Scofflaw keeping up with payments to Harlingen

HARLINGEN - A woman who accumulated more than $18,000 in unpaid fines over 10 years has been keeping up with a payment plan issued by a municipal judge in January, officials said.

"The municipal court clerk has said that (she) is current through April," Mayor Chris Boswell said Friday.

In a hearing Jan. 29, a municipal judge ordered Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, 31, to pay $250 a month until her fines are paid off, Finance Director Roel Gutierrez said at the time.

As of Friday, she hadn't yet submitted her $250 payment for May and was "a couple of days late," Boswell said.

Last week, Gutierrez refused to comment about the case, saying he was advised not to discuss Ortiz Sanchez's case until it is closed.

"The case is in a pending status until it's actually closed out and she's done paying," Gutierrez said Tuesday.

Under the payment plan, it will take Ortiz Sanchez more than five years to pay off the $14,196 in fines she still owed the city at the time of the agreement, Gutierrez said in January.

Ortiz Sanchez accumulated $18,896 in fines on 76 outstanding warrants dating to 1998, officials said. The amount was reduced to $15,696 after some of the warrants were dismissed in a court appearance Jan. 15.

Ortiz Sanchez's case came to light after she was arrested in a routine traffic stop Jan. 14.

A judge ordered Ortiz Sanchez to make a $1,500 payment Jan. 15, which allowed her to be released from the Harlingen city jail, Gutierrez said in an earlier interview.

The payment brought her balance down to $14,196, he said.

After her court hearing Jan. 29, she was ordered to make the monthly $250 payments, which she has made through April, Boswell said.