Candidates explain arrests

Editor’s Note: The Brownsville Herald conducted a criminal records search for all candidates on the May 12 municipal election ballot, seeking a place on the Brownsville City Commission. As allowed by the Texas Open Records Act and Public Information Act, we obtained birth date and address information from their campaign filings at City Hall and searched city, county and state records for matches. The candidates were contacted regarding our findings and given an opportunity to comment on the charges.

Drunk driving, assault, theft and reckless driving are among the charges on the record against some candidates in the May 12 municipal election.

Former mayor Pat Ahumada Jr. and At-Large A candidate Sandra Garcia have the most criminal complaints in their background, with three and six each, respectively.

Ahumada, seeking a return to the mayor’s seat, owns up to two DWI charges and explains a troubled personal life led to problems he says he’s now overcome. His record also shows theft of a dog that the candidate says he “rescued” and still owns.

Garcia, a local chiropractor, stands by an order of expungement for a variety of charges against her and refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding the complaints that include assault, family violence and most recently, a public intoxication arrest. The candidate maintains all accusations are false.

MAYOR’S RACE

In the mayor’s race, Ahumada, 54, is the only candidate with an arrest record.

He was first charged in July 1987 on a driving while intoxicated charge. He pleaded guilty to the charge on Feb. 26, 1988, and signed a written waiver of jury.

He was ordered to serve six months probation, attend 10 hours of alcohol awareness classes, abstain from consumption of alcoholic beverages and maintain automobile liability insurance. Ahumada paid $85 in court costs and a $100 fine. The charge was dismissed in 1988.

“I had just lost my wife and daughter. I fell into depression,” Ahumada said. “I began to drink.”

According to funeral records, Ahumada’s wife, Adriana Gloria Ahumada, was killed in a car accident on Dec. 10, 1987. His daughter drowned in April 1986 while swimming in the family’s pool.

“It’s part of life, unfortunately,” he said. “Sometimes those things happen.”

He was arrested on another DWI charge in 2003, 10 years after he resigned from the mayor’s office to unsuccessfully seek the county judge’s seat. The charge was later dismissed.

In an advertisement Ahumada placed in The Brownsville Herald on April 11, he writes that he suffered a “deep state of sorrow and grief and depression” following the deaths.

In 2005, he was charged with theft after he took a dog from the Brownsville Animal Shelter, a city-run shelter for stray and unwanted pets. Ahumada maintains the dog was not being nourished properly and did not have all the required vaccines.

“I took him to the vet,” he said. “I still have that dog.”

The charge was later dismissed, according to District Attorney Armando Villalobos.

No criminal records were found during The Herald’s records search for mayoral candidates Ernie L. Hernandez Jr., Henry Gonzalez and Commissioner Sally M. Arroyo.

AT-LARGE A RACE

In the race for the At-Large A seat, the search yielded six arrests for candidate Sandra Garcia, dating from 2003 to 2006.

Four of the six charges, ranging from assault to driving while intoxicated, have been dismissed. Two public intoxication charges, both in 2006, were settled when Garcia posted bond and spent several hours in jail.

The candidate argues that an order of expungement, which she produced but was not found in county records at the time of The Herald’s records check, bars the charges from public inspection.

John Bussian, the corporate attorney for Freedom Communications Inc., The Herald’s parent company, explains that if the records are obtained legally, they can be reported.

In August 2003, Garcia was arrested and charged with assault.

Police reported that Garcia, 36, caused bodily injury to a family member by hitting and biting the person who made the complaint. The charge was dismissed on Nov. 17, 2003, after the District Attorney’s Office cited in court documents that “the victim was uncooperative and unable to prove bodily injury beyond a reasonable doubt.” Garcia was ordered to pay $250 in court costs.

She was arrested again in June 2004 on two counts of deadly conduct. According to court papers, she engaged two people “in imminent danger of serious bodily injury by failing to properly operate a motor vehicle.”

The District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges in June 2006, citing “passage of time has made all necessary witnesses unavailable.”

In August 2005, Garcia was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge. Again, a motion to dismiss was filed by the District Attorney’s Office. The motion, signed in July of 2006, shows that the state is to refile the charges “pending further investigation.”

A month after the now-dismissed charge was filed, Garcia was arrested on a public intoxication charge.

