Department of Justice

South Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing $1.2M in Fajitas

A South Texas man who pleaded guilty to stealing $1.2 million worth of fajitas with taxpayer funds was sentenced Friday, a report says.

Gilberto Escamilla, 53, a former employee of the Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department, was arrested in August after a food service driver called the department's kitchen to notify employees of an 800-pound delivery of fajitas, according to the Brownsville Herald.

The kitchen employee told the driver that the juvenile department does not serve fajitas, but the driver told her that he had been delivering fajitas there for the past nine years.

Escamilla was fired the next day.

Authorities later found packages of the stolen food in Esamilla's refrigerator. Prosecutors said he took $1,251,578 of fajita orders and delivered them to his own customers, according to the report.

Escamilla has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for theft by a public servant. Prosecutors said they wanted to send a "strong message" to public employees.

“It was selfish. It started small and got bigger and out of control,” Escamilla said while testifying, the report said. “It got to the point where I couldn’t control it anymore.”

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