IN ROBERTO CADRIEL-ERNIE HERNANDEZ CASE, WHERE IS THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY? JUSTICE DELAYED, JUSTICE DENIED?

By Juan Montoya
Well, how long has it been now?
In August of 2011, Roberto Cadriel, a convicted felon and brother-in-law of Pct. 2 Cameron County Commissioner Ernie Hernandez, resigned suddenly from his position as a non-commissioned security gurad at the Veterans Memorial Bridge following the disclosures in the local media that someone else might have taken the Civil Service exam for him after having failed it twice.

The commissioners court in September passed on the information to the Brownsville Police Department in September, only to have then-chief of police Carlos Garcia artfully dodge the political hot potato.

That was more than a year ago. After all that time, there has been little, if any, movement on the case.

And now, after all this time, El Rrun-Rrun has learned that there are affidavits on record from some bridge employees that then-Human Resources director Robert Lopez or one of his representatives had told them that Hernandez wanted his his brother-in-law hired.

BPD Chief Garcia – now at a cushy job at the Port of Brownsville – at the time relayed to County Supervisor Pete Sepulveda his reply that the BPD would decline to investigate allegations that another county employee took a civil service test for him.

That employee since has left the county and subsequently filed for unemployment benefits with the Texas Worforce Commission and stated one f the reasons that her employment ended was directly as a result of her role in the scandal.

With all those political players involved, it is little wonder that BPD's Garcia wanted no part ot it.

"They should contact either the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department, the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office or the Texas Rangers to conduct the inquiry," Garcia told The Brownsville Herald  at the time.

And, coincidentally, Lopez, the former director of the Human Resources Department, also resigned from his position just as the scandal erupted, ostensibly for "personal reasons."

Then, in October of that year, the Cameron County Commissioners Court voted to refer the matter to District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos for investigation.

Many things have happened since. Aside from Lopez resigning suddenly, Villalobos has been indicted for racketeering and taking bribes in connection with the conviction of disgraced 404th District Judge Abel Limas. He is due to go to trial in federal court in April, after his term is over.

And now, more than a year after the Roberto Cadriel scandal erupted, there seems to be very little movement in the case.

With Villalobos' term ending this January 1, will the case linger on the shelf for the decision by the next DA to decide whether to pursue the matter?

And even when Hernandez has said that he didn’t know anything and that neither he nor his assistant or acquaintances had pressed anyone into taking the exam for Cadriel, it's not like there isn't enough proof available that the commissioner may have had a hand in pressuring the HR department and its personnel to give Cadriel a helping hand.

Evidence was presented to the the commissioners that Cadriel had twice taken the exam and twice scored in the 30s. The last examination taken under his name tested in the 90s.

Based on that, Cadriel, a convicted felon, was hired by the county as a noncommissioned security guard to provide security over the pedestrian gate and toll facilities at the international bridges. When he resigned he was assigned to the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

There was more intrigue to this hiring than the mere fact someone might have taken the exam for him. In his application for employment, he disclosed that he was on probation and that he had been dismissed from the city of Brownsville due to misconduct.

And still, he was hired.

It is interesting to note that when the local daily requested the information related to the Cadriel hiring and the apparent irregularities surrounding it, Hernandez – his brother in law – apparently took part in the deliberations, later also voting to submit the matter to Villalobos for investigation.

And there we stand more than a year after the matter first came to the public eye. Will justice delayed result in justice denied?