ERNIE HERNANDEZ BEFORE GRAND JURY IN CADRIEL CASE

By Juan Montoya
Multiple sources close to law enforcement and the courts have confirmed that Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez and his assistant Raul Salazar are testifying today before a grand jury investigating the alleged illegal hiring of his brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel.
According to these sources, Hernandez was scheduled to testify before the grand jury last week but a previously scheduled trip to Corpus Christi for a county officials' conference had prevented him from appearing. When he returned to Brownsville after he was warned to appear, there was no stenographer

available and his testimony was required today.
Nonetheless, his and Salazar's appearance before the grand jury indicates that Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz has been preparing to subpoena both men and at least 20 other to get to the bottom of the hiring of the brother of Norma Hernandez, the commissioner's wife, as a non-armed security guard at the Veterans Memorial Bridge owned and operated by the county.
The investigation into the August 2011 hiring of Ernie's brother-in-law and the subsequent resignation  of former HR interim director Robert Lopez raised questions about the commissioner's possible involvement in placing his brother in law in the position in violation of Civil Service rules.
The case stirred suspicions that the civil service process had been subverted to allow Cadriel to get a job as a non-commissioned security guard at Veterans Memorial Bridge even after he had flunked the civil service exam miserably twice. Tallying scores in the middle 30s, Cadriel then supposedly took it again and the third time it was a charm with a score in the upper 90s. Nobody swallowed that piece of work and the heat got to be too much for Cardriel who resigned after one day on the job. Then Lopez followed up and left the county.
Sources close to the county probe indicate that it may have been someone in the HR office who took the exam the third time instead of Cadriel. They indicate that some of those involved then were called to testify and were questioned by DA investigator Gus Garza.
It is noteworthy that both Cadriel and Salazar have been in legal trouble before.
Cadriel was found guilty of a felony and Salazar – former acting Brownsville Fire Chief and Fire Marshal – has had to live down a conviction himself having to do with abusing the power of his office to aid the fire department's fundraising efforts in 2002.
In a plea agreement with the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, Salazar pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of theft by a public servant.

In return, the Cameron County's district attorney's office agreed not to oppose probation at Salazar's  sentencing if he is ordered to pay back $10,000 in restitution to the fire department's Christmas Charity Fund and agreed to testify truthfully in any upcoming cases.
Salazar was indicted Jan. 9, 2002, on 13 felony counts listed in four indictments ranging from bribery to official abuse of capacity. The count of bribery, to which Salazar pleaded guilty, was accepting or agreeing to accept money from Seunghoon Lee, manager of El Gran Mercado on 1232 E. Elizabeth St., in exchange for not enforcing fire codes at the store.

Evidence introduced by the district attorney's office at the plea showed that the bribery was discovered when Lee bungled delivering an apparent payoff to Salazar.

In the case relating to the Cadriel, there were some leaks from the county that there were some 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.
News stories from 2006, when Cadriel was employed by the City of Brownsville as a code enforcement officer, indicate he was indicted by a Cameron County grand jury following an investigation into allegations that he and another city employee abused their positions by soliciting and taking bribes from local mechanic shop owners between 2005 and 2006. They were accused of selling building permits. Cadriel was charged with various counts under a law preventing a gift to a public servant by a person subject to his jurisdiction, abuse of official capacity, and tampering with governmental records. He was convicted on six of the counts. He also has a felony theft conviction dating to the 1980s.
County observers expect that Salazar may well fall on the sword for Hernandez as a show of gratitude for having hired him as his admin assistant even with a felony conviction. Salazar and Hernandez's acquaintance goes back to the many years that Hernandez was city commissioner and Salazar was a Fire Department employee.
"We may see Teflon Ernie emerging from this unscathed," said a county courthouse watcher. "It depends on what other evidence the grand jury gathers from the other witnesses before them whether he (and his wife Norma) escape unscathed from this without an indictment."