Former elections chief accused in third theft case

EDINBURG -- Hidalgo County prosecutors are preparing to present yet another theft case against former county elections chief Teresa Navarro to a grand jury in the coming weeks.

Sheriff Lupe Treviño said Thursday his office had completed a probe into $18,000 in missing state grant money and handed the findings to Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra earlier this week.

Navarro, 48, of Mission, resigned her position June 17, after an Hidalgo County grand jury indicted her and three former employees on multiple counts of theft, record tampering and organized criminal activity in two separate cases

The latest investigation accuses Navarro, her former right-hand man Rene Solis, 42, of Weslaco, and former elections clerk Patricia Zapata, 25, of McAllen, of misappropriating thousands of dollars meant to pay for staff training and education.

The state money was supposed to reimburse the county for the cost of staff development seminars outside the Rio Grande Valley. Checks were issued to individual employees, who should have signed them and handed them over to county offices, the sheriff said.

Instead, investigators believe Navarro and her alleged accomplices cashed the checks for their own use.

Authorities were unsure why the money was going directly to the elections department employees rather than straight to the county.

"That's something the auditor should be looking at," Treviño said.

Navarro, Solis and Zapata already face separate allegations that they purchased more than $20,000 worth of hotel rooms, car rentals, clothing and meals for personal use with county credit cards and then conspired to cover up their spending.

A fourth former department employee - Amado Cavazos Jr., 27, of Edinburg - was also indicted in that case, but he has not been linked to the latest investigation.

Zapata has announced her intention to plead guilty to the charges against her and is scheduled to formally enter her plea Oct. 14.

The other three are set to go to trial later this year, but a new indictment would likely delay that date.

Navarro could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Her attorney Terry Palacios has previously described the threat of another indictment as authorities "coming after" his client once again.

"They already got her twice," he said last month. "I don't know what they expect today."