'If it wasn't so serious, you'd think it was a SNL skit': Man is arrested for stealing $1.2MILLION of FAJITAS in scam which lasted nine years
- Gilberto Escamilla allegedly pulled off the scheme over nine years working at the Juvenile Justice Department in Cameron County, Texas
- Escamilla admitted to the scheme after a meat vendor with the department called to verify an order
- An employee believed it was a mistake because the facility doesn't serve fajitas
- Investigators concluded that Escamilla had stolen $1,251,578 worth of fajitas over nine years that he would then sell on to customers
- He has been charged with first-degree theft and is looking at serious jail time
Texas authorities say that a man who was caught stealing more than a million dollars worth of fajitas over nine years may be looking at serious jail time.
The Cameron County District Attorney's Office said that Gilberto Escamilla, an employee with the Juvenile Justice Department, was charged with a first-degree theft, a felony, and is the subject of an ongoing investigation.
'If it wasn't so serious, you'd think it was a Saturday Night Live skit. But this is the real thing,' District Attorney Luis V. Saenz told The Brownsville Herald.
Prosecutors say that on August 7, Escamilla took the day off to go to a medical appointment.
Gilberto Escamilla, an employee with the Juvenile Justice Department, was charged with a first-degree theft, a felony, and is the subject of an ongoing investigation
The Juvenile Justice Department where Escamilla worked is pictured above
A man was arrested after authorities say he stole more than $1.2million in fajitas over a nine year period (file picture)
During his absence, a driver from Labatt Food Service - the Juvenile Justice Department's meat vendor - called to verify an order they were preparing to deliver: 800 pounds of fajitas.
He has been charged with first-degree theft, a felony, and may be looking at real jail time (Pictured: District Attorney Luis V. Saenz)
An employee at the department first dismissed the order as a mistake, given the fact that the facility does not serve fajitas.
It was then that the driver informed the woman on the phone that his company has been filling the fajita order to the facility for nearly a decade.
'The receiver of the call rushes off to the supervisor and conveys to her the discussion that had been had, and that breaks the case,' Saenz said.
'When Mr. Escamilla reports to work the next day, he is confronted with the discussion and he admits he had been stealing fajitas for nine years.'
Escamilla was immediately fired from his position and placed under arrest on August 9.
When police searched his home, they discovered his refrigerator packed with fajitas.
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Law enforcement officials said that after looking through inventory records and conducting an audit at Labatt Food Service, they concluded that Escamilla had stolen $1,251,578 worth of food.
'He would literally, on the day he ordered them, deliver them to customers he had already lined up,' Saenz said.
'We've been able to uncover two of his purchasers, and they are cooperating with the investigation.'
Saenz said that the investigation revealed a 'total failure' in the department's practices, while a full review has been ordered so new measures aimed at instituting new 'procedures, controls and safeguards' into the system can be implemented.
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