses of which he was acquitted. The courts and state agencies were ordered to remove any records of the charges or release them to the public.
As far as we can determine from the pubic record, Jaime Diez has never been arrested and charged with a crime and neither has Denise Garza.We have posted that the record indicates that there is an enforcement action pending against Cardenas in family court and that unless he can come up with some serious money by the time of the hearing on October 23 to pay off a good chunk of the $53,000 in arrears, he might have to do some time in the county slammer. That is 11 days before the November 3 BISD election.
But he's not the only one in this year's perp-laden slate for the BISD.
Frankie Joe Olivo, running for Place 2, is Castro's nephew and blogger Jerry McHale's nephew by marriage. Olivo, court administrator for 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez was charged in 2018 with stalking and sexual harassment. The victim was a married woman and a mom.At the time, Olivo controlled the administration of a district court, a position of the highest sobriety and responsibility. Officer arrested him in court and hauled him off for booking following the issuance of the indictment by a grand jury.
He was given pre-trial diversion where the state agrees to remove the defendant from the ordinary channels of prosecution so that he may complete certain conditions. Once the defendant meets the conditions, either the prosecutor or the court will dismiss the charges.
This is what happened in Olivo's case. When we tried to call up his case on the Cameron County District Clerk's public portal we came up empty and found that the court had also granted him an expunction (a la Carlos Elizondo) of the charges from his record and that all state agencies were ordered to remove them from their files. We had written about the charges way back when it happened and we went back to see what we had written then.
What we said at the time was: "We are a family blog here so we won't print the nature of the crimes listed on the indictments. Suffice to say that it involved him taking pictures of his manhood and sending them via his cell phone to a female legal staffer of a local attorney who did not solicit them."
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Since media and individuals are not bound by the expunction order, we looked through out files and found his indictment neatly tucked between the indictments of convicted DA Armando Villalobos, those of Dr. Sylvia Atkinson, and former Tamaulipas Governor Tomas Yarrington.
This is what the two charges specify. They state that Olivo from March 20 to March 26, 2018: "initiated communication (with victim) that had the intent to harass, annoy, alarm, or embarrass (her) and in the course of the communication make and obscene comment to wit: a photograph of a male subject's penis, and (his) conduct did cause (the victim) to feel harassed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended.
The second charges states also that: Olivo from March 20 to March 26, 2018 made an obscene comment to wit: "a message notification from the defendant that when opened showed a male subject stroking, holding, and jerking his penis around with his left hand while recording acts with an electronic device with his right hand (which caused victim feel) harassed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended."
Now think about this. He is running for a position that involves placing him on a board of a school district that controls a $500 million-plus budget, the livelihood of 6,000-plus employees, and the welfare and education of more than 40,000 students.
He is now 33 and was 31 years old when these events occurred. And in his defense he says that: "As selfish as this may sound, I'm glad I went through it. It affected a lot of people but it taught me a lot. I was taught to forget the mistake but always remember the lesson."
It's only been two years ago. We don't think the victim (a married woman who as a legal clerk has to work with the courts) is as willing to forget as the courts or Olivo himself. And if he is elected (stranger things have happened) he could decide on the employment of BISD applicants who would have to swear that they had never been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, which includes lewdness.
The employment policy of the BISD states that: "No one convicted of a felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude will be considered for employment in the district...Moral turpitude is "an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private or social duties outside the accepted standards of decency and that shock the conscience of an ordinary person (i.e., public lewdness).
Who would want Olivo on the BISD board? His boss Cornejo-Lopez is currently embroiled in a federal lawsuit with the BISD over alleged violation of her daughter's civil rights. And she has never hidden her desire to land the board counsel gig on her old board. Would his presence on the board make it easier to negotiate things?
Or perhaps, as some stipulate, the Castro-Olivo-Elizondo-Cardenas majority is envisioned as a clearing house for varied vendors' interests to acquire a foothold in providing services and products – such as health services to 7,000 employees and 40,000 students – with its blessing.
COVID-19 testing, as an example, has made a pretty penny to some providers. Imagine the potential BISD market and its captive audience.
What we said at the time was: "We are a family blog here so we won't print the nature of the crimes listed on the indictments. Suffice to say that it involved him taking pictures of his manhood and sending them via his cell phone to a female legal staffer of a local attorney who did not solicit them."
