Can Escobedo and Quintanilla Be Stopped Before BISD Loses $14,000,000?

 

by Jim Barton on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 6:02pm

    
     Just this morning a Dallas court allowed a Temporary Restraining Order with respect to the foreclosure on the home of Carlos Quintanilla until December 12th to allow the court more time to hear the case. 30 Minutes was not enough time for the court to hear the evidence. The court only agreed to this if Quintanilla posted a $1,000 cash bond. This is not unusual as courts bend over backwards to protect the rights of individuals facing the loss of their home.
     How does this affect us in Brownsville?  Con artist Quintanilla, facing foreclosure, liens, bounced checks and other legal problems is desperate for money.  Quintanilla's golden egg may very well be Ted Parker of Healthsmart, an insurance company the BISD is suing for $14,000,000 in overcharges.  How much would it be worth it to Ted Parker if Quintanilla could get trustees elected and administrators appointed who would agree to drop the suit against Healthsmart?  Would Parker pay a million to save fourteen million?

     Trustee Enrique Escobedo, pictured at the top of the article with Quintanilla, is said to be pushing hard for dismissal of the Healthsmart lawsuit.  If he can get the case dismissed in the next few days, it's possible that Quintanilla can get paid and save his home from foreclosure.  The trustees Quintanilla helped elect are Enrique Escobedo, Lucy Longoria and Catalina Presas-Garcia.  Taped evidence also seems to indicate that Quintanilla orchestrated the "firing" or forceout of Superintendent Springston, the termination of Chief Financial Officer Tony Fuller, perhaps because they opposed dropping the suit.
     Escobedo is no stranger to dishonesty.  You may recall the Brownsville Herald story detailing his false claim to a doctorate.  Even after the school in Mexico he claimed issued his doctorate degree stated they had issued him none such and that he was considered a "student", welcome to come back and pursue a degree, he still printed out campaign materials claiming a doctorate.

     Catalina Presas-Garcia may also be part of the core of corruption.  Notice this excerpt from the Brownsville Herald tieing her to Ted Parker:  "BISD board president Catalina Presas-Garcia has chosen a law firm to defend her against a lawsuit by former athletic director Joe Rodriguez — and it’s the same firm that represents Ted Parker, the onetime owner of Healthsmart Benefits Solutions Inc. which BISD is suing for breach of contract."
     Mary S. Rey overheard a conversation between Quintanilla and Lucy Longoria where Quintanilla screamed:  "I made you, bitch!"  So she may also feel some obligation to the convicted racketeer as well.
     We need to do everything in our power to see that the suit is not dismissed at the whims and direction of a con artist who may profit from such a dismissal.  We need FBI involvement, just as the FBI got involved with the Lubbock City Commission involving Healthsmart.  We owe it to the children of Brownsville to not throw away $14,000,000 at a time when funds are limited just to help a con artist and his cronies. 

Con Artist Quintanilla Threatens Local Blogger

 

by Jim Barton on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 6:55pm

     According to the blog Downtown Browntown, Carlos Quintanilla sent this message to the blog's publisher, Jerry Mchale:
  ""While I find your blog amusing and informative, I categorically reject the continued slander and defamation you use towards me. Your latest reference to me as a flim-flam man is slanderous and libel per se. You are being advised that any future postings on your blog referring to me in a slanderous and defamatory manner will leave me no recourse but to file civil actions against you and file a complaint against you in your capacity at BISD for slander and defamation with reference to business relations. I am also making a demand that you delete your offensive reference to me as a flim-flam man. I am sure that there are many in Brownsville who fit that description."


     Threats issued by Quintanilla are nothing new.  As you may know, Mary S. Rey has a son currently incarcerated, charged with murder.   Mary played tapes for us where Quintanilla threatened to go to the victim's family, guiding them in pursuing the harshest penalty should her son be convicted.  Quintanilla threatened me with a lawsuit when I referred to him as a con artist during the Fly Frontera fiasco.
     But Quintanilla is on shaky legal ground here with Mchale.  Defamation and slander typically require a statement to be malicious and false.  Is it incorrect to refer to Quintanilla as a flim flam man or con artist?   The U.S. judicial system has declared Quintanilla GUILTY  of racketeering with a R.I.C.O. felony conviction involving his attempted $700,000 kickback scheme to defraud the G. Heileman Brewing Company.  Since a kickback scheme involves lying, deception and a con, Quintanilla is a convicted liar and con artist.  Calling him a flim flam man is a gross understatement.  Notice that Mchale held back from reporting what was alleged by several during the Fly Frontera fiasco:  that Quintanilla was $85,000 arrears in child support, had bounced $12,000 in hot checks, had numerous liens on his property for non-payment of services and multitudinous lawsuits.
     Threats and cons are just part of Quintanilla's arsenal.  He also plays the race card and apparently dangles the lure of calabaza.  Quintanilla is associated with Accion America, sort of the hispanic version of the NAACP, a group purported to protecting the civil rights of hispanics.  While Quintanilla wore out his welcome in Dallas, many succumbed here in Brownsville.  Fly Frontera was on the verge of passing last April 5th without the 4-day old company every having been vetted by the BEDC.  Former Mayor Ahumada lobbied vociferously on Facebook for the proposal.  Former commissioner Charlie Atkinson kept trying to bring it back long after it was dead.  The lure of calabaza.


     Based on the above, it should be troubling that Quintanilla is unquestionably entangled with the BISD.  Mary S. Rey has recordings and texts that indicate that he is calling the shots, palling around and cavorting with Catalina Presas-Garcia and Lucy Longoria.  Mary overheard Quintanilla calling Longoria a "bitch" when she got cold feet on the Springston firing/termination/resignation.  Why is a convicted racketeer allowed around our educators and their administrators?  He is not an educator or an administrator.  He is not a trustee or teacher.  He is a convicted racketeer from Dallas who cannot leave our community fast enough.