Is Armando Villalobos Still Stealing from Cameron County?

When a young man walks out of a Stripes Convenience Store with a 12-pack of beer under his arm without stopping first at the checkout stand to pay for it, that is considered a theft.  The perpetrator has deprived the store owner of the wholesale cost of the item, the anticipated return on investment after substracting the cost of doing business or overhead.  That particular type of theft is a crime that even Armando Villalobos in his elected role as County or District Attorney would have felt comfortable prosecuting.

This blog, Mean Mister Brownsville, described another kind of theft in a March article:

"We pay a district attorney handsomely in Cameron County to fight corruption, but like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, Armando Villalobos never had the courage. He deferred, stepped over, ignored the rampant political corruption in the county so as not to antagonize any segment of political support as he used the district attorney's office to launch his campaign for yet higher office."

So, the fact that Mr. Villalobos simply didn't do his job in his years as District Attorney is a theft, a net loss from the taxpayers of Cameron County who paid for those services.  Again, a quote from the MMB March article:

" If county officials received merit pay, District Attorney Armando Villalobos would owe several years of salary to Cameron County. He should also pay back the cost of office utilities that kept him climaticly comfortable, the costs associated with transporting him from home to office and back, the fees associated with keeping him electronically connected to the his constituents and the information highway. I do not begrudge his staff their pay as they simply must follow orders, although, if whispers are correct, Mando owes the county for the large segment of their workweeks devoted to his congressional campaign." 

Early into Villalobos' campaign for Congress, I was told by a spouse of a staff member that a portion of the DA staff were working up to 32 hours of their 40 hour work week on the congressional campaign.  If that is true, that is a theft of services paid for by Cameron County taxpayers.  Again, that includes the air-conditioned offices we pay for, the transportation we provide, the internet service, etc.  

Ironically, on the day of Villalobos indictment, as Armando left the Cameron County Courthouse, he was greeted by a "spontaneous" cluster of staff, wearing "Villalobos for Congress" orange t-shirts.  This was still during the workday so it can be assumed many of these staffers were on the clock.  The support for their boss on one of his worst days was touching on some levels, but not what we pay these county employees for.  If it was done on the clock, it was a theft of wage dollars from us.  

It's not difficult to understand why Armando would have some interest in the just finished, two week long Ray Marchan trial.  His name came up repeatedly during the trial and he will likely face a similar trial soon.  Armando was observed as a spectator several days, along with his partner Eddie Lucio.  After the Marchan trial, Villalobos released a 25 page rebuttal, or at least challenge to his indictment.  So, was the trial observation done while we were paying Villalobos for District Attorney work?  Unless he took vacation days to use for trial observation, it was.  When was the 25 page rebuttal prepared?   During the wee hours of the morning after Villalobos finished a hard work day prosecuting, researching and preparing cases as DA or during the workday at the office we pay for, furnish and provide utitlities?  If it was the latter, it was a continuance of Villalobos pattern of stealing taxpayer dollars.