Mayor found not guilty on all three charges
A Cameron County state jury has found Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. not guilty on three felony charges filed against him regarding a missing check.
The verdict was handed down just minutes ago in the 107th state District Court.
The jury handed a note to the visiting judge about an hour earlier stating they were unable to reach a unanimous decision. The judge sent a note back to them asking them to continue deliberations.
Ahumada was being tried for theft, abuse of official capacity, and misapplication of fiduciary property. A Cameron County grand jury indicted the mayor on the charges in March 2009.
The case was handed to the jury at noon. Closing arguments were held this morning.
The is the second trial for the mayor on the charges. The first trial in October ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Central to the case is the $26,139 check that the city issued Oct. 22, 2008 to New York vendor Tarsia Technical Industries Inc., but Ahumada deposited it in his business account on Oct. 28, instead.
Ahumada maintains that he deposited the check by accident and had not noticed until later that he had $26,319 in his commercial account, at the Boca Chica Boulevard branch of Compass Bank, because he doesn’t check the balances of his bank accounts.
The state’s case suggest that the mayor might have been in need of money, had been awaiting approval of a $70,000 home equity loan, partially held up because property taxes were owed and property insurance had to be obtained.