According to police reports, a pickup was pulled over for speeding on FM 802 on the night of Sept. 15, 2005. The driver stopped at the 2900 block of Central Boulevard and was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated after he failed a sobriety test.

Garcia was the passenger in the truck. She was arrested for public intoxication after the officer observed her eyes were “bloodshot and glassy” and detected a “strong odor” of alcohol on her breath and slurred speech. She posted bond and was released the next day.

Her last arrest on record is for July 16, again for public intoxication. Garcia spent a few hours in the City Jail, posted a $200 cash bond and was released.

When asked about the records, Garcia explained that she had obtained an order of expungement pertaining to the assault, deadly conduct and the driving while intoxicated charges that have all been dismissed.

“That means like if it’s disappeared,” she said.

The order does not appear on the Cameron County Clerk’s offices criminal databases, which hold Garcia’s records.

She faxed a copy to The Herald’s local counsel. It shows that state District Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson signed the order on March 21, nine days after Garcia filed for candidacy.

The order pertains to the charges of assault causing bodily injury, deadly conduct and the driving while intoxicated. When asked to comment on the arrests, Garcia said, “Sure I’ll comment. I’ll tell you that it’s expunged and they were all false accusations.”

Bussian explains that “an order of expungement means that the conviction records are technically no longer available for public inspection, however, if a member of the public or press either has a copy of the court records or legally obtains the court records, they have a constitutional right to circulate or publish the information.”

People who have been previously arrested and later expunge their records can “legally deny the existence of the conviction,” he said. An order of expungement cannot however stop reporters from writing a story about information they have obtained legally from a courthouse, Bussian added.

No criminal records were found for At-Large A candidates, Ernesto De Leon, William Garza or Anthony Troiani during The Herald’s records search.

AT-LARGE B RACE

In the At-Large B race, Roy de los Santos Jr. had two misdemeanor charges that were uncovered during The Herald’s records check.

De los Santos, 33, was charged with theft by check over $20 and under $500 in September 1995, court papers show. He paid restitution and court costs, and the case was later dismissed by the District At-torney’s Office.

“I do remember receiving a letter in the mail from the DA at one time that I had a delinquent check,” he said. “As I recall, I went down there and paid it off.”

On Feb. 10, 2006, de los Santos was arrested for public intoxication after, he said, after he fell asleep outside his apartment complex while smoking a cigarette. The charge was eventually dismissed.

Police reported that de los Santos had “bloodshot red eyes, slurred speech, unsteady balance,” and his breath smelled of alcohol.

A records check for At-Large B candidate Leonel T. Garza’s showed no arrests.

DISTRICT 1 RACE

A search of records for candidates in the District 1 race yielded a theft of check charge for Catalina Presas-Ortiz, with the same birth date and address listed on District 1 candidate Catalina Presas-Garcia’s campaign filing.

The 1996 charge for theft by check over $20 and under $500 was dismissed after full restitution and court costs were paid.

Presas-Ortiz was the candidate’s name during her first marriage.

Presas-Garcia, now remarried, confirmed the date of birth and address matched hers and that in 1996, she used the name Ortiz from her first marriage.

She adamantly denies the record is hers. She said she does not remember writing the check at issue and doesn’t recall being contacted about the charge or paying the fees.

“That is new for me, and I hope nobody is tampering with my records because I will take care of that immediately,” she said. “This is news to me. I have never heard of such a thing.”

Court records show the District Attorney’s Office sent a notice of arraignment to 3144 E. 19th St., the same address listed on Presas-Garcia’s candidate application, filed on March 12. The home belongs to her mother, with whom she resides.

She contends that in 1996 neither she nor her mother were living on East 19th Street. Presas-Garcia said her mother was living out of state and that the house on East 19th Street was being rented out at the time.

Presas-Garcia now says she is a victim of identity theft and believes the records are a result of that.

The Herald’s research yielded no criminal records for District 1 Commissioner Ricardo Longoria Jr.

DISTRICT 2 RACE

Commissioner Charlie Atkinson is running unopposed for re-election in District 2. His record contains an arrest for reckless driving, a charge that was later dropped.

According to court documents, Atkinson was arrested in February 2006 on a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving after Brownsville police spotted him speeding on Paredes Line Road. He explained at the time that he was on his way to Whataburger on FM 802.

Atkinson did not want to comment on his arrest record. When contacted for this article, he said, “All I know is that it was dismissed, brother.”