This is what the two charges specify. They state that Olivo from March 20 to March 26, 2018: "initiated communication (with victim) that had the intent to harass, annoy, alarm, or embarrass (her) and in the course of the communication make and obscene comment to wit: a photograph of a male subject's penis, and (his) conduct did cause (the victim) to feel harassed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended.
The second charges states also that: Olivo from March 20 to March 26, 2018 made an obscene comment to wit: "a message notification from the defendant that when opened showed a male subject stroking, holding, and jerking his penis around with his left hand while recording acts with an electronic device with his right hand (which caused victim feel) harassed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended."
Now think about this. He is running for a position that involves placing him on a board of a school district that controls a $500 million-plus budget, the livelihood of 6,000-plus employees, and the welfare and education of more than 40,000 students.
He is now 33 and was 31 years old when these events occurred. And in his defense he says that: "As selfish as this may sound, I'm glad I went through it. It affected a lot of people but it taught me a lot. I was taught to forget the mistake but always remember the lesson."
It's only been two years ago. We don't think the victim (a married woman who as a legal clerk has to work with the courts) is as willing to forget as the courts or Olivo himself. And if he is elected (stranger things have happened) he could decide on the employment of BISD applicants who would have to swear that they had never been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, which includes lewdness.
The employment policy of the BISD states that: "No one convicted of a felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude will be considered for employment in the district...Moral turpitude is "an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private or social duties outside the accepted standards of decency and that shock the conscience of an ordinary person (i.e., public lewdness).
Who would want Olivo on the BISD board? His boss Cornejo-Lopez is currently embroiled in a federal lawsuit with the BISD over alleged violation of her daughter's civil rights. And she has never hidden her desire to land the board counsel gig on her old board. Would his presence on the board make it easier to negotiate things?
Or perhaps, as some stipulate, the Castro-Olivo-Elizondo-Cardenas majority is envisioned as a clearing house for varied vendors' interests to acquire a foothold in providing services and products – such as health services to 7,000 employees and 40,000 students – with its blessing.
COVID-19 testing, as an example, has made a pretty penny to some providers. Imagine the potential BISD market and its captive audience.
Elizondo was found not guilty Sept. 18, 2019 of computer security breach of the Brownsville Fire Department emergency reporting system. The following October District Judge Benjamin Euresti of the 107th state District Court granted Elizondo's motion for an expunction from the record of all the offenses of which he was acquitted. The courts and state agencies were ordered to remove any records of the charges or release them to the public.
As far as Erasmo Castro, he was found guilty of forgery on April 28, 1994 and was sentenced to 10
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years in the Texas Department of Corrections probated to five years by Judge Robert Garza in the 138th District Court. By a series of convoluted actions by judges in the Cameron County courts, his conviction was never finalized and he remains in the never-never land of innocence or guilt.
His latest scrape with the law involved his arrest for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) to which he pleaded guilty on February 20, 2020 and for which he was sentenced to six months in jail and placed on community supervision for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay a $550 fine and court costs, a monthly community supervision fee of $60, to take 12 hours of DWI classes, victim classes, drug/alcohol evaluation and/or Counseling, random urine analysis once a week for 4 months and attend Alcoholic Anonymous. Castro resigned earlier this year in the aftermath of his arrest and remains on probation until February 2021 unless he gets early termination.
Atkinson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, she faces a sentence of up to 45 years and a fine that could total $2 million, in addition to any assets subject to forfeiture, according to the indictment.
Elizondo faces board member Eddie Garcia, the retired Brownsville police officer appointed after Castro resigned in the aftermath of his arrest on the DWI.
Castro filed for the Position 5 seat currently represented by Laura Perez Reyes, who did not seek re-election. Castro’s opponent is Daniella Lopez Valdez, daughter of Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez.
All the members of the current board except for Phil Cowen and Garcia have been subpoenaed as witnesses in Atkinson's federal bribery trial.
And then, of course, we have board counsel Baltazar Salazar who failed to expunge his record (that word again) of three felony convictions for theft but was hired by the BISD board nonetheless.
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2013/13-12-00771-cv.html
And the plot, as in a melodramatic soap opera, thickens.