TIME RUNNING OUT FOR THE GALLEGOS IN FEDERAL COURT

Once upon a time you dressed so fine,

Threw the bums a dime, 

In your prime, didn't you?...

Now you don't talk so loud

Now you don't seem so proud...

You're invisible now

Ya got no secrets to conceal

Like a Rolling Stone, By Bob Dylan

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

When he was the principal at Castañeda Elementary, Dr. Ruben Gallegos Sr. was the cock of the walk.

Teachers curried his favor, secretaries would flirt with him, and the migrant students held him in awe as an example of what a migrant kid could achieve by the dint of hard labor.

Politicians sought his endorsement and financial contributions, and he was named to many state and national public boards, including an appointment as a trustee at Texas Southmost College.

His son Ruben Jr., on the other hand, didn't have to go through any hardship in his youth but also had his own following as he dispensed millions of dollars to his underlings and contractors as a vice president of the International Education Services non-profit with lucrative federal contracts to house and educate unaccompanied minors through the U.S. Office of Refuge Resettlement.

IES's board included his pal former Texas House Representative Eddie Lucio III hired on at $125,000 a year as legal counsel. 

The younger Gallegos flew in private charter jets all over the world, and had a bucket list to visit all the states of the United States. He would often pose with WWF wrestlers,  gamble in Vegas where he was known as a Big Spender, and publish photos of Jackson Hole, Wyoming taken from his private chartered jet window. He had all the toys, and had a one-armed bandit tattooed on his chest.

Yesterday, in a Notice of Setting Hearing session in courtroom 6 before Judge Fernando Rodriguez, both Gallegos, father and son, presented a very different demeanor. Gallegos Sr. looked bent and broken and said nothing at the hearing as he sat bent over in the defendants' table. Gallegos Jr., didn't say a word either, and looked much older, bearded and disheveled in his sports jacket.

Rodriguez, visibly tired of the petitions for continuance by the Gallegos, had set jury selection for September 5 and had set a Final Pretrial Conference for this August 24. Attorney Trey Martinez asked for yet another continuance to ask for emails between the different federal agencies to see if there was something – anything – that might prove exculpatory to his client (Jr.). Gallegos Sr.'s attorney Jason Davis participated through Zoom on his behalf.

It is almost a year since September 2022 that both Gallegos were charged with conspiracy and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, the federal indictment stated. The third defendant, CFO Juan Jose Gonzalez, married to Gallegos' Sr.'s sister, and uncle to Gallegos Jr,, was also named in the indictment.

The indictment alleged that the three men used federal funds to pay themselves salaries that were “hundreds of thousands of dollars” above the salary cap imposed by regulations. According to a portion of the indictment, Gallegos Jr. was paid salaries way over the $183,000 cap limit with his 2017 salary at $435,416.88. 

But that only covers that year. Other documentation filed on IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, listed their salaries and benefits, respectively, $677,242 (Sr.), $663,240 (Jr.), and $546,877 (Gonzalez.)

The government says IES owes $17 million in disallowed charges.

But Tuesday all that seemed like a dream. 

Some attorneys said that Rodriguez allowed them another continuance and set jury selection for December 4 to allow the government to provide attorney Martinez with whatever emails they may find relevant to the defense. Many believe that Martinez was just kicking the can down the increasingly short road to the trial, and thought it a fool's errand.

"They're looking for a document that doesn't exist," said one. "That goose is cooked."

Gonzalez's attorney Trey Garza was a bit more successful in asking for a modification of his client's home detention orders to allow him out of his home, but to remain within Cameron County, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Garza told the judge that the restrictions of home confinement has resulted in Gonzalez not being able to attend family celebrations like his grandkids' birthday parties.

Rodriguez allowed the modification after government attorneys and probation officers said they did not have an objection.