By Juan Montoya
For years, when Pete Sepulveda was the administrator for Cameron County, he took his assistant David Garcia under his wing.
Despite criticism against Garcia from certain quarters, Sepulveda looked out for his assistant and even secured a $75,000 stipend from the Cameron County regional Mobility Authority which raised his salary to $180,000.
![Image result for david garcia, cameron county]()
Garcia, a holdover from the Gilbert Hinojosa administration was hired at the urging of Lencho Rendon, former U.S. Rep. Salomon Ortiz's right-hand man. Ostensibly, he was to serve as a congressional liaison and made an administrative assistant. As such, he was drawing his salary from several funds in the county.
Finally, the county worked out an arrangement with the CCRMA where it paid the county for work performed by Garcia. He lost the $75,000 stipend. But when Sepulveda's was appointed interim county judge, Garcia was promoted to county administrator and his $75,000 was returned.
You'd think that Garcia would have been grateful to Sepulveda for standing up for him all those years. But guess what? He will be the main witness against his former benefactor when Sepulveda is tried by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office accused of using county materials and employees to pave a private road in San Benito for Anita Weaver.
If anyone should know about who approved of the deal it should be Garcia, since he is the county administrator in charge of Public Works and Transportation.
![Image result for pete sepulveda]()
Sepulveda made his first appearance in court last week in front of 103rd state District Court Judge Janet Leal. A grand jury indicted him on charges of abuse of official capacity, theft by a public servant, and misapplication of fiduciary property in December of 2016.
Sepulveda’s defense attorney, Noe Garza, initially asked for a continuance and a May trial date for his client. Judge Leal refused his request, but eventually agreed to a pretrial and announcement appearance March 24, with the trial scheduled for April 3.
This will not be the first time that Garcia has served as a witness for the prosecution. The last time it was int he trial of former commissioner Ernie Hernandez, who was indicted on two counts of abuse of official capacity, one count of misuse of official information, two counts of witness tampering, one count of tampering with a government record, one count of obstruction or retaliation, one count of coercion by a public officials.
The indictments dealt with the plot by Hernandez to get his brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel a job even though he did not qualify for it.
Eventually, in return for his resignation, Hernandez was granted deferred adjudication and pleaded guilty to one count of coercion by a public official.
During the trial, Garcia testified in court that a reorganization of the county's Human Resources office was done at the urging of Hernandez to get even with the staff for leaking information about the scheme and for leaking the information on the plot to the DA's Office.
But what he didn't say was that the reorganization had been in the works for months before and that former HR director Arnold Flores had been trying to get it approved by the county commissioners. In fact, the agenda where it was included had not even been posted when he testified about ti to the jury.
This type of manipulation by the DA's Office with the help of Garcia, the willing– and consummate – insider, shows how rampant back stabbing is in the environment in which he thrives. Can any of the county commissioners have any confidence in this type of administrator? If he can do this to his long-time benefactor to protect his interests, imagine what he will do to them if push comes to shove.
Garcia, a holdover from the Gilbert Hinojosa administration was hired at the urging of Lencho Rendon, former U.S. Rep. Salomon Ortiz's right-hand man. Ostensibly, he was to serve as a congressional liaison and made an administrative assistant. As such, he was drawing his salary from several funds in the county.Finally, the county worked out an arrangement with the CCRMA where it paid the county for work performed by Garcia. He lost the $75,000 stipend. But when Sepulveda's was appointed interim county judge, Garcia was promoted to county administrator and his $75,000 was returned.
You'd think that Garcia would have been grateful to Sepulveda for standing up for him all those years. But guess what? He will be the main witness against his former benefactor when Sepulveda is tried by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office accused of using county materials and employees to pave a private road in San Benito for Anita Weaver.
If anyone should know about who approved of the deal it should be Garcia, since he is the county administrator in charge of Public Works and Transportation.
Sepulveda made his first appearance in court last week in front of 103rd state District Court Judge Janet Leal. A grand jury indicted him on charges of abuse of official capacity, theft by a public servant, and misapplication of fiduciary property in December of 2016.
Sepulveda’s defense attorney, Noe Garza, initially asked for a continuance and a May trial date for his client. Judge Leal refused his request, but eventually agreed to a pretrial and announcement appearance March 24, with the trial scheduled for April 3.
This will not be the first time that Garcia has served as a witness for the prosecution. The last time it was int he trial of former commissioner Ernie Hernandez, who was indicted on two counts of abuse of official capacity, one count of misuse of official information, two counts of witness tampering, one count of tampering with a government record, one count of obstruction or retaliation, one count of coercion by a public officials.
The indictments dealt with the plot by Hernandez to get his brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel a job even though he did not qualify for it.
Eventually, in return for his resignation, Hernandez was granted deferred adjudication and pleaded guilty to one count of coercion by a public official.
During the trial, Garcia testified in court that a reorganization of the county's Human Resources office was done at the urging of Hernandez to get even with the staff for leaking information about the scheme and for leaking the information on the plot to the DA's Office.
But what he didn't say was that the reorganization had been in the works for months before and that former HR director Arnold Flores had been trying to get it approved by the county commissioners. In fact, the agenda where it was included had not even been posted when he testified about ti to the jury.
This type of manipulation by the DA's Office with the help of Garcia, the willing– and consummate – insider, shows how rampant back stabbing is in the environment in which he thrives. Can any of the county commissioners have any confidence in this type of administrator? If he can do this to his long-time benefactor to protect his interests, imagine what he will do to them if push comes to shove.