Now that he has enlisted the assistance of attack-dog blogger Robert Wightman to obfuscate the fact that he has gone back on his word that he would not sell the eight liners and other gambling devices he confiscated in Cameron County, District Attorney Luis Saenz admits he did just that.Ina "exclusive" interview with Saenz, Wightman writes that the county's top lawman – despite his promises that he would not sell the gambling devices – now claims that he kept his word because the machines were allegedly sold to a company across interstate lines in Georgia, and that the machines are not operating in the state of Texas.
“In the past, the places would be raided, the machines would be taken up and then resold back only to have them put back into practice or use in the matter of hours,” Saenz said during a press conference back in April 2013. “This time the machines will not be resold. They will be forfeited.”
Well, now, thanks to Wightman, we know that the machines were indeed sold, and that the profits of the sale probably went back into the forfeiture fund in the DA's office which has been used by Saenz – as it was by Villalobos – to, among other things, augment the salaries of selected staff members. Among them is "secretary" Melissa Landin, chief investigator George DeLaunay, and now, newly-promoted First Assistant Edward Sandoval.For example, Sandoval's salary is made up of his salary, $55,500 plus $1000.00 Comp Time, DA Pre-Trial Diversión $5,000, DA Forfeiture $1,500, which equals to 62,500 plus a $15,000 Benefit Package for a grand total of $ 77,500. With his new promotion, we should soon see a salary schedule budget amendment before the commissioners court.
DeLaunay gets paid from three different funds as well. They funds that are tapped for his salary are:
District attorney fund $65,500, DA Pre-trial Diversion fund $3,000 DA Forfeiture $18,000, which totals $86,500 plus another 20, 000 of benefits for a grand total of $106,500.
Landin's totals also includes a hefty amount from the maquinitas forfeitures.
Here is the break down for Ms. Landin: $34,000 from the DA Budget, $3,500 from the Pre-Trial Diversion, $7,500 from the DA Forfeiture, plus $13,000.00 benefits for a grand total of $58,000.
Saenz told his megaphone Wightman that the Environmental Protection Agency decreed that the machines could not be destroyed as Saenz had promised because of the mercury in some of their components.
It would cost, Sanez complained to Wightman, more than the machines are worth to destroy them as he originally envisioned (and promised). Now, we know that the first thing that the DA investigators and raiders do is remove the cash from the maquinitas even if it means breaking the locks in the cash boxes. Add that to the payoff money they seize and you get a fair idea that there are thousands of dollars involved in any one raid.
Now, the idle machines are worthless. The only time they have any values is when they are being used (illegally). Since they are worthless, then why not use the money seized and the payoff money to destroy them. This would deprive the DA's office of the extra cash to pay off their favored employees. So if anyone is making profiting off the illegal eight liners it is, obviously, the staff of the DA's office.
We will be asking Sandoval for the contract with the company from Georgia to see how much Saenz's office raked in from that maneuver. In the past, he has clouded our request saying that Operation Bishop involved many agencies including the Dept. of Homeland Security and that we would have to specify which machines we were talking about.
This is a nice turn of speech, because also during this April 2013 press conference, Saenz said that the DHS had turned over the entire operation to the DA's office once he took office. So the multi-responsibility excuse is just a red herring.
For the meantime, however, the promise that Saenz made that the maquinitas would not be resold has obviously not been kept. So who's lying to who, Wightman?
Landin's totals also includes a hefty amount from the maquinitas forfeitures.
Here is the break down for Ms. Landin: $34,000 from the DA Budget, $3,500 from the Pre-Trial Diversion, $7,500 from the DA Forfeiture, plus $13,000.00 benefits for a grand total of $58,000.
Saenz told his megaphone Wightman that the Environmental Protection Agency decreed that the machines could not be destroyed as Saenz had promised because of the mercury in some of their components.
It would cost, Sanez complained to Wightman, more than the machines are worth to destroy them as he originally envisioned (and promised). Now, we know that the first thing that the DA investigators and raiders do is remove the cash from the maquinitas even if it means breaking the locks in the cash boxes. Add that to the payoff money they seize and you get a fair idea that there are thousands of dollars involved in any one raid.
Now, the idle machines are worthless. The only time they have any values is when they are being used (illegally). Since they are worthless, then why not use the money seized and the payoff money to destroy them. This would deprive the DA's office of the extra cash to pay off their favored employees. So if anyone is making profiting off the illegal eight liners it is, obviously, the staff of the DA's office.
We will be asking Sandoval for the contract with the company from Georgia to see how much Saenz's office raked in from that maneuver. In the past, he has clouded our request saying that Operation Bishop involved many agencies including the Dept. of Homeland Security and that we would have to specify which machines we were talking about.This is a nice turn of speech, because also during this April 2013 press conference, Saenz said that the DHS had turned over the entire operation to the DA's office once he took office. So the multi-responsibility excuse is just a red herring.
For the meantime, however, the promise that Saenz made that the maquinitas would not be resold has obviously not been kept. So who's lying to who, Wightman?
1 comment:
Saenz se las vendio a cuellar que no les mientan.
Las 400 maquinas que tenia confiscadas.
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