WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE BISD-FNS INVESTIGATION?

By Juan Montoya
As time goes on, less and less has been heard of the investigation into the dealings of the late Silverio Capistran Jr., former director of the Brownsville Independent School District's Food and Nutrition Department who was said to have committed suicide while sitting in his truck in his apartment's parking space.

Capistran, 43, was found dead by family or friends in his pickup outside his apartment Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, almost two years ago.

He was declared dead by JP 2-1 Linda Salazar who said he had a gunshot wound to the head and the gun was in the vehicle. Salazar said it appeared to be a suicide, but she ordered an autopsy before determining the official cause of death.

Capistran ran the large school district’s FNS department with about 500 employees and averages serving about 43,000 student lunches and 41,000 student breakfasts daily.

At the time of his death district spokesperson Drue Brown confirmed that an investigation into his department was active.

This was later confirmed indirectly by Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas when she transferred Purchasing Department auditor Rosalinda Peña to that department after she emailed letters to other department heads questioning why Paragon Sports – which installed artificial turf in some campuses – had not been vetted by purchasing.

It is widely known that transfers to FNS usually mean that employees have run afoul of the BISD powers-that-be and are being sent a signal that their days in the district can be counted. 

It happened to Art Rendon after he was successful in suing the BISD and was reinstated at the district. He was assigned to the Transportation Dept., and then reassigned again to the dreaded FNS black hole.

For example, following the scandal of former CFO Lucio Mendoza after he signed off on a $1.3 million check to an insurance company before the trustees approve the payment and continuance of the coverage, Mendoza was also sent to the FNS, and then  later, to the BISD records warehouse within smell of the Robindale Wastewater treatment plant as a Special Assignment Administrator.

After the spoiled babacoa scandal where a company named Valco from McAllen was found to have processes meat in Gomez Palacio, Mexico, Unites States Agriculture Department investigators descended on the BISD to find out why federal funds were being spent buying Mexican-processed meat.

In a statement put out by the district after batches of the meat turned out to be rotten, it said: "The product was raised and purchased in the United States from a USDA approved vendor but was processed in Mexico according to USDA guidelines and under the supervision of a USDA inspector."

Not really, we later found out. The succulent lard-laden antojito Mexicano has very little nutritional value, as can be seen in the nutritional facts label at left. It however, made its vendor rich at nearly $6.50 a pound.

The district put a stop to the purchases and is still considering filing a lawsuit to recover the money from the returned meat. Currently, the board is considering which attorneys to hire if they decide to pursue the matter.

And although the BISD administration asserted that the meat was from US-raised cattle, there is mounting evidence that it may not have been. Additionally, some leads have turned up that some local investors teamed up with Capistran to benefit from the barbacoa purchases.

An information request asking how much the BISD had paid the company over two years before the bad meat was discovered, indicates that BISD had paid $322,712. Valco had a contract to provide Region 1 with 20,000 pounds of meat per month for two years with an option for a third one at the end of 2017.


 The same goes for other purchases made by the department, notably the purchase of cafeteria tray liners and backpacks from the Grafik Spot in Brownsville which were said to have been bought in container-sized batches to be distributed to the district's 50-odd campuses. It is said that boxes full of these liners are still piled up in the district's warehouses.

Again, the probe is looking into the possible participation of local "investors" who may have joined Capistran in arranging for huge lot purchases and reselling them to the district at sometimes a 50 percent markup and profiting nicely from the transaction.

 What makes it interesting is that both Valco, the barbacoa company, and Grafik Spot, a Brownsville establishment that specializes in digital printing, screen printing, and embroidering service were both members of the TASBE Buy Board. School districts who are Buy Board members do not have to ask for bids to make purchases if the vendors are on the Buy Board.

Incidentally, the Buy Board representative for the Region 1 area is none other than board president – and former purchasing agent of the Mercedes ISD – Cesar Lopez. As a Buy Board employee, Lopez is required to abstain from any vote involving Buy Board vendors.

Paragon Sports, for example, also on the Buy Board, was chosen by Zendejas to install some $5 to $6 million in artificial turf based on recommendations by other superintendents "over coffee," according to notes taken by Peña of a meeting held n her office.

Just before his death, Capistran had been called in for a conference with Zendejas and close friends say that he was depressed and despondent after the meeting. We have now learned that he had gone to Boca Chica Beach with a handgun and called his family who grew alarmed and sent a friend to talk him down.

Investigators later learned from one of his children that Capistran had bought another handgun from a local Academy Sports store which was said to have been the weapon that was found in his truck.

So far, there have been no answers for his death or other indication that the investigation of the FNS mess has been completed. We do know that some family members were interviewed by federal agents, but so far there had been no movement from the Asst. U.S. Attorney's Office here.

Will the residents of the BISD ever get any answers in the matter?