Texas Fajita Thief Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison

Last year, the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office in South Texas arrested former Juvenile Justice Department employee Gilberto Escamilla for the theft of $1.2 million worth of fajitas.  Mr. Escamilla ran a scam for 9 years that involved the theft of thousands of pounds of frozen fajitas that he would resell for a 100% profit.  He was finally caught when 800 pounds of the fraudulent fajitas were delivered on a day that Mr. Escamilla was sick.  His very confused replacement reported the irregularity to his superiors, which led to an investigation.  He was apprehended when officials connected a long string of invoices and vouchers connected him to the scam, which led to a search of his home where they found some of the ill-gotten meat in a fridge .

According to the Brownsville Herald - Mr. Escamilla plead guilty to theft by a public servant Friday.  State district judge, J. Manuel Banales then handed down the sentence for Gilberto's crimes, and the almost decade-long con will cost him the next 50 years of his life in federal prison.